The Round up
December 22, 2013 in Events, General, Links, News
Kasia Kowalska writes:
The Winter Solstice is behind us and the traditional festive fun is in full swing.
Also high on the agenda is freedom of speech after the London School of Economics apologised to two students who had been banned from wearing T-shirts featuring cartoons of the prophet Mohammed and Jesus Christ.
Twitter was also accused of losing its sense of humour. The microblogging site ran into trouble when it removed tweeted cartoons by the Indian political cartoonist Manjul.

The truth hits everybody. Art by Daniel Clowes from 20th Century Eightball by Fantagraphics Books 2002 @ Procartoonists.org
The Hollywood actor Shia LaBeouf is likely to be crossed off Daniel Clowes’ Christmas card list following accusations that he plagiarised the Ghost World creator’s 2007 comic Justin M. Damiano in his short film HowardCantour.com. Removal of accreditation for cartoonists in this age of digital ubiquity is a not an uncommon experience as a similar story from Rachel Duke illustrates.
Moving from theft to sharing, the CEO of Bitstrips has rebuffed claims that the social-media platform is a flash in the pan. The self-generated storytelling programme was the second most downloaded app in the world during November. Stuart Dredge found out why.

Matt Blease drawing for the Movie Mashups interactive app at The Guardian website @ Procartoonists.org
We note, see above, that other sites are also following this new fad. (Yes, we are looking at you The Guardian).
Seventeen years ago this month one of the founders of Private Eye, Willie Rushton, died. Adam Sonin remembers him as “the greatest satirist of them all” and explains the origins of the eccentric radio game Mornington Crescent.
For all the culture vultures out there, desperate to avoid last-minute Christmas shopping, there is still a chance to see The Age of Glamour at the Cartoon Museum which ends on Christmas Eve. Also, Cartoons and Caricatures at the Bank of England finishes on 31 December and The National Theatre’s Lampoon exhibition will end on 5 January.
If you would rather stay inside than brave the current weather, you can always entertain yourself by trying out different cartoon styles. Which is exactly what Mike Holmes did when he created 100 cartoons of himself and his cat.
A Merry Christmas to us all.
Updated: 24th December with the sad news that political image maker Leon Kuhn has died.
by Royston
Plagiarism row goes on
December 16, 2011 in Comment
Stahler, who was suspended by his employer, the Columbus Dispatch, has since resigned.
Most prominent among the commentators is the cartoonist Ted Rall who says on his blog that he hopes “editors and publishers at newspapers, magazines and websites … consider their own role in encouraging plagiarism”. Rall says that for at least 30 years editors and publishers have discouraged originality and have hired cartoonists whose drawing style “slavishly mimics” the Pulitzer-award winning Jeff MacNelly, who died 11 years ago. Read the full article here: Editors and publishers, heal thyselves
The implications for editors are also discussed in a piece by Katherine Travers at editorsweblog.org who asks: “What is plagiarism, what is an homage? What is a coincidence, what is not?” She says such questions have prompted speculation about the creation of an ethical code for cartoonists. An article at the Washington Post covers some similar ground, and asks: Is a newsroom’s political cartoonist a “journalist”?
Finally, the comments benath the Daily Cartoonist’s piece on Stahler’s resignation, from cartoonists and other interested parties, proves that this is one that will run and run …
Tags: editorial, JeffStahler, journalism, plagiarism, Procartoonists.org, TedRall No Comments »