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As an editorial cartoonist, JMC alumnus Patrick O'Connor isn't free to draw whatever he likes. He said it's not uncommon for his work to be censored by the Los Angeles Daily News' editors.
"Of course, yes," he said about being censored.
O'Connor said he, the managing editor and editor-in-chief all agree the local Los Angeles government is corrupt, so he can pick on city hall in cartoons. But, on national issues, he said he doesn't have as much freedom to question the government. The editors have the final say about what gets printed.
"I just accept it for what it is," he said. "I know my place. I know the reality of the situation."
So O'Connor makes most of his cartons focus on local issues.
Sometimes, when he draws a cartoon about the mayor of Los Angeles or other local politicians, they'll call up the 26-year-old and ask for the original to hang in their offices.
"It (the cartoon) is meant to be ridicule," O'Connor said with a laugh. "Not to mention I really don't like them. But they feel flattered."
The field of editorial cartooning seems to be shrinking, said Jeff Darcy, The Plain Dealer's editorial cartoonist. Five years ago, he said about 200 people were working in the field. Now, he estimated there are 90.
He said larger papers are losing their cartoonists for one reason or another and are just not replacing them; instead, they print syndicated cartoons. |
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| Patrick O'Connor returned to the University Bookstore recently to sign autographs for a book he illustrated and his father wrote, titled You Think You Know America. |
"The field is so hard to break into for anyone to come out of school and get a job," Darcy said. "To get a job at a large daily newspaper has always been difficult. It's even harder now. The people who have these jobs usually hang on to them."
O'Connor broke into the field right after college, and now he says his cartoons write themselves.
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