Paging Paul Conrad

03 April 2006 |permalink | email article

Longtime Los Angeles Times readers remember that political cartoons appeared on the editorial page much of the time three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Conrad was itís chief editorial cartoonist from 1964 to 1993. Liberals applauded, conservatives jeered and guess what? ñ Conradís pen and slashing one-line captions sold newspapers.

Then, more than 20 years ago, Conradís controversial work, and generally less compelling cartoons since, were abruptly shifted to the op-ed page.

Thatís why last week it was stunning to see a cartoon about U.S. immigration policy in the space normally occupied by the second of three essays on the editorial page. Undistinguished, it was drawn by Christophe Vorlet for the Times Editorial Board.

Is this more tinkering by Andres Martinez, the youthful opinion page editor and protÈgÈ of Michael Kinsley, founder of Slate, the on-line magazine, whose brief reign as a virtual Times editor telecommuting mostly from Seattle ended after several bizarre and controversial misjudgments?

Or does the brief cartoon repositioning signal yet another daunting editorial experiment by the Times, struggling under the demanding revenue yoke of Tribune Co. ownership as it attempts to staunch a national trend of declining newspaper circulation and advertising revenue?

Hereís the point. Conradís observations still reportedly appear in newspapers worldwide, are syndicated by the Chicago Tribune with the Times owning the L.A. area syndicated rights as of last year. Ironically, his work rarely appears in the paper where he became famous.

While at the newspaper he was honored with six Distinguished Service Awards for Editorial Cartooning by the Society for Professional Journalists/Sigma Delta Chi (SDX) ñ the only journalist s to win that many SDX awards in any category since the competition began in 1932.

Asked by Random Lengths, a L.A. Harbor area weekly, last summer why he hasnít seen one of his cartoons in the Times, Conrad replied: ìYou wonít. They just wonít do it ñ even if they agree with it.î

Since the Times no longer has an in-house cartoonist and, for the most part, carries a rather mediocre roster of op-ed columnists (in contrast to the New York Times and Washington Post), itís not surprising the section is a rare must read. In contrast, Dean Baquet, the paperís new editor who won a Pulitzer Prize for investigating reporting at the Chicago Tribune, has assembled several I-Teams which have started producing significant journalism.

Carrying Conrad once again might help the paper restore the biting edge it’s opinion pages once had under Otis Chandler.

737