Paper Dumps Top Political Cartoonist

So much of the spectacle of elections involves watching political parties gain and lose seats, yet within hours of every Election Day, there is one seat that’s grievously lost for good: the one in the corner, belonging to the political cartoonist. Within days of the polls closing this year, one Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist has been pink-slipped and a two-time Pulitzer finalist has been demoted to part-time status. Matt Davies , cartoonist for The Journal News in the Lower Hudson Valley (N.Y.), tells Comic Riffs that the Gannett-owned newspaper has laid him off. Another gifted Gannett cartoonist, Marshall Ramsey of the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., confirmed just days after the election that his newspaper is reducing his duties amid more than a dozen staff cuts / Michael Cavna , Washington Post. More here . (Joe Heller/Hellertoons cartoon)

Question: How important to you is the work of an editorial cartoonist in your daily newspaper?