Letter From An Editor

My political cartoons are too political

I often get comments from editors about my work. While making submissions for new clients, I’ll often get notes about how “one-sided” my cartoons are, or the publication can’t publish anything that criticizes Trump…or anything on Trump, or just a simple “fuck you, libtard” from an editor for a weekly in a small town in Alabama. None of these offend me as much as they scare me about the state of newspapers…and the future.

But yesterday, I got one from a current client. The publication is in Florida and it has been publishing my work since October of last year. The editor wrote:

Hi Clay,
I’ve noticed that a lot of your recent cartoons have been political, and while I appreciate your creativity, I’m finding it a bit difficult to use them regularly, as they might give the impression that our paper is taking sides.
Do you happen to have any other cartoons that are less political or focus on different topics? It would be great to have more variety to choose from!
Thanks for your understanding.

This bothered me on several levels.

First, this newspaper has never paid me. They receive an invoice every month but they’ve ignored them other than an occasional, “How do I pay this?” even though that information is in the invoice. But it takes a lot of nerve to complain and ask a cartoonist to change his style when you haven’t paid.

The second thing that irritates me is his fear readers will have the impression the publication is taking sides. This sounds crazy but it’s where the industry is right now. It’s nuts a newspaper wants political cartoons and has an opinion page but is afraid of taking sides. But even The Washington Post is afraid of its readers and has mostly been publishing soft piddly squishy shit for cartoons over the past couple of years. I haven’t had a cartoon in the Post since June and only four in 2024. The Post has even contracted with a cartoonist to draw stuff that's a better fit for the New Yorker. Don’t ask me the last time I was in Politico.

People often like to say it’s my job to piss people off, but that was more true a decade ago than it is now.

My third complaint is where you, my readers, come in. I’m being asked to do stuff that’s not so political. How dare he.

I’ve been doing this since 1990. I understand the landscape is changing and while I don’t want to be another stereotypical codger who can’t change with the times, I’m going to be a very stubborn stereotypical codger who refuses to change with the times.

OK, I change with social media. I change with technology. I change with the landscape which explains why I’m on Substack. But I refuse to change how I cartoon to the point that my work is frivolous and meaningless. Other cartoonists are doing that. Let them have it.

When I was laid off from my staff job in 2012, it was partly because the paper was fearing reader outrage (the other part was that the owners weren’t making as much of a profit). When I started my syndicate, Claytoonz, I decided to damn the torpedoes. I was not going to have an editor tell me what I couldn’t do. Editors could refuse to publish my work, but I was going to do it my way, even if I had to live on Ramen noodles which can be tasty if you add your seasoning into the mix, like pepper, onions, garlic, creole seasoning, and Tabasco.

When I lost my job, I didn’t sulk, stop drawing cartons, and drink away my 401K for a year in a depression…OK, I didn’t sulk. But when that year was over, and the unemployment ran out, I began again, quit the syndicate I was contracted to, and created my own. I took it as an opportunity to grow and be a better cartoonist. I decided I was going to kick ass. I was going to be weirder. I was going to be more unique than other cartoonists. I was going to write my cartoons differently. I was going to create my own niche. But most of all, I wasn’t going to allow editors to tell me what I couldn’t draw (that last part isn’t entirely true as I did allow CNN and other publications that commissioned me to draw to kill stuff, but I did push back a lot). But I decided I wasn’t going to be nice.

It was a good time for a bad attitude, and it still is. I still have a bad attitude. “Clay does not work and play well with others” is already on a lot of files about me.

The landscape is still changing as I lost CNN, which brings us to Substack.

I still have newspaper clients but thanks to my PAID subscribers, I don’t have to worry as much about pissing them off because my political cartoons are too political. With this, nobody can tell me what I can’t draw.

I have lost clients because I refuse to change… because I refuse to play nice. There’s no shortage of nice. There are other outlets for nice…but it’s not here.

I replied to the editor who told me he needs more “balance.” I replied the next day because I figured I should give it some time before I clicked the send button because the first several drafts had lots of snark and some “Who the fuck do you think you are?” There may have even been a draft with “go fuck your mother.” But I wanted to handle it professionally while I was still pissed off at the nerve of a newspaper, especially a non-paying paper, telling me he needs more “balance.” I had to let the editor know that while I still wanted his business and for my work in his publication, that his complaint was a bunch of bullshit.

I replied:

I thought of several ways to reply to this but I decided to be straight with you. You haven't paid your bill for using my cartoons since you signed up for my service nearly a year ago, so I don't think you have a right to ask for more "balance." Even if you did pay, I wouldn't change how I cartoon.

I'm proud and honored to be in your publication but I can't work for free. I understand if you can't use my cartoons anymore but you need to understand that I can't continue to work for free. I'm running a business here too and I believe you have disrespected and taken advantage of me.

Best of luck to you and your publication.

The editor did reply that he didn’t realize I hadn’t been paid and apologized for offending me. And then he ordered his finance person to pay me. After blowing me off for nearly a year, the finance person asked me to send her an invoice through PayPal. I did that and then she replied the link didn’t work. Yeah, I’m sure it didn’t.

This was last Friday. I still haven’t been paid.

By the way, I used to draw commissioned cartoons for the Costa Rica Star which still owes me over $2,000. I really want more people to know that (it’s another story, but it’s a good one). You would not believe how many newspapers stiff me. God, I want to expose them all (I’m thinking about you, newspaper in West Virginia).

Again, thank you, Paid Subscribers. You’re making it easier for me to be less patient, more intolerant about this, and more Clay Jones. I’m sick of this and if I can eventually rely on you more than I can rely on papers, that will be a happy day. If more of you could decide that giving $8 a month to this feature isn’t really that much of a financial commitment and pull the trigger, it’d be super-duper-appreciated.

Also, to the newspapers who don’t pull this bullshit on me, thank you. I’ve had several great newspaper clients over the years, even some former ones, and I love you all and wish you the best.

This blog has mostly been a rant, but think of it as a bonus blog. I did write this over two days.