Did Doonesbury’s latest cartoon get “banned” by a Gannett-owned newspaper?

Welcome to the 920th installment of “Comics Legends Revealed,” a column that examines and either confirms or debunks three comic book myths, rumors, and legends. The first legend in this article examines whether people are getting the truth right about the recent social media controversy involving the Doonesbury and Gannett newspapers.

Recent social media protests doonesbury In the wake of Gary Trudeau’s cartoon, many posters wonder if this cartoon criticizing educational restrictions in Florida schools was “banned” by Gannett, the largest newspaper in the United States (in terms of circulation). is believed online. New strip subject. Cracked has written an entire article titled Conservative newspaper conglomerate bans Doonesbury cartoon, proving opponents right.

However, the reality is strip was already removed Weeks before this latest article was published, all Gannett-owned newspapers reported it. doonesburywas the first cartoon to win the Pulitzer Prize for Best Editorial Cartoon, and was one of several newspaper cartoons to lose its place in Gannett-owned newspapers due to Gannett’s uniform approach to the newspaper’s “funny pages.” did.

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The February 18th issue is doonesbury In this article, the teacher told the students about the history of the Civil War. These include that seven of his states that seceded from the United States specifically cited slavery as one of their reasons for seceding, and that tens of thousands of white Southerners volunteered for the Civil War. It was. He fought on the Union side in the Civil War. The students are all worried about her, with one student saying, “This is Florida. Isn’t it against the law to tell us the whole story?” She explained that her husband was outside in a truck and her students were begging her to run and text them once they crossed the border.

Former Iowa congressman Bob Hughes said a local newspaper owned by Gannett said: des moines registerI didn’t print the strips, so I shared them on my social media accounts…

This led to an outcry on social media over Gannett’s “banning” of the strip. Doonesbury comics have been “banned” in the past (which I covered in a previous comic book legend expose), so it’s understandable that some people would believe that. That was not the case this time.

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When did Gannett decide to remove Doonesbury from the paper?

As The Daily Cartoonist reported last year, Gannett has decided to come up with a uniform approach to the comics sections of its newspapers, citing research it has done on reader interests. did. Generally, each newspaper decides what comics to publish, but Gannett has decided that its newspapers will select comics from a specific list of daily and Sunday comics. . Therefore, individual papers still have to make decisions and only have a limited number of possible options. Gannett said in a statement to the Daily Cartoonist: “Although we are unifying our print comic packaging, our comics may still vary by market. The majority of our publications We will maintain a similar number of comics after the transition.” Gannett added: “Our mission to provide essential journalism to the communities we serve means we are constantly evolving our content to ensure its relevance. By refreshing our comics, we are making sure that our audience We’re able to incorporate the favorites our viewers love while providing a consistent, contemporary presentation.”

Although the unified news was announced last fall, each newspaper can implement the changes over time, with each newspaper announcing the changes at different times and making their own selections from the list of unified options. announced. Many fans missed this news at the time and didn’t notice anything until the strip was actually changed. for example, Akron Beacon Journal It was announced on January 7th. ofaustin american politician It was announced on January 20th. Daytona Beach News Journal was announced on January 21st. arizona republicand tennessean.

doonesbury New strips only occur on Sundays (daily strips are billed as reprints) classic doonesbury), both the daily and Sunday editions were discontinued by all Gannett newspapers. in fact, Akron Beacon Journal Last month, we also received a letter from a reader complaining to the editor. doonesbury This is old enough news that complaints about this have already been printed, as it has been removed. In this case, many fans only realized that Doonesbury had disappeared from all Gannett newspapers when they were alerted that the article could be “banned” due to its content. .

doonesbury is still available online at Andrews McMeel Universal’s GoComics, and of course at many non-Gannett newspapers across the country (although many of those newspapers are also wary of the strip’s content). , and the comics are in the editorial comics section).

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