Editorial cartoonists are dropping like flies, in concert with the declining health of the newspaper industry. The Internet is the most likely culprit. As people increasingly turn to to their computers for news, some cartoonists, like Mark Fiore, are adapting as well — becoming animators. This year’s Pulitzer winning editorial cartoonist won partially for his body of animated work, and members of the AAEC are asking themselves: If it’s animated, is it still an editorial cartoon?Check out this animation by Nick Anderson of the Houston Chronicle. What do you think?

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For some unknown reason, Elayne Boosler, guest hosting the Stephanie Miller Show on Jones Radio Network (& aired on many Air America affiliates), decided to spend a few minutes interviewing yours truly this morning. I didn’t post about this beforehand or tell friends or family because it would scare the hell out of me knowing that people were actually listening to me live. “They” say most Americans fear public speaking more than they fear death, and for a cartoonist who’s used to spending his days alone, half-naked in a tiny studio with only his characters to keep him company, death would be #3. #2 would be having to wear pants.Still, I sit for interviews whenever I’m asked because, hell, this is a dream come true for me — creating cartoons that strangers (who don’t owe me anything) spend a few precious, irretrievable seconds out of their days to read — and when someone asks me to talk about that on the radio or TV or a panel discussion, it’s a reminder that it’s actually happening, that that little kid who “wasted time” drawing Optimus Prime and Snoopy in his textbooks actually became what he wanted to be.Here’s the interview. Behind this buffer of time, it isn’t so scary. From today’s Stephanie Miller Show:

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If the Media were truly Liberal, this (minus the sarcastic bookends) is the kind of thing we’d see during the day after Oprah, instead of after Midnight on a Saturday:

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I would so definitely see this…

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When Al Gore ran for the presidency, his opponents mocked his military service, because he had carried a journalist’s pen, not an AK-47, through the jungles of Vietnam. But the mounting death toll of journalists serving in Iraq should serve as a reminder that being a journalist in a war zone is a service every bit as dangerous. Some war zones are closer to home.Oakland Post reporter Chauncey Bailey was struck down by a masked assassin on a busy intersection in broad daylight this morning. I lived in Oakland for 7 years and I only met Chauncey once, in 2004 at the New California Media convention. He was an Oakland Tribune reporter at the time. What a character. A no-nonsense “just the facts” kind of questioner, but at the same time, his writing showed a person eager to point out the larger picture facts sometimes obscure. That probably describes most journalists, but with most journalists I know, that’s the hat they put on when they go to work, or else it’s just one tool in their trade. With Chauncey, it seemed from our brief meeting and the e-mails that followed, that that was who he was. A reliably double sided coin: all business, but on the flip side, all compassion.Chauncey was a race-conscious writer – a man who obviously wanted to use his talents to encourage the black community in Oakland and California to confront uncomfortable truths and to participate fully in society rather than remain balkanized and demoralized. Sometimes I disagreed with the conclusions he drew in his writing, but I never disagreed with his motivation or his idealism.Chauncey became interested in helping Candorville gain the attention of the Oakland Tribune. It isn’t easy for a new strip to break into new markets, even when it’s your hometown paper. Oftentimes, editors won’t look past the cover of the sales brochure, let alone read far enough to realize the cartoonist lives just 28 blocks from them. Chauncey gave my wife the publisher’s phone number, and we called and introduced ourselves. About a year later, the ANG, which owns the Tribune, added Candorville. This was after my syndicate’s editor flew out to encourage ANG to take a good look at the strip, but I don’t doubt that Chauncey’s help played a role.He profiled me in 2004 and wrote an article about my work for the regional black press. Actually, he sent my wife Laura a list of questions (I guess he knew who the efficient one was), I gave her my answers and she e-mailed them back to him. I never did see the article, because we were out of town when it ran and I didn’t want to bug him for a copy. But Laura and I looked through her old e-mail file and we still have the questions, and my answers. These pretty much sum up my impression of the man. Each question is concise, no-nonsense. All business. In that, you see Chauncey’s mind. But if you look at the subtext, you see the man’s heart.

===== Comments by cbailey@angnewspapers.com (Chauncey Bailey) at 6/09/04 3:08 pmI can do a feature on (Darrin) for the regional black press. tell me (50 words or less per question)1. His background.Darrin: My father’s black, and my mother is Jewish (white). I was born in South Central L.A. and raised in East L.A. and the San Fernando Valley. I was bused 40 miles per day to magnet schools. I graduated from U.C. Berkeley with a BA in Political Science in 1999, and chose to stay in Oakland.2. How he got started?Darrin:I edited my high school paper and continued pursuing journalism in college. I drew editorial cartoons and comic strips for the Daily Cal, and when I felt I was good enough I started faxing them every day to the LA Times, Oakland Trib and SF Chronicle. They all eventually started running them.3. Why?Darrin:I want to show a more developed view of Blacks and Latinos than I’ve seen in the comics pages. They’re either angry about injustice 24-7 or they’re the Cosby’s. Reality is a mix of all that. I want to show minorities with a wide range of thoughts and goals.4. Successes?Darrin:To my knowledge I’m the first and only Black cartoonist to have two comic strips in syndication, and the youngest (of any race) to do so. At 20 (in 1995), I was the youngest editorial cartoonist to be published regularly inthe LA times. My work’s been on CNN, and other television news broadcasts. I won several awards in college.5. Setbacks?Darrin:My first comic strip, “Rudy Park,” focused on the dotcom revolution until that revolution crashed in 2000. Most of the magazines that ran the strip went out of business. Then it was syndicated. Editorial cartooning setbacks came when papers began using more syndicated work and less freelance work. “Candorville” hasn’t had any setbacks – yet.6. Goals?Darrin:To reach as many readers as possible and present them with an image of African-Americans and Latinos that doesn’t gloss over the downsides of life, but that never loses its appreciation for the good in life. I want to show you don’t have to be angry to be passionate. You don’t have to be disrespectful to get respect.7. Tips for young Black artistsDarrin:Practice. Have something IMPORTANT to say and figure out how best to say it, whether it’s visual or performing arts. But don’t wait for someone to discover you. You’ve got to take initiative. Enter contests. Even if you don’t win, you’re getting your name out there. Submit your work in a professional manner to as many people as you can. Network – meet people in the industry you want to be part of, and do not be afraid to ask them for advice. Usually, they’ll be glad to help you.

What I want to know is, what was Chauncey working on, what had he already written, or what else was he involved in, that may have gotten him assassinated? But this is Oakland. Who knows if the investigation will go farther than a fruitless sweep of the East side and a shrug of the shoulders.

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It didn’t take the Oakland PD long to find Chauncey Bailey’s assassin. If only Kennedy’s real killer had been this stupid.

A suspect in the daylight ambush shooting death of Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey was being formally booked today on suspicion of murder, authorities said. Devaughndre Broussard, 19, was in the process of being booked at the Alameda County jail in downtown Oakland in connection with Thursday’s slaying of Chauncey Bailey, 57, at 14th and Alice streets.Broussard was a handyman at Your Black Muslim Bakery who confessed to police Friday night that he ambushed and killed Bailey with a shotgun because he was upset with the journalist’s coverage of the group…More…

Did Broussard think murdering the reporter was going to lead to better coverage of the group?He couldn’t have been more wrong.

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Thank God for the Larry King show on CNN. Tonight he had four guests assess the first night of the Democratic National Convention. Michael Reagan, partisan right wing radio talk show host, Ben Stein, partisan right wing radio talk show host, and Lars Larson, partisan right wing radio talk show host. For balance, he gave us Republican congresswoman Marsha Blackburn.

I’d just finished watching Michelle Obama’s speech on my DVR, and I apparently got the wrong idea. When she spoke at length about how her father’s hard work and her mother’s hard work helped her and her brother succeed in life, I thought she was saying America rewards hard work. See what made me think that was when she said, among other similar aphorisms, “The only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work hard for them.” Apparently I was reading too much into that stuff, because when I flipped to Larry King afterward, I saw Lars Larson explaining what she really meant. According to Lars, what Michelle Obama really meant to convey with that story about hard work leading to success was the notion that “America’s not a place where you can get ahead if you try hard, and of course all of that is President Bush’s fault.”

Now, for a second that confused me. More than that, it angered me, the thought that I knew what I saw and here comes a guy who tells me it was actually the opposite of what I saw. But such anger is irrational. After all, this guy was wearing an expensive-looking jacket and his tie was neatly fastened around his doughy neck. More importantly, he was on television whereas I was sitting in anonymity on my couch in a comfortable (i.e. torn) t-shirt and boxers, wearing only one sock. Who would you trust?

Besides, there’s something intoxicating about the mind-numbing confusion that comes from Lars Larson telling me what I saw was the opposite of what I knew I’d seen. It was as though I could feel my brain cells throwing up their synapses in exasperation and just giving up. It felt just like popping bubble wrap with my feet. Only in my head, and with Lars’s feet.

Luckily, Larry King didn’t kill the buzz by asking Lars to, y’know, substantiate his analysis by citing a passage from her speech or anything. Rather, King said he would play a clip from Obama’s speech and then “accidentally” played a McCain attack ad instead. They all got a nice chuckle out of that mishap, a gleeful chuckle loud enough for me to hear over the sound of my own head banging against the wall.

I would’ve stuck around to see what Larry’s other 3 right wing guests had to say about that, but I sort of zoned out during the commercial and turned the channel to Matlock.

How else to explain these unexpectedly cruel “gotcha” questions?