Black Ink Monday

Dozens of editorial cartoonists will band together tomorrow for "Black Ink Monday" in protest of corporate downsizing at daily newspapers around the country.

Per the press release from the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists: Over the last 20 years, the number of cartoonists on the staff of daily newspapers nationwide has been cut in half. In the last month alone, the Tribune Company (owner of the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and a half-dozen other prominent papers), has forced out well-known and award-winning cartoonists at the LA Times and Baltimore Sun, eliminating their positions entirely.

Now, editorial cartoonists are responding to these cuts, in the best way they know how — by throwing ink.

These cartoons will be posted on editorialcartoonists.com and in various papers across the country.

In an open letter to Tribune CEO Dennis FitzSimons, AAEC President Clay Bennett recently wrote: "There are few journalists in a newsroom who can define the tone and identity of a publication like an editorial cartoonist does. By discarding those who make a newspaper unique, you rob it of its character. By robbing a newspaper of its character, you steal its spirit." Bennett recently spoke to NPR about the cuts; go and listen.