Newspaper Cartoons: Why They Exist

Ever wonder why newspapers devote an entire non-revenue producing page, every day to a "silly group of pictures" called "cartoons"?

It is more revenue-producing than you may think.

Newspaper owners and publishers have known for years that the time to "hook" the reader is at an early age. They know that though the newspaper keeps the same name, journalists will change, quality of writing will change, advertisers will come and go, but to keep a newspaper alive, it needs loyalty.

Cartoons in many ways are news. They are what could be called extreme editing. They often reflect current news events and do so in a very ingenius way, with a graphic and a few words.

A reader who started reading a paper years ago, may not even be consciously aware that the quality of the paper has gone down (or up), but he/she does know that a cartoon will be there that will make them laugh.

The publisher and editor also knows that even after loyalty has been created, the average reader wants some comic relief as most news is bad news. If the reading gets too rough, he/she can always flip a few pages to the comics and smile.

A savvy newspaper wants a majority of cartoons to be "family-friendly" but also wants a mix of "somewhat controversial" or "different", though certainly reader-friendly to offset and appeal to college and post-grad level readers who may only have time to skim the paper, but will always go straight to their favorite cartoon, often before reading the news.

Cartoons also can be very influential. Charles "Sparky" Schulz knew that when creating "Peanuts".

Charlie Brown was the "proverbial loser" who, no matter how successful an adult becomes, still generally always works with that issue of "younger days" when even the dog knew answers more than him/or her.

Gary Larson's Far Side capitalized on the niche that though there were many cartoons available in newspapers, not many, if any, were reaching the more intellectual public. Larson was keenly aware that newspapers would try anything to lure intellect, which often reflected more education, hence more income, hence more advertising.

It is not well-known, but most cartoonists do not make the bulk of their money from newspaper publishing. It is from licensed products such as greeting cards, books, t-shirts, calendars and the like.

Cartooning is not just an art but a science and a shrewd business, following trends and knowing what newspaper readers want. It is all and well that the cartoon may be funny and/or well drawn, but to the savvy newspaper editor or publisher, is it attracting the loyalty of an influential audience? If it is, it is worth its weight in thousands of full-page ads, simply because eventually it will be attracting them, not to mention more readership.

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