Jay Pugazhenthi
Steve Nease
Most newspapers had a full-time cartoonist on staff. Now, the juice just isn’t worth the squeeze. Steve Nease, one of Canada's premier cartoonists, isn’t surprised. A lot of papers no longer run, not just his, but any cartoons.
“Sometimes, it’s a cost-cutting matter,” he admits.
Cartoonists aren’t expensive, but “when papers are facing difficult financial times, they’d rather not take risks that might hurt their bottom line.” Upholding a longstanding journalistic tradition doesn’t override fears of alienating advertisers and upsetting readers.
“It’s unfortunate because people love controversial cartoons.”
Cartooning began as entertainment on the editorial page, designed “to break up the greyness,” as Nease puts it.
But is it just entertainment? Can cartoonists sway public opinion? Nease believes they can as they have a visual power.
“There have been many examples of Canadian and American politicians who are portrayed a certain way in a cartoon, and that image sticks to them.”
He points to an incident involving Robert Stanfield, the Conservative leader who stood against Pierre Trudeau in the 60s.
“[Stanfield] got out of a plane during a campaign stop, and someone tossed him a football. Well, he fumbled it. And that was the image that cartoonists used after that happened. They would portray him as a fumbler…a bumbler. All of a sudden, he’s fumbling a football in the cartoon, but the football is labelled some campaign or political issue – so he’s fumbling that. That stuck with him, and he lost the election. A lot of people say [the cartoons] played a big part.”
1 of 7
2 of 7
3 of 7
4 of 7
5 of 7
6 of 7
7 of 7
Along with humour, a key characteristic of cartooning is caricature. Features are exaggerated to comical proportions. Today, that aspect of political cartooning is slowly disappearing. What was acceptable before doesn’t cut it anymore, Nease says, as “it may be perceived as unfairly or unjustly drawing attention to someone’s physical appearance for the sake of humour.”
But ideas are still in demand.
“A political cartoon is 60% idea and 40% drawing. Because without a good idea, no matter how good the drawing is, a cartoon is just not going be strong,” he reveals.
Despite the challenges and evolution of cartooning, Nease is weathering the storm with a smile. No day is a dull one; he loves “getting up and going down the hall to [his] office – it’s an easy commute,” he quips.
And he’s been doing that since late 1978 when he first moved to Oakville. Hired initially in the advertising field, he took up a job as a cartoonist at a newspaper to support his young family at the time.
Looking back, Nease isn’t sure if he would’ve done things differently the second time.
“It doesn’t do any good to look back and wonder ‘what if,’ but maybe I would’ve taken education more seriously.”
Nease holds a university degree but wasn’t a good student for the lack of attention he paid in class – something he attributes to his artistic temperament.
“I was busy doodling and drawing pictures of the professor.”
