'Dilbert' Comic Dropped by Nearly 80 Newspapers

[Celerity]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/dilbert-comic-dropped-by-nearly-80-newspapers



Satirical office comic strip “Dilbert” has been dropped by almost 80 newspapers, its creator said this week. Scott Adams, who has been writing and illustrating the beloved cartoon since 1989, announced the brutal cut on social media. “Dilbert was cancelled in 77 newspapers this week,” Adams tweeted, later adding that “one large chain” was responsible for the move.

It appears that the cartoon has been caught up in wider changes being made by Lee Enterprises, which is said to be scaling back cartoon pages from its publications. Some have suggested that the cuts to the strip could have to do with Adams’ political views—but Adams himself has lampooned the idea. Sharing a link to an article headlined “Was Dilbert ‘Cancelled’ as Comic Creator Scott Adams Suggests?” Adams tweeted Wednesday: “All fake news here but funny.”

Link to tweet

Read it at New York Daily News

[questionseverything]

1. Lee enterprises are responsible for the end of journalism in many a small town

[Kaleva]

5. Modern technology is more to blame IMHO

A weekly newspaper can't compete against instant communication on the Internet.

[questionseverything]

7. Maybe they can't compete financially but

Back in the day before lee took over my local paper, i read the whole thing front to back ( skimming sports and want ads)

The details about war, droughts, famine and plague in the first section with the second section being dedicated to local news, robberies, shootings and car accidents and bar fights.

Everything anyone wanted to know about anything

First lee got rid of all national news, cut so many reporters that local news amounted to a couple of feel good stories and births, deaths and the want ads

Even the farm section, slashed

Honestly there is a local bunch of Facebook people that do a better job of actually providing the news

[Kaleva]

11. But today people can get the news instantly by internet or streaming

Many in the older generation where I live still get a local paper but I know of no one, middle age and younger, that does. It's similiar with land lines. Older people tend to have but but very few younger folks do.

[questionseverything]

12. Yes everyone can get the news headlines but

Except for magazines like the guardian there is no depth to the news

[Kaleva]

14. One can get as much depth as they want on the internet

I can spend a lot of time reading about a news story from numerous sources on the internet. With a newspaper, you have just that one article.

Most every night I spend a couples of hours on YouTube watching news, both foreign and domestic, covering the war in Ukraine . I also check out a couple of YouTuber channels covering the same. I couldn't get that with a newspaper.

[questionseverything]

15. See the difference is most people don't have hours every night to read the net

Back then reporters gathered the news and presented the most important national/world news to their readers along with local news

Nationally there are still a couple large newspapers but the day of the small town paper are over and lee enterprise are responsible for a lot of those deaths ….all in the interest of the all important bottom line

[RobinA]

16. Yeah, And That's

working real well.

[Kaleva]

19. Has it been a negative or a plus for you?

[arkielib]

2. Good riddance

[musette_sf]

3. They also cut Bizarro (a strip I like)

and Baby Blues, among others. Sometimes, it’s not all about YOU, pointy-hair boss… I mean, Scott.

[mnmoderatedem]

4. along with many others

Dilbert, and Adams, were not singled out, though he is claiming to be.

And he's a trumper, so not at all a surprise.

[sir pball]

24. RTA, please. He is not claiming that, at all.

Not only from the article but from the summary, posted right here: "Some have suggested that the cuts to the strip could have to do with Adams’ political views—but Adams himself has lampooned the idea."

A Conglom-O decided to save money by cutting dozens of the strips they own from the newspapers they own, and Dilbert was one of them. It has nothing to do with the politics of the author, and even he acknowledges that.

[MichMan]

6. Maybe it was just stale and ran it's course.

[Amishman]

8. It's not. Despite his RW ness seeping in, he's still fairly funny.

Then again, I work in IT, so his particular brand of office humor is right on target for me.

[Wounded Bear]

10. Yeah, I still get a chuckle out of it most days...

I didn't do IT, but I did manufacturing and engineering for years, often straddling that particular line while dealing with marketing.

Good times.

[Quixote1818]

9. Fuck him. He was on the Trump bandwagon early then tried to distance himself. nt

[prodigitalson]

13. I teach ESL students

I was given some lesson material that included a Dilbert cartoon that the students were supposed to try to comprehend. One of my students said. "i don't get it." I explained the joke and she said "I understand the the joke, I just don't think it is funny."

I told her that that is because it isn't.

[llmart]

17. I never thought it was funny.

Though I admit after a few tries, I never tried again. Just not my brand of "humor" I guess.

Hope his 15 minutes of fame are up.

[ificandream]

18. As someone who handled newspaper comics during my time at a newspaper ...

... Comics get canceled for various reasons. The most obvious is reader preference.

I hope, though, he was canceled for his idiocy.

[dalton99a]

20. "I am being treated very badly by the media. It is very, very unfair!!"

Good riddance

[jmowreader]

21. As someone who does newspaper comics professionally, I got interested in this

Lee Enterprises, who has 77 properties in its newspaper portfolio, has reduced its "entertainment" pages to one which is used in every property. They now only run ten comics, the LA Times Crossword, Sudoku and Jumble. As far as I can tell, some of Lee's properties were running over 20 comics before this happened. They also run their comics in black & white rather than color, which further cuts costs because a license for a color strip is more expensive than for the same strip in black & white.

The comics they run, which are all Andrews McMeel features, are:
Garfield
Baby Blues
Peanuts
For Better or for Worse
Pearls Before Swine
The Argyle Sweater
Close to Home
Pickles
Crabgrass
Luann

So...this apparently seems to be a case of extreme budget cutting - they also got rid of a bunch of people at the same time, including several senior managers - rather than a right-wing newspaper group cancelling a right-wing cartoonist for...I don't know, maybe not being right-wing enough in his product?

[renate]

22. not Mutts? Dang

I don't get a newspaper but I love that comic strip. So sweet.

[jmowreader]

23. Not a big fan of Mutts, sorry

Strange thing though...you remember the Fatty Snax Deli that was in Mutts on a regular basis for a really long time? Then Patrick McDonnell, the creator, had the butcher go vegan and changed it to a vegan deli for a solid week. It's never been seen since, at least not in the "vegan deli" form, so apparently he either ran out of jokes that'd work in a vegan deli after trying it for a week, or it wasn't popular. A few times a year he goes on a serious animal rights tirade.