Controversial Cartoonist, Award-Winning Photographer Let Go by Media Outlets

CONCORD, NH — Two recent media layoff announcements involving a sometimes controversial cartoonist and a long-time photographer known for covering the state’s first-in-the-nation primary are shaking New Hampshire news readers and politicos to the core as news orgs navigate their way through the changing – and difficult – financial future. Jim Cole, an Associated Press photographer from New Hampshire who has covered every primary since 1980, was recently laid-off by the news company – one of 25 layoffs – announced last week, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader. Also announcing that his freelance contract had not been renewed is Mike Marland, the editorial cartoonist of the Concord Monitor, who will not be featured in the waning print publication after Jan. 1, 2017, according to a post online.

The announcement that Cole was let go came as a shock to many; not because people in the news business aren’t used to hearing about layoffs but because of his voluminous amount of amazing work he had accomplished. Cole has been sent everywhere around the state for decades and was the go-to shooter for print publications in New Hampshire. If Cole was there, they didn’t have to send a photographer.

Gov. Maggie Hassan proclaimed Dec. 21, 2016, Jim Cole Day, in honor of his work, and before her last meeting with the Executive Council at the Statehouse. He spoke at the meeting, thanking everyone for their support.

“I’ve met people, from top to bottom, and left to right, and I want to thank all of them for participating in my happiness in covering this state,” he said. “All of the people of New Hampshire are wonderful people. Thank you.”

Back in January, CNN covered Cole’s storied history of covering the primary in this feature story.

Marland made the announcement that he was cut by the Monitor in a post his website entitled, “I’M A GONER.” He stated that he had been “let go as a cost-cutting measure” although the Monitor – which sometimes seems to have difficulty being completely accurate with its news presentations – stated he was “leaving” the Monitor.

After more than 6,000 cartoons, writer David Brooks noted, “Marland will be leaving the Monitor as of Jan. 1 for a reason that is all too common among newspapers these days: His freelance contract was not renewed for financial reasons.” Monitor Editor Steve Leone said that the decision was not something the newspaper “took lightly,” acknowledging that Marland had been working at the newspaper for three decades.

The use of the word “leaving” though – which tends to be used as a notification of a voluntary act – is disingenuous and reads strangely in both the headline and text of the Monitor's story when, in fact, it was the decision of the newspaper to eliminate Marland’s contract.

Because it is a privately-owned business, it’s unknown what the finances are like at the Monitor. However, the newspaper has been struggling for many years and relying on its printing presses to subsidize its news operation, like a number of family owned and operated newspapers around the United States.

But it is no surprise: As the media landscape has changed, so have the choices for consumers, whether it's online news and community outlets like Patch or the multimedia formats that Binnie Media has in Concord. Monitor circulation in the late 1990s was around 22,000; a decade later, it had dropped to about 18,000. Earlier this year, the org was stating in its sales information that circulation was around 17,000. In 2008, the newspaper went through a redesign to save money and focus on local news. In August 2013, the company laid-off its director of photography and a number of other people, including the elimination of vacant positions, according to some of the staffers who were let go at the time.

Marland – who offers left-of-center art, often criticizing Republicans, gun owners, Granite Staters, and others – is also not without controversy.

Back in the spring of 2012, he portrayed then-House Speaker William O’Brien, R-Mont Vernon, with a Hitler-style mustache, causing a furor in the state. The likening was made after a state representative offered a Nazi salute from the House floor. The cartoon led O’Brien to barring the newspaper’s then two-person Statehouse bureau from a press avail about EBT card abuse. The act of limiting representation during the avail – something that had been done by other House leaders in the past – caused a national firestorm. O’Brien later quipped that the newspaper wasn’t a real news organization but “democratic propagandists.”

This week, IndepthNH.org, a self-proclaimed nonprofit watchdog news website published by the New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism, started an effort to raise money to continue to fund Marland’s cartoons.

The organization, according to its website, states its mission this way:

We believe that vigorous, in-depth news coverage focused on government and public servants is the bedrock of a thriving democracy.

We promise to hold government accountable. Our goal is to foster civil debate and spur citizens to action in a way that will make government more responsive to its citizens.

But one has to wonder – how does a leftwing cartoonist who compares public officials to Hitler provide that?

In its pitch for donations, West added, “We are also desperately seeking a right-leaning GOP NH editorial cartoonist to give Mike Marland a run for his money. We are an unbiased investigative news outlet so please call me if you’ve got what it takes.”

Jim Cole photo credit CNN screenshot.