Like many other media outlets, the New York Times treats cartoonists as unpersons. Check out this piece about Israel:
A cartoon in the centrist newspaper Yediot Aharonot illustrated the concern. It showed Mr. Netanyahu’s returning plane flying near a volcano. Inside the plane someone says, “All in all, it was a very successful visit.” From the volcano, smoke rises that spells out “S-E-P-T-E-M-B-E-R.”
Newspapers and airwaves were filled with similar commentary. Avi Dichter, a former head of the Shin Bet internal security service and a Parliament member from the centrist Kadima Party, said on Israel Radio, “My fear is that this round of speeches in the United States may leave us and the Palestinians with a closed door.” He added, “It is impossible that in the present reality in the Middle East and here between the sea and the Jordan River we have no next step.”
Who drew the cartoon? We don’t know. But they namecheck the radio host.
The typical usage–“A cartoon in the New Yorker…”–is offensive to those of us who try to produce art that is non-interchangeable. We complain; they promise to change; they never do.
