Dean Stone speaker draws in a crowd

By Katrin Madayag
J-School Web Reporter

“Greater Georgelandia,” “Pokie the Punisher,” “Homeland Stupidity” – Mark Fiore’s cartoon titles reflect his philosophy. Political cartoons need to do two things: have a message and be funny, said the speaker for the 49th Annual Dean Stone Lecture last month.

photo by Garret W. Smith

Mark Fiore explains the need for content-based political cartooning in today's media at the 2006 Dean Stone Lecture.

“Get the message across in a much more palatable way,” Fiore said, and mix the editorial with entertainment. When a cartoon doesn’t say anything, it undermines the spirit of political cartooning, he said.

Fiore, a political cartoonist with roots in print journalism, now does animated political cartoons online, one of the only such cartoonists in the country.

Fiore began his lecture with a taste of cartooning from his Web site. A parody of the television show “24,” titled “36” – President Bush’s approval rating at the time – it cuts to a quick succession of boxes of “Special Agent Bush” contacting cohorts and trying to stop his plummeting approval rating.

While previous political cartoonists referenced the Bible, today’s cartoonists allude to pop culture, particularly television shows, Fiore said. Besides “24,” he’s spoofed “Get Smart” in “Get Smarter” and “Charlie’s Angels” in “Georgie’s Angels.”

The cast of characters in today’s government lends itself to the riffs, Fiore said. A political cartoonist couldn’t ask for better characters or events.

“As a cartoonist, I think it’s better than Watergate for material,” he said. When the vice president accidentally shot a hunting pal, Fiore poked fun at him in “Destroyer Dick.”

photo by Garret W. Smith

Dan Testa, graduate student in journalism, enjoys the political comedy of Mark Fiore's cartoons at the 2006 Dean Stone lecture.

Fiore started cartooning in the third grade when a classmate paid him $5 for a picture. A teacher also encouraged him to be creative and clued him in to the career of political cartooning. Although Fiore cartooned for his high school and college newspapers, he majored in political science rather than art. After college, he spent 10 years building up his clientele as a freelancer, selling his political cartoons to print publications.

But he still dreamed of getting a staff position at a newspaper. In 2001, he got a job at the San Jose Mercury News, and on his second day, “I realized it just sucked,” he said. He missed the lifestyle of the freelancer and disliked his editor, whom Fiore characterized as a frustrated cartoonist. When the publisher resigned and his replacement, a conservative, told his editorial staff to go easier on President Bush, Fiore left.

“In reality, I was much more stable as a freelancer,” he said. As a freelancer, Fiore has many clients, and if one doesn’t like him, he can rely on the others.

About five years ago, he moved to animation and began putting his cartoons online. He examined harsh subjects set to bouncy music, and friends provided the voices.

Fiore starts a cartoon by mapping an idea into a story board in his notebook.

photo by Garret W. Smith

Mark Fiore holds up a sketch book of what he may draw before his cartoons go into animation.

“The idea is still the hardest part for me,” he said. He mostly gets his news from the Internet, especially the San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Times. Fiore said he’ll even go with a bad idea just to get it of his system.

After that, he begins drawing for the animation. Using Flash software, he includes the voice recordings and puts the finished cartoon online. The process takes about three days.

Much of the traffic for his Web site comes from people goofing off at work, especially right after lunch, Fiore said. “Without people at work, I would be out of a job probably,” he said.

Fiore took issue with the recent publication of cartoons depicting Muhammad that outraged many Muslims. “It was published to incite, not enlighten,” he said. The cartoons were biased, he said, criticizing them as ham-fisted and blatantly “in your face.”

On his Web site, Fiore allows readers to respond to cartoons. In the cartoon “Pre-emptive Apology,” which examines the world’s response to the genocide in the Sudan, readers can click on a link that takes them to the “Save Darfur” Web site. 

Fiore is a 2005 winner of a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism award for his political cartoons, as well as a 2005 award for online commentary from the Online News Association.

These awards recognize Fiore’s emphasis that political cartoons should have a message.

“I want to say something – that’s the most important thing,” he said. “Cartoons should say something.”

back to J-School main page