A loss to journalism

By JOSEPH R. SCHWARTZ
Published July 14, 2007

The newspaper world lost one of its most eccentric, courageous and gifted journalists Tuesday when Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Doug Marlette died in a car accident in Mississippi.

Marlette, 57, worked at the Charlotte Observer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Newsday, the Tallahassee Democrat and most recently the Tulsa World. In addition to being a widely syndicated cartoonist, he also found time to write books and create the comic strip Kudzu, which was adapted into a musical.

The Florida State University graduate also worked briefly at the St. Petersburg Times in the early 1970s.

In his editorial cartoons, Marlette wasn't afraid to cross the line to make a point, whether taking on religion or politicians. One of his most controversial cartoons showed a Middle Eastern man driving a Ryder truck hauling a nuclear warhead. The caption read, "What Would Mohammed Drive?" The Tallahassee Democrat, where he was working at the time, received more than 20,000 e-mails from Muslims around the world demanding an apology.

As he once put it, cartoonists don't need First Amendment protection to do inoffensive cartoons, something he was never accused of producing.

His work often drew the wrath of readers, but he always met them with a rapid retort.

When a reader called to accuse him of being a "tool of Satan" for drawing Jerry Falwell as a serpent in PTL paradise after Jim Bakker resigned in scandal, Marlette responded, "That's impossible. I couldn't be a tool of Satan. The Charlotte Observer's personnel department tests for that sort of thing ... (it) has a strict policy against hiring tools of Satan."

As for his eccentric side, he once submitted his entry for a Pulitzer Prize in a pizza box and regularly stole the Charlotte publisher's parking space.

He will be remembered for his passion, his humor and his uncompromising defense of the First Amendment, especially against the forces of political correctness.

He once wrote: "The censors no longer come to us in jackboots with torches and baying dogs in the middle of the night. They arrive now in broad daylight with marketing surveys and focus-group findings. They come as teams, not armies, trained in effectiveness, certified in sensitivity, and wielding degrees from the Columbia journalism school. They are known not for their bravery but for their efficiency. They show gallantry only when they genuflect to apologize."

Doug Marlette's death marks a serious loss to journalism.

[Last modified July 14, 2007, 01:27:57]