There are a good number of ways in which the San Diego Union-Tribune is following national newspaper trends, including their latest buyout program, which Don Bauder at The Reader reported on yesterday.
But just like last year’s buyouts, there is one significant way in which the U-T is defying national newspaper trends — in times of budget cutting, they are protecting the editorial cartoonist position rather than cutting it. Today’s Voice of San Diego story on the buyouts explained the plan “…excluded a number of newsroom positions from buyouts, including … the editorial cartoonist.”
“They have long appreciated the power of the editorial cartoon here,” Union-Tribune cartoonist Steve Breen told me. “I’ve always loved working for the UT and I’ll stay as long as they’ll have me.”