June 30, 2018

They did what they could. They drew. 

Editorial cartoonists drew from the heart as the mass shootings they so often have to convey hit close to home

"Journalists are honorable people and I am very proud to be a member of this community," wrote New Yorker cartoonist Liza Donnelly, who drew the image atop this story from her phone. 

"We stand with our brothers & sisters at the @capgaznews," wrote Pat Bagley, president of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists. "Journalism is the only profession specifically protected in the Constitution, yet our lives are under daily threat these days from those who would silence inconvenient facts & informed opinions."

Here are how a few AAEC members represented the tragedy in Maryland. J.D. Crowe of the Alabama Media Group (below, used with permission) took the we-are-them approach that cartoonists used after the mass shooting at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris in January 2015.

We are all journalists cartoon
J.D Crowe/Alabama Media Group

Clay Bennett of the Chattanooga Times Free Press took another approach.

Clay Bennett
Clay Bennett/Chattanooga Times Free Press 

Joel Pett of the Lexington Herald-Leader reflected the debate over "fake news."

Joel Pett of the Lexington Herald-Leader
Joel Pett/Lexington Herald-Leader

Cartoonist Steve Artley took a similar approach:

Steve Artley cartoon on Capital Gazette killings

Bob Englehart envisioned another front page, commemorating the fallen.

Bob Englehart / Capital Gazette cartoon

Brutal: The Philadelphia Inquirer's Signe Wilkinson with a different take on a Letter to the Editor.

Letter to the editor

From Marshall Ramsey of the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss.:

reporters in heaven

From John Cole of the Scranton Times/Tribune:

Remembering reporters

And Uncle Sam, from Steve Breen of the San Diego Union-Tribune:

Uncle Sam cartoon - Maryland newsroom killing

Related: Tested by Parkland, editorial cartoonists see a movement

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