I was going to let this go

I really was.

Some of you may remember that one of my client papers, the Des Moines City View, was bought by new owners six months ago. They emailed me repeatedly, very eager to keep the cartoon, and then abruptly dropped it. I mentioned it here, a lot of readers complained, and the cartoon was reinstated.

Ah, but it wasn’t over yet. Last month I got this email from the editor:

I just wanted to let you know that this week, Oct. 19, is the last date we are running Tom Tomorrow. Like a ton of other papers, we need to tighten things up. There is nothing personal. Love the cartoon. Just need to utilize every bit of space we can with our salaried employees.

Thanks, Jon Gaskell

I didn’t mention it on the site because I figured, whatever, if they’re this determined to lose the strip, there’s not much I can do about it. It’s a shame, but I’ve picked up a couple of new papers lately; these things tend to even out.

I really wasn’t going to mention it until a Des Moines reader pointed this out:

I, too, am extremely disappointed to learn that “This Modern World” has been “voted out” and that Kenneth Cleaver’s Consumer Correspondent apparently has been cut, as well. There were only two features that led me, unfailingly, to pick up Cityview each week, and those two were it. What’s going on? At least give us some explanation as to the sudden disappearance of this content. Was it a cost-cutting measure, or a Gannett-like tactic of making the content more “mainstream?” Did TMW hit a little too close to home for some of your advertisers?
Jeff Ewoldt
Des Moines

Editor’s note: Actually, both “TMW” and Consumer Correspondent were pulled because our staff thought each was losing its edge, and each will be thoughtfully replaced with smarter content in the near future.

Strange. I thought they just needed to tighten things up.

Oh well. Those of you in Des Moines–please do keep me posted. I look forward to learning what the discerning editors of this fine paper consider “edgy.” Not to mention “smarter.”