Hello again, I'm Warren Alney.

Welcome to To the Point.

Politics and the art of cartooning are linked in American history, starting with the pamphlets

published by colonists and revolutionaries.

Since then, political cartoons have been featured on newspaper editorial pages, but they are not

risk-free. In a moment, we'll talk with Rob Rogers, who's the latest casualty.

Then we'll talk with a historian who's made cartooning the subject of her life's work from the yellow kid to

candorville. She says cartoonists provide a barometer of America's political atmosphere. We'll hear from

the mayor of New York City, reading the funny papers on the radio in 1945. But first, here's

Rob Rogers, recently fired after 25 years as the editorial

cartoonist at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette in Western Pennsylvania. Welcome aboard.

Yeah, happy to be here. This has been quite an incident, and a lot of publicity has resulted

from this. Tell us, first of all, if you will, what's been the backlash?

Well, you know, the media blitz has been amazing,

and, of course, I've had an outpouring of support from friends and fans here in Pittsburgh and beyond.

So the support has been overwhelming, and I've been very touched by it.

As far as the rest of it, I mean, you know, I spent 25 years at the newspaper,

and this is not exactly the best way to go out.

However, if you have to be downsized, I suppose getting this

kind of media attention for it isn't a bad thing.

When you say friends and fans in the Pittsburgh area and beyond, what do you mean by

beyond? How much of a circulation does this cartoon like yours get?

...