Editors, cartoonists learn to coexist.

The Editor/Cartoonist relationship was gingerly, respectfully, and very seriously parsed at NCEW's September convention. The Saturday afternoon panel entitled "Dealing successfully with the editorial cartoonist" drew a whopping 18 of the conference's 165 attenders.

Panelists John Branch, Etta Hulme, and Ben Sargent professed to having good working arrangements with their editors. They were joined by Mindy Cameron of The Seattle Times, who ruefully joked that she shouldn't be on the panel given her lack of successful dealings with her editorial cartoonist. She would not get into specifics of her decision last year to eliminate Brian Bassett's job.

Tanned, fit, and ready from his training as an AAEC panelist in Baltimore, Phoenix editor Paul Schatt filled in at the last moment as the panel's moderator.

Cameron began the hour by saying that she respects the cartooning profession but warned that the cartoonist's position shouldn't become "too revered" if that means not continuing a dialogue about the job. She suggested editors be clear with cartoonists about their responsibilities and discuss what kind of cartoons are expected.

"Cartoonists just want respect," said Ben Sargent, looking typically professorial and sounding like Aretha Franklin's pale WASP cousin. Pointing out the power of cartoons, he said, "I don't recall seeing an awful lot of computers or office cubicles with editorials stuck up on them!

"Other than his paycheck, trust is the most important aspect of the job," he added.

After years of work at the Austin Statesman American, Sargent says his editors "trust me not to do something too outre. I trust them to back me up."

John Branch said his 15 years at the San Antonio Express have earned him trust and that he'd started out strongly by talking to Bill Sanders, then the cartoonist at The Milwaukee Journal, about what to expect.

After adding her amens, Etta Hulme described her day at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which includes showing rough sketches to her editor. If there are any problems, she prefers to start over on new ideas rather than incorporate helpful hints from the editorial class.

Editors chimed in, many saying they expected to see the cartoon in advance so they would know what's going on their pages if for no other reason than to make sure it didn't clash with other art.

One editor said that when he was working with a "superstar" cartoonist, he'd occasionally say the cartoon didn't work, a comment that would draw an explosion from the supernova. Nevertheless, he felt it was his duty to point out what the cartoonist didn't see.

Some questions involved inquiries about syndicates getting cartoons to editors faster by using computer transmission. Others were interested in bringing along local talent.

One editor wanted to know why, if local cartooning was the most potent form of the sport, an editor should hire a cartoonist who would do mostly national cartoons when the editor could get those cartoons from a syndicate. Lee Judge's name and writing were invoked as the main promoter of local cartoons.

While several panelists said the cartoonist can put a local spin on national issues, the point was not argued, and an honest airing of the tension between the cartoonist's desire for national syndicate recognition and the paper's desire for a local presence was left to be resolved at some future panel.

Signe Wilkinson is editorial cartoonist for the Philadelphia Daily News.