Newspapers Are Dropping Non Sequitur Over Trump Transgression – (continually) updated

The Butler Eagle dropping Non Sequitur over the F… Yourself Trump hidden message

in the Sunday February 10 comics sections was only the tip of a growing iceberg.

Other newspapers are also banishing the Wiley Miller’s comic.

Among the papers ending their association with Non Sequitur are:

The aforementioned Butler Eagle

“We apologize that such a disgusting trick was perpetuated on the reading public. The Butler Eagle will discontinue that comic immediately,” Vodenichar said.

The Joplin Globe

This foolishness from Wiley has cost him publication in The Joplin Globe as well as a good many more newspapers, based on some of the internet stories I’ve read. Mistake or not, we can no longer count on this cartoonist. We will no longer run the daily or Sunday “Non Sequitur.” The replacement cartoon is the family-friendly “Nancy.”

The Effingham Daily News

The Effingham Daily News will discontinue publication of the syndicated “Non Sequitur” comic strip after learning Monday that a panel of the weekend strip published Saturday contained a scribbled, vulgar message to President Donald Trump.

The Anderson Herald Bulletin

The Herald Bulletin will discontinue publication of the syndicated “Non Sequitur” comic strip after learning Monday that a panel of the Sunday strip contained a scribbled, vulgar message to President Donald Trump. The Herald Bulletin, which does not publish the daily “Non Sequitur” strip, will drop the Sunday strip, effective Feb. 24. The Feb. 17 Sunday comics section has already been printed with the “Non Sequitur” strip included. There are no offensive messages in the Feb. 17 strip.

The Tulsa World

The Tulsa World has carried the comic “Non Sequitur” for many years as part of our daily panel of comics in the Scene section on Monday through Saturday. We do not carry it as part of our Sunday comics package. Regardless of anyone’s political views, to insert a vulgarity as a secret message in a comic that is read by thousands of people is unacceptable. The Tulsa World will no longer carry Non Sequitur as part of its comics coverage.

The Winston-Salem Journal

The comic strip panel “Non Sequitur” has been dropped from the Winston-Salem Journal’s comics lineup, effective today. The Journal was unaware of the hidden message until news accounts began to spread on Monday. Sunday comics are printed several days in advance. The Journal has replaced “Non Sequitur” with a strip called “Off the Mark.”

The Cedar Rapids Gazette

We have decided to immediately replace the “Non-Sequitur” syndicated comic in the daily and Sunday editions. Sunday’s version of the strip — under the guise of a children’s coloring activity — contained an obscenity directed at President Donald Trump. The language crossed a profanity line for us. We immediately are introducing the comic “Macanudo,” by Liniers.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch

The Twin Cities Pioneer Press

On Monday, multiple newspapers, including the St. Paul Pioneer Press, said they dropped the comic. “We just don’t need that kind of profanity snuck into the Sunday comics,” Pioneer Press editor Mike Burbach said. The comic will appear for a few more weeks in Sunday comics sections that have already been printed.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has joined other newspapers in dropping a syndicated cartoon after a Sunday strip contained a profane message to President Donald Trump. Kevin Riley, editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said Wiley Miller’s comic, “Non Sequitur,” will be replaced starting in Tuesday’s newspaper. He said that the comic was removed from Sunday’s upcoming edition, even though the comics section had already been printed. Riley added that Miller’s work will never again appear in The AJC.

The Dallas Morning News (noted as an update in the original report)

The Dallas Morning News will stop running a cartoonist who embedded an insulting expletive toward President Donald Trump in an editorial cartoon that appeared in hundreds of newspapers last weekend. Mike Wilson, editor of The News, said the newspaper had published plenty of Miller’s controversial comics, but this one went too far. Wilson called it one of “the easier editing decisions we will make all year. We’ll have no trouble finding a better way to spend the $8,000 we would’ve paid for that strip.”

The Columbus Dispatch (noted as an update in the original report)

The Dispatch has canceled Wiley Miller’s “Non Sequitur” comic strip, daily and Sunday, because of foul language the author used in an attack on President Donald Trump in a comic strip published on Sunday, Feb. 10. Editors at The Dispatch did not see the words scribbled in fine print before the strip was published. That will not happen again. Wiley Miller has lost our trust. Therefore, we will not publish his work going forward.

Others, no doubt, will be joining the movement.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is mulling the matter:

“It’s nothing we would have sanctioned, had we seen it,” said Sally Stapleton, Post-Gazette managing editor. “I can assure you, had we spotted it, we would have pulled it out.” The Sunday comics are sent directly from Andrews McMeel Syndication to the Post-Gazette’s production facility in Clinton, where they are printed two weeks before they are distributed to customers. The Eagle has a similar process. The Post-Gazette is considering its options to replace “Non Sequitur.”

The Chattanooga Times Free Press offered the syndicate’s and cartoonist’s apologies,

but doesn’t seem to be cutting the comic.

Some readers were upset about the “Non Sequitur” cartoon that appeared in Sunday’s edition and included an obscene expletive regarding President Donald Trump. The syndicate that represents the cartoonist, Andrews McMeel, on Monday, issued an apology. The cartoonist, Wiley Miller, also apologized.

A day later the Chattanooga Times Free Press had decided to drop Non Sequitur:

The Times Free Press has decided to discontinue the comic “Non Sequitur” after an expletive was tucked into the version…

February 12 Update – and the hits just keep on coming!

The Orlando Sentinel

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel

The Hartford Courant

The Chicago Tribune

and other Tribune Publishing newspapers

The comic strip Non Sequitur in Sunday’s Orlando Sentinel and others papers across the nation included a vulgar comment directed at President Donald Trump. When Sentinel editors heard what was done, we decided to stop publishing Non Sequitur. Other newspapers in our group, Tribune Publishing, are taking similar action, including the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the Hartford Courant and the Chicago Tribune. Julie Anderson, editor-in-chief of the Orlando Sentinel and the Sun-Sentinel, said the cartoonist’s action was “a breach of trust with our readers.”

The Spokane Spokesman-Review (dropped into the syndicated Washington Post story)

Many newspapers pre-print their Sunday comics sections – including The Spokesman-Review – meaning the Non Sequitur strip will appear in this coming week’s Sunday comics section because it already has been printed. As at most newspapers across the nation, the Sunday comics that appear in The Spokesman-Review are sent directly to the newspaper’s printing and production facility, where they are typically printed two weeks before they are delivered to subscribers. “There are so many moving parts that you worry about when you publish a newspaper, that you don’t even think about the Sunday comics,” [Spokesman-Review editor Rob] Curley said. “The newsroom doesn’t even see them before they run. You just trust that they’re fine. Well, that trust has been violated in regard to Non Sequitur.” Because of other logistics issues, the Non Sequitur daily strip also will appear in The Spokesman-Review’s weekday papers until later in the week, when the strip will be replaced, Curley said.

The Rochester Post Bulletin

A message to our readers: The Post Bulletin will no longer publish the Non Sequitur cartoon. A recently published cartoon included vulgar language semi-hidden in an illustration.

The Olean New Times

The Bradford Era

The Wisconsin State Journal

The Wisconsin State Journal has decided to search for a new comic panel to replace “Non Sequitur” after eagle-eyed readers across the country found that Sunday’s comic contained a vulgar message directed toward President Donald Trump. Miller’s tweet on Sunday about the inclusion of the vulgarity, calling it an “Easter egg” and encouraging readers to look for it, was a deciding factor in the newspaper’s decision to drop the strip, [State Journal editor John] Smalley said. “We just can’t abide that kind of careless offense on the comics pages,” Smalley said. “It’s a great comic in general, but Miller really violated our trust. We feel we have to move on without him.” The State Journal intends to find a new comic in both the weekday and Sunday newspapers. Until a choice is made, we are offering “Cornered” by Mike Baldwin.

The Montana Standard

The Syracuse Post Standard

The Post-Standard is dropping the comic strip Non Sequitur after the artist’s Sunday strip took a hidden profane shot at President Trump. Said Trish LaMonte, vice president of content for The Post-Standard and Syracuse.com: “Mr. Miller made a juvenile and vulgar decision that does not meet our standards for the syndicated content we pay to have in the newspaper and is offensive to our readers, regardless of their political affiliations.” The comic strip runs daily in The Post-Standard. It’ll take more than a week to get the strip out of the newspaper because the comics pages are produced in advance. The strip will still be there next Sunday.

The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot

In Sunday’s comics section, the “Non Sequitur” cartoon by Wiley Miller contained a vulgar message hidden in an illustration. The Virginian-Pilot considers this a breach of trust with our readers and has halted publication of the “Non Sequitur” cartoon. We are replacing “Non Sequitur” with “The Middletons” as of today. However, The Pilot’s Sunday comic pages are prepared in advance, so readers will see one more “Non Sequitur” this Sunday.

The Raleigh News & Observer

The News & Observer will no longer will publish the “Non Sequitur” comic strip by Wiley Miller, and we want to explain our decision… While the cartoonist has apologized for including the profanity, The News & Observer has decided to end publication of his work. Because comic strips are handled by outside vendors, N&O editors do not review the content before publication and must trust the content creators to maintain appropriate standards. In this case, we no longer have that trust. Beginning Monday, readers will see the comic strip “Wallace the Brave” in place of “Non Sequitur.”

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune

The Herald-Tribune is canceling the daily and Sunday comic strip “Non Sequitur” because of profanity that the author used in reference to President Donald Trump in a strip published on Sunday, Feb. 10. The other editors and I at the Herald-Tribune must be able to trust that the people who provide content to the media company will uphold the high standards we have set, including artists and writers who produce comics.

The Indianapolis Star

The Indianapolis Star will no longer run the comic strip ‘Non Sequitur’ in its daily and Sunday newspapers after discovering its author used the cartoon as a platform for a profane, vulgar message aimed at President Donald Trump. The Star requires its staff to adhere to stringent editorial and ethical standards. We expect the same from the vendors with whom we contract. Wiley Miller, the author of the strip, failed to adhere to those standards when he included a profanity aimed at Trump in a semi-scribble in the comic.

This is adding up to a big income loss for Wiley. The 700 newspaper client list for the comic cited in some stories includes separate counts for a daily and Sunday client. So the Indianapolis Star and Sarasota Herald-Tribune (directly above) carrying both daily and Sunday count as four toward that 700 total, and plenty of the of papers did carry both weekday and Sunday. Also the larger the circulation of a newspaper the more it is charged for a comic strip – there are a lot of medium to large-sized newspapers above joining the list of those banning Non Sequitur.

Some papers who haven’t announced cancellation

are being urged by their readers to do so.

From the St Louis Post-Dispatch:

I have seen no response in the Post-Dispatch to the highly offensive insult hidden in the Non Sequitur comic strip Sunday. The paper owes everyone two apologies: first, for publishing the offensive material; and second, for not responding promptly with termination of the strip and a disclaimer of the message it conveyed.

The Wichita Eagle

To our readers: The Wichita Eagle will no longer publish the “Non Sequitur” comic strip by Wiley Miller, and we want to explain our decision…

While the cartoonist has apologized for including the profanity, The Eagle has decided to end publication of his work. Because comic strips are handled by outside vendors, Eagle editors do not review the content before publication and must trust the content creators to maintain appropriate standards. In this case, we no longer have that trust. Beginning Monday, readers will see the comic strip “Lio” in place of “Non Sequitur.”

To our readers: The Fresno Bee no longer will publish the “Non Sequitur” comic strip by Wiley Miller, and we want to explain our decision.

While the cartoonist has apologized for including the profanity, The Bee has decided to end publication of his work. Because comic strips are handled by outside vendors, Bee editors do not review the content before publication and must trust the content creators to maintain appropriate standards. In this case, we no longer have that trust. Beginning Monday, readers will see the comic strip “Lio” in place of “Non Sequitur.”

The Fayetteville Observer will no longer publish the cartoon Non Sequitur after its creator put profanity into his strip that published in Sunday newspapers across the country, including this one.

The Observer’s publisher, Bob Gruber, and I were shocked and disgusted by the profanity, especially because it appeared on the Comics pages that are read by children. We are in the process of replacing Non Sequitur with other content in the daily and Sunday papers. We sincerely apologize to all our readers for this serious lapse in the high standards we expect and demand from all our content providers.

The Peoria Journal Star

The Journal Star is canceling Wiley Miller’s “Non Sequitur” comic strip over an attack he made against President Donald Trump in his Sunday, Feb. 10, comic. While the offending strip did not appear in the Journal Star, as “Non Sequitur” is published Monday through Saturday and not on Sunday, we have a concern about Miller’s work and his treatment of the president.

February 13 Update – new day, same shhhtuff

The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier

The Courier is one of many newspapers around the country that suddenly dropped the popular comic strip “Non Sequitur” over a profane message about President Donald Trump drawn into one of its panels over the weekend. Editor Nancy Newhoff, in conjunction with Publisher Roy Biondi, made the decision to replace the comic strip Tuesday morning after news broke Monday…Newhoff said the offense was too much to overlook. The Courier has replaced “Non Sequitur” with “Macanudo.”

The Daytona Beach News-Journal

The News-Journal has decided to drop “Non Sequitur” from our Sunday comics section. We made this decision because cartoonist Wiley Miller placed an obscene comment directed at President Donald Trump in the strip this past Sunday, Feb. 10. But anyone who has worked at a newspaper should also know this basic rule: Never put anything into a story (or comic strip) that you don’t want published. In this case, the violation was more egregious because the Feb. 10 “Non Sequitur” strip was intended for children to color. Obscenity never belonged anywhere near it. So we’re dropping “Non Sequitur.” The News-Journal will replace “Non Sequitur” with a strip by Brian Crane called “Pickles”

News-Journal editor Pat Rice went on to describe the process for readers:

As readers, you deserve to know how something like this could end up in one of the comics we publish in the first place. Like hundreds of newspapers across the country, we have published “Non Sequitur” in our Sunday edition for years. We get this particular comic strip from the Andrews McMeel syndicate, which also supplies us with a number of other comic strips. All those comic strips end up at a company called Reed Brennan, which builds our Sunday comics section and then sends it electronically to our press room, which prints the section about a week before it appears in print and online via our E-Edition at news-journalonline.com. When we receive comics, they arrive with the expectation that both the strip’s author and the Andrews McMeel syndicate have edited them to ensure that they’re suitable for a “family” newspaper. Obviously, those expectations weren’t met this time. Notably, the obscene comment in “Non Sequitur” was in extremely small print — so small that this editor needed a magnifying glass to read it. So it’s not a surprise that the Andrews McMeel staff didn’t catch it.

The Bellingham Herald

The Bellingham Herald no longer will publish the “Non Sequitur” comic strip by Wiley Miller, and we want to explain our decision.

While the cartoonist has apologized for including the profanity, The Herald has decided to end publication of his work. Because comic strips are handled by outside vendors, local editors do not review the content before publication and must trust the content creators to maintain appropriate standards. In this case, we no longer have that trust. Beginning Monday, readers will see the comic strip “The Flying McCoys” daily and Sunday in place of “Non Sequitur.”

The Register-Guard is canceling the comic strip “Non Sequitur” beginning Feb. 18. Our decision comes after the comic, which was published in the newspaper Sunday, used foul language to disrespect the President of the United States and as a result brought the integrity of the newspaper into question.

Our concern isn’t that Mr. Miller made a political statement — plenty of comics, “Doonesbury” and “Pearls Before Swine” among them, are known for their biting, critical observations of politicians and government institutions and policies. But those statements or jabs are made in plain view — they are not hidden or disguised.

The Canton Repository

…Exhibit A: “Peanuts” was published in many newspapers across the country for more than 18 years after the death (coincidentally 19 years ago Tuesday) of the strip’s creator, Charles Schulz. Why? Editors were afraid of reader backlash at saying goodbye to something that for years brought enjoyment, a smile, each day. So for comics enthusiasts, there had better be good reason for a newspaper to make a change. Sunday, in our opinion, provided such a reason. Tucked into a bottom corner of the “Non Sequitur” comic that published Sunday (but not in this paper, which runs the panel Mondays through Saturdays) was an offensive remark directed at Donald Trump. It suggested the president perform an act on himself not anatomically possible.

The Hickory Record

The Helena Independent Record

The Wilmington Star News

The StarNews is canceling Wiley Miller’s “Non Sequitur” comic strip, which has appeared daily and on Sunday for more than a decade. We are doing this because of vulgar language Miller used against President Donald Trump in the comic strip published on Sunday, Feb. 10. We no longer trust that Miller will adhere to our high standards for content. Non Sequitur has been pulled from all other upcoming days, which means readers may see extra white space on the page on some days.

The York Dispatch

The Concord Independent Tribune

The comic strip panel “Non Sequitur” will be dropped from the Independent Tribune comics lineup. In its place, the Independent Tribune will switch to a strip called “Pearls Before Swine.”

The Charlotte Observer

Beginning Monday, The Charlotte Observer will no longer publish the comic strip “Non Sequitur.” Beginning Monday, readers will see the comic strip “Argyle Sweater” in place of “Non Sequitur” on weekdays and Saturday, and “Pearls Before Swine” on Sundays.

In Toronto The Star disapproves of the stunt

I was initially not sure whether to laugh or throw up my hands in disbelief and despair over this one… Non Sequitur aims to offer its readers “a wry look at the absurdities of everyday life.” While this is indeed absurd, we’re not laughing.

but does not drop the strip.

The comic strip “The Argyle Sweater” will replace “Non Sequitur.”

“Animal Crackers” will replace “Non Sequitur”

In its place in daily and Sunday editions will be “Baldo”

The Post plans to replace Non Sequitur with one of America’s most popular comic strips – Pickles, drawn by Brian Crane.

Note:

I’m inclined to agree with Mike Lester (comment #14) that this page has run its course.

Unless a number of folks want it to continue I think I’ll stop the list now.

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