Hello everyone, this is Meg the intern blogging away in the Copyright Alliance’s D.C. office. On June 10, the Library of Congress hosted “Herb Block and the Bill of Rights,” a discussion about the legendary editorial cartoonist and his lifetime support for human rights. Block began his prolific career during the Great Depression and was active until 2001. During this time, his illustrations called for such reforms as anti-isolationist foreign policy during World War II, the end of McCarthyism during the Cold War, and the abolition of Jim Crow laws during the Civil Rights Era. Block was a staunch advocate for the principles of the Bill of Rights, even when his political views directly contrasted with those expressed in the columns of the newspapers that employed him.

Unhindered by the interjections of an editorial board, Herb Block enjoyed an almost unparalleled level of creative freedom as a staff artist. Sadly, with the ongoing decline of the print newspaper industry, staff positions for editorial cartoonists are now disappearing altogether. Most contemporary illustrators hoping to carry on Block’s legacy of satire, wit, and outspoken social and political commentary must license their work to syndicates in order to reach audiences. Far from threatening the First Amendment freedom of speech, copyright protection helps ensure that our nation’s editorial cartoonists, and the diverse viewpoints they represent, continue to enrich the landscape of news media.

There may never again be an editorial cartoonist whose influence is as far-reaching as Herb Block’s (Block famously enraged then-president Richard Nixon for his relentless coverage of the Watergate scandal, for example), but editorial illustrators’ voices must be protected if they are to continue constructing new (and often challenging and subversive) ideas through humor and art.

As a celebration of the centennial of Herb Block’s birth, the Library of Congress will begin a public exhibition of the artist’s original illustrations beginning on October 13, 2009 through April 2010.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 12:46 pm by copyright and is filed under creators, events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.