I am not your typical visual producer. Most reporters resort to using photographers to capture action happening in real time. With this particular news lear, that is much more difficult. What Bob Woodward and Thomas Paine are reporting on are things that are happening within the confines of government, beyond our perception. In order to produce captivating and convincing images, I was recruited to create illustrations.
My work against Boss Tweed and his oppression opened up revelations to a whole new range and demographic of people. “Although the Times’s work was unparalleled in its detail and documentation, articles weren’t easily accessible to New Yorkers of lower education levels… For many people, Nast’s images were much more effective because the cartoons translated the Times’s complicated accounting and numerical evidence into indictments that appealed to a citizen’s basic sense of right and wrong.” [1] By creating cartoons that everyone can understand, I am upholding my motto to “‘Never shoot over the heads of the people.’” [2] This motto and practice definitely applies to Edward Snowden and his NSA leaks. While almost every American has a cell phone or computer, not every American will be able to understand the extent of how the U.S. government is spying on everyone’s technology. The documents released contain complicated and extensive data, and while the reporters try their best to interpret the information, not all of it translates to everyone. This is where I come in, I can create cartoons that depict the federal government, NSA, and FBI as spies that prey on innocent Americans. Cartoons are always overexaggerated and dramatized, but only in this way will more people be able to understand the gravity of the situation, all while adding humor to a serious problem. The talent to expose a crime against democracy through cartoons is not one that should be dealt lightly, however, this is an important issue to Americans and the ideas need to be communicated. [3]
Image Credits:
Thomas Nast, Portrait of the Artist, Illustration, The MET, 1884, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/427472.
Patrick Chappatte, The NSA is listening in, Illustration, Cagle Cartoons, 11 June 2013, https://www.cagle.com/patrick-chappatte/2013/06/the-nsa-is-listening-in.