Political cartooning with KAL toons

We have a new Double Take podcast for your listening pleasure!  

This month, we pull back the curtain on the modern press to ask the question: What happens when one of the world's sharpest editorial pens meets a media landscape that is actively trying to blunt it? Our post doctoral researcher, Dr Alena Radina sits down with Kevin Kallaugher, the legendary political cartoonist behind some of The Economist’s most iconic and globally recognised imagery. Together, they dive deep in a conversation about survival, the evolution of satire, and the growing dangers of speaking truth to power in an era that has grown increasingly hostile to both. 

Kevin traces the volatile shifts of the American press through his own storied career. He reflects openly on his highly publicised departure from the Baltimore Sun and his subsequent pivot to the digital frontier, where he’s built an unfiltered line to readers via Substack. Through his personal journey, Kevin highlights a terrifying statistic that should alarm any defender of free speech: the number of full-time staff political cartoonists in America has plummeted from over 300 down to a mere 17. 

This dramatic collapse of visual journalism raises urgent questions about the health of democracy and journalism itself. As corporate legal threats mount and cultural polarisation deepens, the space for nuance is shrinking by the day. How do you continue to safely draw the line when the line keeps moving? In a world completely drowning in fleeting hot takes and viral internet memes, discover whether the traditional political cartoon can still deliver the sharpest blow. 

Listen on Apple podcasts or Spotify.