Pulitzer Makes the Right Choice

Photo of Matthew Sheffield.

It's not often you'll hear a right-leaning media critic say this: I agree with the Pulitzer Prize committee this year, at least when it comes to the award the committee gave to Investor's Business Daily's Michael Ramirez for his excellent cartooning work.

Head over to Extreme Mortman for a few examples of Ramirez's work or visit his page at IBD.

Ramirez's win is the first time since 1998 that a Pulitzer has been given to a cartoonist with even moderately conservative opinions. The committee has similarly been biased against right-leaning columnists as Brent Bozell noted last year:

Any conservative student who aspires to be a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist should really try another line of work. Here’s the list since George Will won in 1977 and William Safire won in 1978: Charles Krauthammer in 1987, Paul Gigot in 2000, and Dorothy Rabinowitz in 2001. That’s five conservatives in 30 years.

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Three of the last five winners – Tucker, Leonard Pitts, and Colbert King – were leftist black columnists. William Raspberry and E.R. Shipp have also won. But the Pulitzer Prize glorifiers have never honored Thomas Sowell or Walter Williams or other black conservatives.

Since 1992, eight of the sixteen Commentary prize winners have been women. Rabinowitz is the only conservative. Anna Quindlen, Maureen Dowd, Eileen McNamara and Shipp are on the liberal list. Mary McGrory (1975) and Ellen Goodman (1980) also won that prize. But there’s been no Pulitzer for Mona Charen or Michelle Malkin or Linda Chavez or – the Pulitzer people will faint -- Ann Coulter.

There’s never been a Pulitzer for Bill Buckley or Pat Buchanan or Cal Thomas or Robert Novak. Need we say more?

Good humor and good art are not something that any ideology has a monopoly on. Let's hope the Pulitzer committee remembers that in the years to come.

—Matthew Sheffield is the creator of NewsBusters and its Executive Editor.


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Conservative winners

Actually, Mike Ramirez won his first Pulitzer back in the 1990's. Jeff MacNelly was considered conservative, and he won 3 Pulitzers. There may be other conservative cartoonists who won the award, but I can't think of them off the top of my head.

Lots of people missed MacNelly's best 'toons

Which accompanied Dave Barry's old syndicated column in only *some* of the papers which syndicated it.
JMR

The tax & spend drug war looks racist in the real world.

kinda like all those

liberals who started to whine when their monopoly on news was ended by alternative news sources. Notwithstanding your additions the poinit is still valid. IOW blah blah blah

Indeed

Plus MacNelly last won in 1985. He won his other two awards in the 1970s. That is hardly an argument in favor of the Pulitzer committee's ideological neutrality. Add in Brent's point about the columnist prize and this is an open-and-shut case.

Indeed, indeed

I don't remember arguing in support of the Pulitzer committee's ideological neutrality (a laughable concept), but I think it's unfair to minimize the achievements of Mike Ramirez and Jeff MacNelly to pad the point.

Do you think they

Do you think they missed?

      Rall, Theodore

 o   Ramirez, Michael 

Could have been ballot misalignment.  I mean giving an award to someone who does quality work, but has the nerve to slam Fidel and praise President Bush.  That's crazy!

"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last."  - Sir Winston Churchill

kudos to Michael Ramirez

I'm very impressed with his ability to take a situation, add some humor, sarcasm and nuance and fit it into a rectangle. What a talent!

A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
- George Bernard Shaw, 1944

Kudo's to Ramirez.  I have

Kudo's to Ramirez.  I have subscribed to IBD for years and have enjoyed both its editorials as well as Ramirez' biting take on liberals. 

Not long ago IBD decided to make their editorials, including Ramirez' terrific work, available to all.  No subscription is needed.  Both now have a much wider audience. 

 

The Pulitzer committe is

The Pulitzer committe is much like the Academy Award committee.  A mutual admiration society congratulating themselves for their openness and tolerance.

That a rare conservative journalist or truly good movie slip by every once in a blue moon happens.