‘Pearls Before Swine’ creator uses comic to communicate importance of local news
In his comic strip “Pearls Before Swine,” Stephan Pastis playfully stresses the importance of local newspapers using the best tool in his arsenal: conversations between a cartoon rat, pig and goat, with the occasional human cameo.
Pastis, who will speak at a Northwest Passages event Tuesday, points to the press’ role in combating disinformation online, reporting local news and acting as a government watchdog.
While mayoral candidate Rat soliciting bribes may be fiction, it’s a reflection of how government could operate without local news keeping tabs on elected officials, he said.
“Local government will do what’s right when operating unseen,” a cartoon journalist sarcastically tells Pig and Goat in Pastis’ strip.
Pastis referenced the rapidly growing popularity of artificial intelligence and deep fake media that can replicate faces and voices, convincingly making it seem like a person said or did something they haven’t. Pastis said a healthy dose of cynicism is essential in the online age.
“I notice it with my kids. (Younger generations) are way more skeptical about what they see online, whereas I think my generation still has a legacy of believing what we see,” Pastis said.
Pastis uses his platform to highlight the decline in small local newspapers. A report from Northwestern University found that between 2019 and 2022, 360 newspapers ceased publication.
“I think people don’t realize if their newspaper goes away, they are really at a disadvantage in a number of ways, because there’s nobody else to collect that local news, stories that only pertain to your city,” Pastis said, recalling essential reporting of wildfires in his hometown.
To support the press in these endeavors, Pastis encourages everyone to subscribe to a newspaper, ideally one that distributes local news. He’s a subscriber of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, his local paper, and the New York Times – even though they don’t publish comics.
“If you’re not paying for journalism, you’re paying for not having journalism,” a recently sacked cartoon reporter yells to an oblivious Pig.