Capitol Weekly PodcastAuthor: CAPITOLWEEKLY
The Capitol Weekly Podcast covers California politics and public policy, and features interviews with elected officials, staffers, advocates, analysts, newsmakers, and even, -gasp- journalists. Listen at Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, or at capitolweekly.net Language: en Genres: Government, News Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Jack Ohman: Politics, cartooning and the new media landscape
Episode 444
Monday, 19 January, 2026
Jack Ohman has been a political cartoonist for 48 years; he got his start at the Minnesota Daily when he was still a college student, and at 19 he became the youngest-ever syndicated cartoonist in the United States. He has worked at major papers across the US, including The Detroit Free Press, The Oregonian and The Sacramento Bee, where in 2016 he won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning. Since 2023 he has been the editorial cartoonist and a political columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle, and also publishes at his Substack, Jack Ohman's You Betcha.He joined us to talk about his history in the news biz, the state of editorial cartooning, the death of Scott Adams, and much, much more. Plus - Who Had the Worst Week in California Politics.1:00 Sports betting update3:27 The Prop. 50 court decision5:41 Clarissa Laguardia podcast6:47 Jack Ohman7:46 Origin story9:23 Collapse of the afternoon papers11:53 Substack14:04 Political cartooning vs. comic strips15:30 "I never really wanted to be a cartoonist, I wanted to be governor of Minnesota"16:00 Kate Brown18:27 Youngest syndicated cartoonist23:46 Are we in a new Yellow Journalism era?26:58 "In some ways we're fighting the same battles of the Civil War"33:27 The Death of Scott Adams36: 39 Bacchi Decision40:21 Where is cartooning right now?48:46 Thomas Nast49:43 #WWCAWant to support the Capitol Weekly Podcast? Make your tax deductible donation here: capitolweekly.net/donations/Capitol Weekly Podcast theme is "Pickin' My Way" by Eddie Lang "#WorstWeekCA" Beat provided by freebeats.io Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.







