Ted Rall w/Ruben Bolling on Air America

Fellow cartoonist Ruben Bolling, creator of "Tom the Dancing Bug," will join me tomorrow as we discuss the week in media coverage on the Laura Flanders Show on Air America Sunday/tomorrow night. Air time is 7:30 PM East Coast time; check local listings for airtimes near you. Among the subjects we'll be talking about will be the Tribune Company's apparent policy of eliminating its staff editorial cartoonists. Mike Ramirez has been laid off by the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune has decided not to replace Jeff MacNelly (who died a few years ago), and now both KAL of the Baltimore Sun and Bob Englehardt of the Hartford Courant have been given buyout offers with no indication as to whether they'll ultimately be allowed to remain on staff. Staff editorial cartoonist positions have been vanishing for years, but Tribune's policy would represent the mass elimination of some of the nation's most prominent cartoonists as well as a stark display of the power and impact of corporate consolidation of the media industry.