Moncton — An editorial cartoonist who recently had his contract terminated with New Brunswick’s provincial newspapers has found new employment as the courtroom sketch artist for a trial involving one of the paper’s former editors, The Manatee has learned.
Cartoonist Michael de Adder, who had been working with Brunswick News (BNI) for nearly 20 years, was let go this past week on the heels of a provocative anti-Trump cartoon. While BNI maintains they parted ways with de Adder for other reasons, the timing has proved suspect for many in the public, as well as advocates for freedom of the press.
Fans of de Adder’s work won’t have to wait long to see new material, as the cartoonist was quickly offered a job covering the trial of disgraced BNI editor Al Hogan. Hogan was let go from Brunswick News after an investigation discovered he encouraged the government to alter documents that showed one of his editors accepted a trip to the government-owned Larry’s Gulch fishing lodge, and subsequently attempted to cover up the perceived ethics violation.
Observers welcomed a sketch artist in the court, following scant coverage of the trial in the provincial newspapers.
“It feels great that I can continue to hone my craft without missing a beat,” de Adder told The Manatee. “I can just jump right into this trial and keep drawing. It feels good to actually get to help cover this story, since it wasn’t appearing in any BNI publications for some reason.”
When asked how he felt about the trial, de Adder said he sympathized with Hogan.
“We were dismissed for similar reasons — he was let go for ethics violations, I drew cartoons about ethics violators.”
Irving-owned Brunswick News, which recently accepted a Michener Award for promoting excellence in Canadian public service journalism, would not comment on de Adder’s new position, or allegations it refused to run any of his cartoons depicting [former Irving executive and current Premier] Blaine Higgs.
At press time, lawyers for Brunswick News were researching ways to fire writers for The Manatee.