Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Tony Auth is leaving The Philadelphia Inquirer amid buyouts and a possible sale.
But he is not being forced out. Auth will be working for public radio station WHYY's NewsWorks.org website.
And there is another change in Auth’s career as a cartoonist: He won’t be drawing his famed political cartoons anymore. He’s going into the storytelling business, and he may be doing it in a technologically advanced way.
“I’ve been fooling around with the Brushes app on the iPad [for several months]. ... That’s been a joy!” Auth told the Washington Post’s Comic Riffs. “Just using the medium, I’m trying to build time and motion into it!”
(See some of Auth's iPad work here)
WHYY’s Chris Satullo told NBC10 Philadelphia that Auth will be collaborating on new ways to produce and tell stories digitally.
“So we’re delighted to have someone with such enormous talent joining us,” Satullo told NBC10 Philadelphia. “Tony’s looking to do some things he hasn’t had the chance to do with his political cartooning.”
The 69-year-old Auth has worked for the Inquirer since 1971.
“It’s been a great ride — 40 years,” Auth told Comic Riffs. “But a lot of things came together at the same time.”
Auth says he wants to “spend more time doing different kinds of projects.” He's preparing for an exhibit of his work opening June 1 in Doylestown, just north of Philadelphia.
Inquirer Editor Stan Wischnowski says Auth's career at the newspaper has spanned eight U.S. presidents and seven Philadelphia mayors.
Auth received a 1976 Pulitzer Prize and numerous other journalism awards. His last day at the paper will be March 30.
Owners of the Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News are seeking to eliminate dozens of newsroom jobs by March 31. They're also contemplating a sale.
