The offensive image above “Gate Crashers”

This week cartoonist Mark Fiore made Internet and journalism history as the first online-only journalist to win a Pulitzer Prize. Fiore took home the editorial cartooning prize for animations he created for SFGate, the website for the San Francisco Chronicle.

I spoke with Fiore about his big win and plans for his business. Fiore is not on staff at the Chronicle, or anywhere else; since 1999, he’s run a syndication business, selling his Flash animations à la carte to TV, newspaper, and magazine websites for about $300 a piece. (The price varies by size of the outlet.) In a typical month, he might have about eight clients. Before 1999, he ran a similar syndication business for his print cartoons, using a lower-price-per-image, higher-volume model.

When I asked about the next phase of his business, curious if it will include a mobile element, Fiore said he’s definitely hopeful about mobile devices. “I think the iPads and anything iPod to iPhone — to maybe a product not made by Apple — will be good or could be good for distributing this kind of thing,” he said.

But there’s just one problem. In December, Apple rejected his iPhone app, NewsToons, because, as Apple put it, his satire “ridicules public figures,” a violation of the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement, which bars any apps whose content in “Apple’s reasonable judgement may be found objectionable, for example, materials that may be considered obscene, pornographic, or defamatory.”

The bottom line: Just shut up and support the president, you damned terrorist.




  1. Marc Perkel says:

    One of the reasons I don’t use Apple products is because I don’t want Apple determining what I can and cannot run.

  2. Godfish says:

    Apple is a BIG win for Android! Apple=retards Android=EVERYONE.

    Let me let you in on a secret, There’s PORN ON ANDROID.

  3. soundwash says:

    I will contribute $5 to any elected official who manages to outlaw political correctness and ban/erase the whole “idea” of “offensive” or “being offended”

    -I’m Really getting tired of this thin-skinned BULL**** being foisted upon humanity’s mindset.

    once that is accomplished I will delete all politics and monetary systems on the planet and then publish a simple book on “101 ways to Cook & Eat Reptiles” (you know who you are)

    -just to see what happens next..

    -s

  4. soundwash says:

    ps..

    the Pulitzer prize, like the Nobel, has gone the way of the Dodo. -completely meaningless at this point in the venture..

    -s

  5. qb says:

    I get the whole I don’t want to use Apple because I like another product better argument.

    What I find ironic about Perkel’s comments is that he runs Android (if I do remember) is the “FBI can get your cloud data” thread running here which is definitely aimed at Google. Gee, various large corporations suck in some way. Sorry McCullough – this story is just incompetence, not some secret political agenda.

    99% of users don’t give a rat’s ass about this story or the Adobe story. They just want their phones to work well and seamlessly. When Google/HTC can do it (seriously, it’s OK right now and getting better) then they can beat Apple. And that’s a good thing.

    BTW, did anyone notice how Verizon screwed over Motorola this week by offering the new HTC Droid? Maybe Motorola should just buy Palm.

  6. Skeptic of the AOBCCS says:

    Apple is an incredibly successful company. They are just being careful, and responsible to their shareholders. Sometimes you can be to careful and need to reconsider. They’ve done that. They still have my utmost respect. Mr. Fiore doesn’t hold a grudge against Apple.

    Thanks for the update qb (re: #1)

  7. SparkyOne says:

    Moto and Palm….an automated Rosie Palm and phone? That might out sell Apple’s iPhones.

  8. Buzz says:

    ANY organization that imposes its own sense of right or wrong endangers itself of being Big Brother.

    The 1984 Macintosh ad declared that Apple would be free of all that.

    Now it is playing Big Mommy.

    What it needs to do is weed out all those “policy makers” who make decisions along Big Mommy lines.

    Mark Perkel’s statement about why he doesn’t use Apple products is a revelation. But what has been revealed here is prejudice, not judgement.

  9. Improbus says:

    Dear Steve, walled gardens are not a good idea … remember AOL? Give me an open system I can futz with any day over a system that is locked down and monetized.

    Have you heard about the new iRing? Loyal Apple customers can get a beautiful white anodized aluminum nose ring with 3G that will pull you into the nearest Apple store when a new product is available.

  10. qb says:

    Improbus, I only know one person who is running an “open system”. And that would be Richard Stallman.

  11. Skeptic of the AOBCCS says:

    Improbus… really… no one is forcing anyone to buy anything. Good value sells. The economy is bad, money is tight… and still iPads are sold out. I don’t understand why you are bent on criticizing such a successful model, that appeals to MOST purchasers of electronic devices. A billion Apple devices weren’t just sold to the 176 “Applefanboys” that stand outside Apple stores.

  12. Improbus says:

    Oh, I agree, there are a lot more sheep than wolves. The sheep give and give and all they want in return is to graze on a little media and 3G. I am sure that AT&T and Apple and their shareholders love the guaranteed revenue streams.

  13. qb says:

    Godfish (great name)

    Buying a phone so you can look at puffies on a screen smaller than your shlong? Makes about as much sense as trying to play Farmville on your Android.

  14. BigBoyBC says:

    Isn’t the core principal of political satire to ridicules public figures?

    Oh sure, it’s ok to use genetically modified agricultural products(plants) to destroy poor, starving, life-challenged individual(zombies) while they’re just looking for something to eat.

    But, to hell with the first amendment, because it might make fun of a politician…

  15. Animby says:

    #16 – I’ll take that as a complement.

    – Sent from my Nexus One

  16. qb says:

    polybot

    They’re actually smelly hippies.

  17. chuck says:

    Imagine if another company, like Sony, came out with a device that could connect to the internet, run e-mail and a limited set of apps that Sony approved of, sold through Sony’s store.

    Would there be a similar outrage?
    Would Sony sell as many units?

    Jobs has decided he’s happy making a few $billion from a product he has total control over, rather than (possibly) make many more $billions from something he doesn’t control.

    I think that’s his right. But I’m still not going to buy an iPad. And if Microsoft, HP, Sony or anyone else come out with a “windows” tablet, with similar restrictions, I won’t buy it either.

  18. qb says:

    chuck gets it.

  19. qb says:

    Stanislav Datskovskiy gets it


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