New Age Dawns for Jerm

Jeremy Nell signs up with new paper

Jeremy Nell's life has taken some massive leaps these past few weeks. A few weeks back he married his sweetheart Janel, and he's just returned from their honeymoon to announce that he has left the newspaper which has been home to his daily political cartoons for the past three-and-a-half years.

Jeremy - who signs his editorial cartoons with the pen name 'Jerm' - has taken up an invitation to be the full time cartoonist for the soon to be launched newspaper The New Age.

Making the announcement on his blog on Sunday, Jerm said, "After three-and-a-half years (more or less) and nearly 700 political cartoons, I have decided to attempt a new journey (like I’m doing in my personal life)".

He paid tribute to The Times, where he has been their daily cartoonist since that paper was launched, and particularly acknowledged his respect for that paper's then-editor Ray Hartley, who has since become editor of The Sunday Times.

Jerm will once again be the pioneering cartoonist for a new newspaper, but this time he will be afforded the space his cartoons deserve; larger than before and positioned on the opinions page. The New Age has also picked up Jeremy's strip The Biggish Five, making it the second most syndicated strip in the country after Madam & Eve.

He put it this way on his blog: "I have accepted the position as the official editorial cartoonist for The New Age, an independently owned (and curiously named) newspaper launching countrywide a few weeks from now, edited by Vuyo Mvoko".

Many observers have expressed concern about the backing of the new venture by the Gupta family, known friends and business partners of President Zuma and his family, and speculation about the publication's allegiance to the President and his ruling party is rife.

Responding to the criticism, Jerm says, "I’ll obviously use all of that hype to my advantage, (and) continue doing what I was doing at The Times. That is, being a freethinking cartoonist".

Whether he will be discouraged from drawing his own conclusions about the President, the party, and the government remains to be seen.

Until then, Africartoons welcomes a new newspaper to the nation's news stands, and with it an added berth for South Africa's great cartoon talents. That the newspaper adds to the diversity of the South African press is to be celebrated, and the publication will hopefully live or die by the integrity of its content.

Posted on Oct 05, 2010 by Africartoons