Campus Life

Award-winning editorial cartoonist selected for lecture about journalism ethics

Editorial cartoonist Rob Rogers will present "Drawing a Line: A Conversation with Rob Rogers" at 7 p.m. March 26 in Kern Auditorium at University Park. Credit: Sylvia Rhor. All Rights Reserved.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Award-winning editorial cartoonist Rob Rogers, who worked a quarter century at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette before being fired last year after the paper’s editorial director refused to publish several of his cartoons, will discuss journalism ethics during a free public lecture in late March on Penn State's University Park campus.

Rogers, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, will present “Drawing a Line: A Conversation with Rob Rogers,” at 7 p.m. March 26 in Kern Auditorium. The session, the Oweida Lecture in Journalism Ethics, is sponsored by the Donald P. Bellisairo College of Communications.

Patrick Plaisance, the Don Davis Professor of Ethics in the Department of Journalism, will serve as moderator for the event.

Rogers, 59, who had worked at the Post-Gazette since 1993 and in Pittsburgh for 34 years overall, earned a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University. He was popular in the newsroom and with the paper’s readers.

In June 2018, several of his Rogers’ cartoons featuring President Donald Trump were rejected by the paper’s editorial director. When the situation became public, in part because Rogers shared the information on social media, which led to interviews on several national media outlets, his firing followed.

Rogers has won the Thomas Nast Award from the Overseas Press Club, the National Headliner Award, and many other regional, state and national awards.

After his departure from the paper, Rogers focused on a book project. The result, “Enemy of the People,” features his political cartoons from the past three years, his coverage of previous presidents, a how-to section on editorial cartoons, and two long-form comics. The book also includes essays by other cartoonists and journalists on the First Amendment and editorial cartooning.

Rogers unveiled the book earlier this month.

Last Updated June 14, 2021