By Katie Coleman
JMC student
Political cartoonist Marc Murphy believes there’s a fine line between informing and inflaming.
Murphy, editorial cartoonist for the Louisville Courier-Journal, spoke at the inaugural McGaughey Lecture on Press Freedom and Responsibility on Tuesday, Feb. 14 in the newly renovated Lovett Auditorium at Murray State University.
The lecture benefitted the Robert H. “Doc” McGaughey Fund for Excellence in Journalism and Mass Communications.
Murphy is a Louisville attorney who creates art about important cultural issues, joining a long tradition of editorial cartoonists who provide commentary on society. His work often appears in The Courier-Journal and USA Today. His work was recognized with local and national awards in 2020, such as being a finalist for The Rex Babin Memorial Award Excellence in Local Cartooning.
“I do them primarily to have a voice in the discussion of these very important issues,” Murphy said during a Q&A interview by Pam Platt, editorial director for The Courier-Journal, “That’s why I got into politics, and law, too.”
Murphy focused on the importance of the value of dissent during his speech at the McGaughey Lecture.
“No contributor to the news is more aware of the tension between free speech and the social good than the cartoonist,” said Amy Bryan Watson, (‘89), a member of the steering committee to the fund who introduced Murphy. “Each day the artist distills support praise or dissent into the image that can inform, enrage or, best of all, make us think.”
A native of Ashland, Kentucky, Murphy grew up during extremely political times in the 60s and 70s and with a father who was a community leader in the middle of it all. Murphy said his father’s activism played a part in molding him into who he is today.
“Journalism done well in its questions and its pursuit of the facts can be an accidental act of dissent,” Murphy said during his speech. “Political art, meanwhile, is nearly always quite intensely an act of dissent.”
When it comes to his own art, Murphy said that he tries to stay on the right side of a fine line, between dissent and inflaming. He represents a circumstance in his art that sometimes becomes timeless and uses images and as few words as possible to get his point across.
“Dissent takes all kinds and all approaches. If you’re dissenting, for a good reason, one that you believe in, you have to be yourself because it’s hard,” Murphy said. “We’re all different and we’re all going to apply different methods and tactics.”
Murphy said the greater danger when discussing these issues is not to divide or offend, but that in holding back for fear of offending, you give strength or comfort to the proponents of these evils. As the first guest speaker for the McGaughey lecture, Murphy set the bar high for future speakers, said Dr. Kevin Qualls, chairman of the MSU journalism and mass communications department.
Photos from the reception prior to the event: Orville Herndon/JMC Department
