Doonesday

A comic stripped from the Post

They called it Blackout Monday. All over the nation's capital bleary bureaucrats, lobbyists and pols stared over their morning newspapers in sudden shock. A shakeup? A scandal? A sudden outbreak of civility? No, far worse: Doonesbury was missing.

Since 1970 Garry Trudeau's Pulitzer-winning comic strip of political satire, zinging wit and characters resembling real personalities on the national scene had become a daily ritual for readers of the Washington Post. Last month Universal Press Syndicate, which distributes Doonesbury to the Post and 470 other newspapers, merged with the Washington Star Syndicate. As part of the deal, Doonesbury would be stripped from the Post and handed over to the rival Star (along with Tank McNamara and Cathy). For the long-suffering Star (circ. 328,612), nabbing Doonesbury from the prosperous Post (circ. 601,913) was clearly a coup. The Star, an afternoon paper acquired last year by Time Inc., also plans to launch a morning edition next month to compete more directly with the Post.

Doonesbury is scheduled to begin in the Star on June 24, but last week Post Executive Editor Ben Bradlee suspended the strip, leaving it with no Washington outlet for three weeks. "I was going to run it until we lost it," Bradlee fumed. "When the Star started promoting it, I said the hell with it." He reported that Cartoonist Trudeau, who avoids interviews, was not consulted. Said Bradlee: "He told me he felt as though he had been traded from the Redskins to the San Diego Padres."

Rising to the crisis, local radio and television stations broadcast the blacked-out Doonesbury. New York Senator Daniel P. Moynihan had the strips telexed to his office every morning from the Buffalo Courier-Express. The Star promised to run all three weeks' worth on June 25. Meanwhile, the White House added Doonesbury to the President's daily news summary. Vowed Press Secretary Jody Powell: "As soon as the Department of Energy and the Department of Justice get through looking for rip-offs by the oil industry, we are going to let them look for Doonesbury."

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