American Editorial Cartoonists President Jack Ohman Condemns Deadly Attack On French Newspaper

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Sacramento Bee editorial cartoonist Jack Ohman has ruffled a few feathers during his three-decade-long career, but Tuesday's attack on a French satirical newspaper shocked him as a cartoonist and journalist.

"To hear that people are getting killed for their opinions overseas, it makes the First Amendment way more precious here, I think to people," he said.

Ohman is the president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, a group that is not only condemning the attack on the editorial meeting of Charlie Hebdo that killed 12 people, but also encouraging other newspapers not to be scared into submission by terrorists.

"If you stop freely expressing yourself, then that gets them what they want, which is for you not to talk about them," he said.

Other cartoonists from around the world have sketched their feelings on the attack, remembering those killed on Wednesday.

"The spirit is to comment more and push back, and I think that the more freedom of expression we have, the more it's going to spread," he said.

The French newspaper publishes edgier cartoons than what Ohman puts in the Bee, but he says he'll never tone his work down.

"I feel like I'm saying exactly what I want to say and how I want to say it and I don't worry about the repercussions," he said. "You can't live that way."