There are pluses and minuses to modern mapping tools. I've used them in anger at work as well as for other purposes. Granted, my publishing has been to obscure government web sites and reports, not a magazine that has to attract people to buy it and make money by the copy ...

I don't thing users of GIS are necessarily unskilled. Most are quite skilled. The tools are powerful ways to manage and visualize data. They also allow much easier editing, repurposing, and correcting than the older methods. What they lack, absent an extremely skilled operator and editorial direction to do so, is the artistic approach used by Mr. Signor, which is sometimes (notice I also said that in my first comment - sometimes) worth using. It's an editorial choice, not a technical one.