About Those Vague Australian Press Council Standards
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Following the decision by the Australian Press Council (APC) to censure The Age and Sydney Morning Herald because they printed a Cathy Wilcox cartoon which “was likely to cause or contribute to substantial offence, distress and prejudice particularly to those who are Jewish,” Charlie Lewis for Crikey (registration required) takes a look at some past cartoons that did pass muster with the Council.
[R]egardless of how you feel about [the Cathy Wilcox] cartoon, one could be forgiven for wondering what influenced the APC’s view on whether an image is “likely to cause or contribute to substantial offence, distress and prejudice” in the following instances.
Among the samplings:
Mr. Lewis starts by presenting the APC decision on the infamous Mark Knight cartoon of Serena Williams.
The council found that it did not breach their standards, saying, “The council considers that the cartoon uses exaggeration and absurdity to make its point but accepts the publisher’s claim that it does not depict Ms Williams as an ape, rather showing her as ‘spitting the dummy’, a non-racist caricature familiar to most Australian readers. Nonetheless, the council acknowledges that some readers found the cartoon offensive.”
Lewis noted a Bill Leak cartoon of “a dark-skinned Indigenous man, VB in hand, apparently too drunk or neglectful to remember the name of his son, who, in turn, is in police custody”.
The APC received more than 700 complaints about the image.
A month later, the Press Council put out a statement: “After consulting with key complainants, the Press Council considers that the best outcome in the public interest is to promote free speech and the contest of ideas through the publication of two major op-ed pieces in The Australian, providing Indigenous perspectives on the cartoon and shedding light on the underlying issues.
Though apologies by The Age and SMH didn’t sway the Council’s reprimand of the Wilcox cartoon.
Also: “The Daily Telegraph published a Warren Brown cartoon depicting a swarthy man with shark-like teeth and stereotypical “Afghan” attire chasing a terrified white nurse in circles around [MP Kerryn] Phelps.”
“The council notes that in isolation the cartoon would certainly convey several offensive stereotypical inferences about asylum seeker men or men from the Middle East. However, the council accepts it was in response to the charging of the man accused of sexual assault and intimidation and in the context of the political debate taking place about the medical evacuation of asylum seekers.”
The Council found no breach of standards.
Though they did denounce a cartoon by Johannes Leak of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
It appears there is no standard to the Council’s standards. They are opinions that change with the judges.
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