APC Rules Cathy Wilcox Cartoon Exceeded Editorial Standards
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The Australian Press Council (APC) has ruled that a Cathy Wilcox cartoon published in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald in January of this year showing Australian leaders being directed by Benjamin Netanyahu overstepped the bounds of the Council’s standards.
From Natasha Lee at Media Week:
The Australian Press Council has found The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald breached its Standards of Practice by publishing a cartoon on 7 January 2026 that encoded antisemitic tropes, ruling the publications failed to take reasonable steps to avoid causing substantial offence, distress, and prejudice.
Nine issued a formal apology for the cartoon in January, acknowledging the distress it caused members of the Jewish community while defending the role of editorial independence and free expression across its mastheads.
The cartoon showed a number of Australian political leaders marching to the beat of Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Australian Press Council Complaint and Adjudication against The Age and Sydney Morning Herald:
The Council recognises that cartoons are expressions of opinion that often use exaggeration and absurdity to make a point on serious issues. For this reason, the Council has given significant latitude to cartoons when considering whether a publication has taken reasonable steps to avoid substantial offence, distress, or prejudice. However, that latitude is not unlimited, particularly where a cartoon can reinforce racial, ethnic or religious stereotypes…
While the Council recognises the public interest in commenting on the political motivation of some calling for the Royal Commission into the terrorist attack, the Council does not consider it was sufficient to justify the substantial offence, distress or prejudice caused or contributed to, in depicting those calling for a Royal Commission as being manipulated by the Israeli Prime Minister. Accordingly, the Council concludes that the publications failed to take reasonable steps to avoid causing or contributing materially to substantial offence, distress or prejudice in breach of General Principle 6…
Among others covering the decision was Nathan Jolly at Mumbrella:
Both mastheads ran an editorial in the following days defending Wilcox’s intention to “scrutinise the almost immediate politicisation” of the attack, while noting “it is undeniable, however, that many others in the community, particularly Jews, were deeply hurt and offended by it.”
The Australian Press Council upheld a complaint against The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age yesterday regarding a Cathy Wilcox cartoon published shortly after the Bondi Beach terrorist attack.
The ruling determined that the image incorporated an antisemitic stereotype.
The complaint contended that the illustration drew on familiar antisemitic motifs by implying that Jewish individuals were secretly directing what was portrayed as a grassroots campaign for an inquiry. It also suggested the cartoon undermined the legitimate concerns of those affected by the attack, by framing the push for a royal commission as driven by external manipulation rather than the tragedy itself.
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