Goebbels would be proud. This jerk and Tony Auth must have gone to the same art college.
Posted on 08/12/2003 11:01:39 PM PDT by gungadin
New Zealand's largest newspaper has sacked its editorial cartoonist after he refused to stop drawing cartoons critical of Israel's Government.
Veteran cartoonist Malcolm Evans was told via fax on Monday The New Zealand Herald would no longer run his drawings.
The sacking followed meetings between Mr Evans and Herald editor-in-chief Gavin Ellis, after complaints over cartoons critical of the Israeli Government's actions against Palestinians.
Mr Ellis said the matter was an employment issue and he was not prepared to comment.
Mr Evans said he was sacked for refusing to be told what he could and could not draw. Israel was considered an unsuitable subject.
"They told me if I wanted to keep drawing for the Herald I will no longer push this issue," he said. "I refused. Any attempt to influence the cartoonist is censorship.
"It's the principle. A cartoonist is independent –- the editor has no right to tell me what I can and cannot draw. He has the right to refuse to publish it."
Mr Evans –- twice New Zealand's cartoonist of the year and runner-up three times in his seven years at the Herald –- said the paper had only refused to publish his cartoons a handful of times.
A regular critic of Mr Evans' cartoons, Auckland rabbi Jeremy Lawrence, said while he had not lobbied to have Mr Evans sacked, he had complained to the Herald about him.
He said Mr Evans' cartoons were offensive to the Jewish community.
He compared some of the imagery used to that used by Nazi Germany in the 1930s.
Rabbi Lawrence believed the cartoons lacked balance in their portrayal of Israeli-Palestinian relations.
"There are double standards that Evans has applied in representing the Israelis almost exclusively as the aggressors," he said.
"It blames Israel, not the suicide bombers or their leaders."
(Excerpt) Read more at stuff.co.nz ...
Goebbels would be proud. This jerk and Tony Auth must have gone to the same art college.
The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy strikes again!
Ouch!
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