Tag Archives: newspaper

Doonesbury Gets Censored

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Newspapers always stand behind the first amendment, until they don’t.  An Oregon newspaper, the Oregonian, has decided to pull next week’s edition of Garry Trudeau‘s critically hailed and politically relevant comic strip Doonesbury.  In an article explaining their decision the newspaper feels that in their…

judgment, went over the line of good taste and humor in penning a series on abortion using graphic language and images inappropriate for a comics page.

The editors felt it was a “clear call” and follows the decision of other newspapers around the country, including the Los Angeles Times and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

If there’s one thing all journalists and newspapers should stand by, it’s the first amendment.  While the editors might not have agreed with what was being said, or the images depicted, Trudeau has a right to show them and by pulling the strip, the newspaper is censoring them.  Due to their taste, the comic is being pulled.  Not an outcry, not some complaint, just because it doesn’t fit with their world view.  I hope there doesn’t come a day when the Oregonian needs someone to stand up for their right to say what they choose.

You can check out the strips online, http://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury, and judge for yourself.

Comics Have Campus Up in Arms

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KSDK.com has a story about an uproar over two “satirical” comics printed in Uconn The Daily Campus, a college newspaper that has caused some controversy.  The first comic says “Forget sugar and spice and everything nice. Try crabs, scabs and everything viral. That’s what girls are really made of,” while the second implied that a girl, who was not ready for sex, could be lured into the bedroom with a shiny diamond ring.  As you can imagine this got the Violence Against Women Prevention Project a bit pissed.

The Daily Campus Editor-in-Chief John Kennedy responded to the criticism in a front-page article.

It’s within the First Amendment rights of the authors of the comics to publish whatever they please. The comics section is part of the opinion section of our newspaper, so it doesn’t represent the newspaper’s feelings as a whole.

This incident has lead the newspaper to update it’s policy about what gets printed and the editors, copy editors and artists at The Daily Campus will attend a workshop about violence against women and how to prevent it.  It is our opinion that free speech is free speech and yes both of these are sexist, but truly standing for liberty also means defending speech we may disagree with.