The New Zealand Media Council has ruled a cartoon published in the Otago Daily Times making light of the deadly measles outbreak in Samoa was "gratuitously hurtful and discriminatory".
The ruling comes despite the fact a very high bar needs to be crossed before the council will uphold a complaint regarding an offensive cartoon, the council said.
Garrick Tremain's cartoon depicted two women leaving a travel agency. One woman said to the other: "I asked What are the least popular spots at the moment? She said The ones people are picking up in Samoa".
The cartoon was published amid worldwide news reports of the ever-increasing death toll in Samoa. At the time the cartoon was published, 52 babies and children and 10 adults had died. By Monday, the death toll had risen to 79.
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The cartoon was met with outrage, with members of the public protesting outside the newspaper's officers the following day.
Hamish McNeilly/Stuff
Protesters outside the Otago Daily Times office in Dunedin after the publication of Garrick Tremain's controversial cartoon mocking the Samoan measles epidemic.
The Media Council received more than 130 complaints about the cartoon – an "unprecedented" number – most expressing their concern such tragedy could be used for comic effect in a cartoon. Five of the complaints were fast-tracked and processed to be used as exemplar complaints for the Media Council to consider. In these five complaints, the cartoon is described as heartless, insensitive, appalling and unacceptable.
The Media Council said in its findings cartoons often dealt with grave situations and could make fun of unfunny events.
"By their nature they will often cause offence.That is a freedom to be defended," the council said.
"However even with cartoons there is a line of gratuitous offence and hurt which when crossed can constitute a breach of the professional standards by the media. This is such a cartoon. It has no redeeming qualities. It was a weak attempt at humour. It showed no human understanding of the dire situation Samoa was facing."
The Media Council said the question should be asked, could any reasonable New Zealander who saw the cartoon have considered it funny or an expression of a presentable point of view on a topical issue?
"The answer is no. This is shown by the unprecedented number of complaints we have received."
Hamish McNeilly/Stuff
People outside the Otago Daily Times office in Dunedin after the cartoon was published.
The council also found the cartoon showed a "them and us" quality, laughing at the plight of people who are seen as "different from us".
"We consider it highly discriminatory. It has a racist quality, being that other lives do not matter as 'ours' do. It invites laughter at an epidemic that is causing illness and death, the implication being this is acceptable because the victims are 'not us'."
The council added the initial responses from the editor of the Otago Daily Times, Barry Stewart, and Tremain showed no comprehension of the enormity of the insult and hurt.
The council upheld the complaints.
The cartoon crossed the "very high bar" needed for a complaint about an offensive cartoon to be upheld.
"That bar was crossed with this cartoon, and by a significant margin."
In response to the backlash received after publishing the cartoon, Stewart stood down Tremain pending a review.
Stewart told Stuff on Monday the review was still under way and no final decisions had been made regarding the use of Tremain's cartoons in the future. He was unable to estimate when the review would be completed.
Numerous apologies were published in the Otago Daily Times, with Stewart acknowledging the cartoon should never have been published and promising to review the newspaper's process in selecting cartoons for publication.
Tremain initially also issued an apology over the cartoon, but later took aim at Stewart with two cartoons that he published on his website.
One cartoon said the editor "Tossed his ace cartoonist, underneath the bus". Another featured a worker at the paper opening a wheelie bin with two feet visible, reading "Hello - They've scrapped the cartoonist!"
Supplied
Queenstown cartoonist Garrick Tremain has apologised for the cartoon.
Screenshot of ODT
The cartoon by Garrick Tremain which was published in the Otago Daily Times and led to the New Zealand Media Council receiving more than 130 complaints.
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December 23, 2019 at 03:22AM
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Media council labels Otago Daily Times' measles cartoon 'hurtful and discriminatory' - Stuff.co.nz
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