Newspaper publishers love Donald Trump: Another political cartoonist fired

Censorship

In New Brunswick, Canada, “Brunswick News Inc., which owns the Saint John Telegraph-Journal, the Moncton Times & Transcript, and the Moncton Fredericton Daily Gleaner, has now disassociated itself from [Michael] de Adder.” It appears the publisher, who has business interests in the U.S., does not wish to offend Donald Trump.[1] De Adder has a web site which presently features a number of cartoons disparaging Trump.

Unsurprisingly, Brunswick News denies that the cartoon in the tweet below had anything to do with de Adder’s contract termination, claiming they were merely “bring[ing] back” another cartoonist.[2] But, in fact, newspapers have been known to run a number of political cartoonists, covering a broad spectrum of opinion. Somewhat more persuasively, Wes Tyrell, president of a Canadian cartoonist association, said de Adder had told him “there were a series of taboo subjects he could not touch. One of these taboo subjects was Donald Trump.”[3]

This[4] is yet another example undermining journalistic claims of “editorial independence” from the business sides of the corporate conglomerates that control media organizations. Some would say this is not even remotely a surprise.[5]

I refuse to subscribe to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (which also blocks ad-blockers and is therefore unacceptable) for firing Rob Rogers who also dared to criticize the U.S.’ own dear leader.[6] It’s unlikely I would subscribe to a New Brunswick paper for the foreseeable future anyway. But they are most definitely now on my shit list.

D. D. Degg, “Brunswick News Inc. Cancels Michael de Adder – Updated,” Daily Cartoonist, June 29, 2019, https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2019/06/29/brunswick-news-inc-cancels-michael-de-adder/

Migration

Miriam Jordan, “Judge Orders Swift Action to Improve Conditions for Migrant Children in Texas,” New York Times, June 29, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/29/us/migrant-children-detention-texas.html


  1. [1]D. D. Degg, “Brunswick News Inc. Cancels Michael de Adder – Updated,” Daily Cartoonist, June 29, 2019, https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2019/06/29/brunswick-news-inc-cancels-michael-de-adder/
  2. [2]Saint John Telegraph-Journal, [microblog post], Twitter, June 30, 2019, https://twitter.com/TJProvincial/status/1145343394685882368
  3. [3]Wes Tyrell, quoted in D. D. Degg, “Brunswick News Inc. Cancels Michael de Adder – Updated,” Daily Cartoonist, June 29, 2019, https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2019/06/29/brunswick-news-inc-cancels-michael-de-adder/
  4. [4]D. D. Degg, “Brunswick News Inc. Cancels Michael de Adder – Updated,” Daily Cartoonist, June 29, 2019, https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2019/06/29/brunswick-news-inc-cancels-michael-de-adder/
  5. [5]J. Herbert Altschull, Agents of Power: The Media and Public Policy, 2nd ed. (White Plains, NY: Longman, 1995); David Croteau and William Hoynes, Media/Society: Industries, Images, and Audiences, 3rd ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge, 2003); Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (New York: Pantheon, 2002).
  6. [6]Kim Lyons, “Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Cartoonist Fired as Paper Shifts Right,” New York Times, June 15, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/15/business/media/pittsburgh-cartoonist-fired.html

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