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.
Cartoonist Michael DeAdder was just fired from the newspaper for this cartoon. pic.twitter.com/PhpkH5FbcO
— Jason Chatfield (@Jason_Chatfield) June 29, 2019
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]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]Saint John Telegraph-Journal, [microblog post], Twitter, June 30, 2019, https://twitter.com/TJProvincial/status/1145343394685882368↩
- [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]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]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]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↩