The West Australian issues front-page apology for publishing ‘abhorrent’ racist cartoon
Seven West Media newspaper The West Australian has issued a front-page apology for publishing a racist cartoon in Monday’s edition that the editor-in-chief has called “abhorrent”.
The Modesty Blaise cartoon strip was written in 1981, and features racial stereotypes and slurs about First Nations people. It was published because a third-party agency composes the newspaper’s comics page through an automated process, which was not checked.
The West Australian conducted a review into the “mistake”, has re-established an in-house checking process to “ensure this type of offensive material is not published again”, and will no longer publish Modesty Blaise cartoons.
Just wondering how many people were involved in the chain of decision making, to allow this cartoon to be printed in the @westaustralian newspaper in 2020? I’m literally devastated this has been printed and our children have access to this. Honestly wish I was surprised though!! pic.twitter.com/eK3rHUCU1E
— Shelley Ware (@ShelleyWare) June 29, 2020
In an initial statement, the newspaper said the cartoon “contained offensive racial stereotypes that have no place in our newspaper”, but did not specifically say ‘sorry’.
“It’s the very kind of marginalisation and bigotry The West Australian and its reporters have been trying to stamp out,” the newspaper said.
In today’s front page apology, editor-in-chief Anthony De Ceglie said: “We are deeply sorry and we apologise for any hurt that cartoon has caused”.
The apology [Click to enlarge]
“Racism has sadly been pervasive in this country because it has been casualised for too long. Even when a company or a government body or an individual is trying hard to stamp it out, it can still seep through because its spread was, and still is, so far-reaching,” he said.
“In Monday’s newspaper, The West Australian published a Modesty Blaise cartoon that contained offensive racial stereotypes and slurs we consider abhorrent.
“It does not reflect this newspaper’s editorial stance in any way and we are especially aghast because we feel our current team has worked hard to report on racial injustice in a mature and sensible manner while uncovering marginalisation and holding it to account wherever we can.”
This month, the newspaper’s journalist Annabel Hennessy was named the 2020 Young Australian Journalist of the Year for her investigation ‘Kill or Be Killed?: The First Chapter: The incarceration of Jody Gore’. The report investigated the imprisonment of an Aboriginal woman who was convicted of killing her abusive ex-partner.
De Ceglie added that the masthead has been in touch with the third-party company that composes the comics page to “express our deep concerns”. That company told the newspaper it has also conducted an immediate review.
“The West Australian has also decided it will no longer publish Modesty Blaise. The comic strip had been running for 48 years since 1972 , but it no longer has a place in the pages of The West Australian nor does it reflect our company’s culture or values under my watch,” De Ceglie concluded.
Multiple media companies have had to similarly reckon with racist reporting recently, along with an ongoing lack of racial diversity. News Corp published a column which said “the greatest danger to aboriginals and n*groes is themselves”.
Almost 70 journalists at The Age signed a letter sent to Nine executives after the newspaper was forced to make two apologies for a story which included an unsubstantiated allegation that Black Lives Matter protesters were planning to spit on police, and an editorial which incorrectly claimed Australia does not have a history of slavery. As part of that sequence of events, the masthead’s editor, Alex Lavelle, exited.
And this week, a number of former Indigenous staff members at SBS detailed experiences of racism at the broadcaster, leading to SBS journalists writing to management yesterday to call for leadership diversity, as revealed by The Guardian.
Brittney Rigby was Mumbrella's deputy managing editor - news and analysis. She left Mumbrella in April 2021.
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The problem here is with the passage of time, the series dates back to the 1960s when the term ‘Black Tracker’ was used to describe an Aboriginal person who was better equipped than the European when it came to tracking or following a trail in rough country. There was never any racial slur intended in the use of this term, and these Aboriginal people were responsible for finding lost travellers and missing persons on may occasions.
The opening comment is a worry: “Four men and an Aborigine” That is clearly either five men or four men and an Aboriginal woman. The abbreviation “Abo” is in keeping with the Australian habit of shortening any longish words, particularly nouns. Aussie, Brit, Jap, Yank were all used (still are in part) to shorten the original word, not to infer racial hatred or slur.
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There’s no problem with the passage of time. Society has grown, evolved and moved in a direction where these phrases are not okay anymore. So.. let’s not.
It’s not a ‘oh but it was okay back then’ or ‘oh but it wasn’t intended to be racist’
it’s just. these phrases are remnants of the past. And they don’t belong here anymore. That’s it. End of story.
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Congratulations The West. Great to see a meaningful and sincre apology. Well done.
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You have to put a like under and recognise the past to secure and improve the future, reinterpreting the past doesn’t help. Storm in a tea cup, Skippy is next!
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Thank you for your comments, but you have just said exactly what I said in another way. You began by saying “no..sorry richard There’s no problem with the passage of time” and then launched into the changes that have occurred with the passage of time.
I was relating my opinions to the reprinted comic strip which has replicated the old fashioned expressions of the 1960s. I was discussing intent and the passage of time, not demanding that the phrases be retained in modern usage.
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Hello newspaper editors?! Anyone home?!!
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To The Editor
First and foremost, this comic strip should have been nipped in the bud if the Editor was doing his Job, prior to publication. This particular comic strip is a repeat of days long gone and slipped through the network undetected by the Editor who wasn’t doing his job and should take it on the chin and not pass the buck on the Third Party Agency that composes the comic strip.
I have been subscribing to The West Australian for over 50 years and in recent times considered cancelling my subscription, but haven’t done so, as I enjoyed the Modesty Blaise comic strip so much, however, due to what has transpired, I am seriously considering cancelling the West!
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