As reported yesterday, at least one major paper has opted not to run this weeks Doonesbury. This week Garry Trudeau uses the comic to poke fun at former Alaska Governor and 2008 Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin with information from an advanced copy of the new biography by Joe McGinniss. It was later reported that one of those major papers was The Chicago Tribune.
In today’s paper, Tribune Editor Gerould W. Kern wrote:
This week we are not publishing “Doonesbury” comic strips because they do not meet our standards of fairness. We are substituting another strip instead.
The “Doonesbury” strips refer to allegations purportedly contained in an as-yet-unreleased book about former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. The book is not yet available for verification or review by the Chicago Tribune.
To be sure, “Doonesbury” is a satirical cartoon, but the remarks are serious enough that we cannot publish the strip without more information, context and a response from Palin.
Kern goes on to respond to specific complaints he’s received regarding taste and censorship.
Same paper that got rid of The Argyle Sweater! What is going on over there?!
Another nail in the coffin. Buh-bye, newspapers, buh-bye!
Fairness? Doonesbury is not journalism. They know that, right?
When they replaced Get Fuzzy with Diamond Lil’…..that says it all.
Thanks, Tribune, for reminding me to hop online and read Doonsebury.
Actually, The Argyle Sweater still runs daily but not Sundays. And Diamond Lil was recently dropped in favor of F Minus.
Ooooh! Morally and ethically bankrupt, too! They’ve hit the Trifecta!
I’m sure they apply the same standards to their political columnists — each column comes complete with footnotes verifying all factual statements, together with a small text box with a response from anyone criticized therein.
There was another change in Chicago newspapers: 2 weeks ago, the Chicago Sun-Times dropped Family Circus and Love Is to make room for Lio.