Editorial Cartoon Wars American Style
"The Joint Chiefs of Staff sent The Washington Post a letter last week saying it was "tasteless" of Tom Toles to show a badly injured soldier--a quadruple amputee--in his Jan. 29 cartoon.
So
cartoonist Nick Anderson, in an e-mail sent Tuesday to E&P, wondered why the Joint Chiefs didn't get as angry with a Feb. 3 Mike Luckovich cartoon showing a U.S. soldier almost as badly injured. In
that drawing, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution-based Luckovich made the point that the media seemed more concerned with the fate of injured ABC News co-anchor Bob Woodruff than the fate of the average soldier.
"I'm still waiting breathlessly for the Joint Chiefs of Staff to protest and demand an apology [for the Luckovich cartoon]," wrote Anderson, the 2005 Pulitzer Prize winner for The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Ky., and the Washington Post Writers Group. He said this lack of reaction exposes their outrage at Toles as "manufactured and fraudlent." He added: "I'm also waiting for the right-wing punditocracy to express horror that injured troops are being exploited to score political points. I'm still waiting. It's been several days, and still no outrage. Perhaps it depends whose ox is being gored?"
Toles and others said the Jan. 29 Post cartoon was not making fun of the soldier, but rather commenting on the state of the Army and the carnage caused by the Iraq War -- meaning they felt the Joint Chiefs were more angry with the cartoon's message than the drawing of the soldier. The Joint Chiefs called it "reprehensible" in their joint letter.
Did Luckovich get any response to his Feb. 3 cartoon from the Joint Chiefs or other military higher-ups? "I haven't heard a word," he replied, when reached Tuesday by E&P. Why the difference in response? "The onus was on the military in
Tom Toles' cartoon," said Luckovich, citing one possible reason. "In my cartoon, the criticism was aimed at the mainstream media."
Toles, meanwhile, produced a double-edged commentary
in his cartoon today for the Post.
It shows a foreign mob attacking an embassy, protesting newspapers carrying a Muhammad cartoon, with one rioter saying, "Some forms of expression are over the line." The tiny Toles stand-in who often resides in the corner of the drawing adds: "I guess people don't say
'it was just a cartoon' anymore."
"The Joint Chiefs of Staff sent The Washington Post a letter last week saying it was "tasteless" of Tom Toles to show a badly injured soldier--a quadruple amputee--in his Jan. 29 cartoon.
So cartoonist Nick Anderson, in an e-mail sent Tuesday to E&P, wondered why the Joint Chiefs didn't get as angry with a Feb. 3 Mike Luckovich cartoon showing a U.S. soldier almost as badly injured. In that drawing, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution-based Luckovich made the point that the media seemed more concerned with the fate of injured ABC News co-anchor Bob Woodruff than the fate of the average soldier.
"I'm still waiting breathlessly for the Joint Chiefs of Staff to protest and demand an apology [for the Luckovich cartoon]," wrote Anderson, the 2005 Pulitzer Prize winner for The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Ky., and the Washington Post Writers Group. He said this lack of reaction exposes their outrage at Toles as "manufactured and fraudlent." He added: "I'm also waiting for the right-wing punditocracy to express horror that injured troops are being exploited to score political points. I'm still waiting. It's been several days, and still no outrage. Perhaps it depends whose ox is being gored?"
Toles and others said the Jan. 29 Post cartoon was not making fun of the soldier, but rather commenting on the state of the Army and the carnage caused by the Iraq War -- meaning they felt the Joint Chiefs were more angry with the cartoon's message than the drawing of the soldier. The Joint Chiefs called it "reprehensible" in their joint letter.
Did Luckovich get any response to his Feb. 3 cartoon from the Joint Chiefs or other military higher-ups? "I haven't heard a word," he replied, when reached Tuesday by E&P. Why the difference in response? "The onus was on the military in Tom Toles' cartoon," said Luckovich, citing one possible reason. "In my cartoon, the criticism was aimed at the mainstream media."
Toles, meanwhile, produced a double-edged commentary in his cartoon today for the Post.
It shows a foreign mob attacking an embassy, protesting newspapers carrying a Muhammad cartoon, with one rioter saying, "Some forms of expression are over the line." The tiny Toles stand-in who often resides in the corner of the drawing adds: "I guess people don't say 'it was just a cartoon' anymore."
