Australian Press Council rejects complaint against Israel-Gaza cartoon in Nine mastheads

The Australian Press Council has rejected a complaint made against a controversial cartoon on the Israel-Gaza conflict published in Nine Entertainment’s major mastheads.

A correction and apology was published by The Age and SMH two days after the cartoon ran. Picture: AAP

The Australian Press Council has rejected a complaint about a “deeply offensive” cartoon about the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Nine Entertainment’s metro mastheads The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald last month published a cartoon that inaccurately depicted the Israeli flag and equated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to terrorist organisation Hamas.

The illustration, drawn by veteran cartoonist Alan Moir, was published in the two newspapers on Saturday, October 26 under the heading, “Between the idea and the reality lies the shadow”.

Bialik College principal Jeremy Stowe-Lindner wrote a complaint to both The Age and the Australian Press Council after he saw the illustration in the Melbourne newspaper, describing it as “deeply offensive”. He told The Australian he was “disappointed” the Press Council last week contacted him to inform him they would not be pushing the matter further because he was “not directly affected by the published material”.

“The fact they say that I’m not directly affected is a judgement call that I don’t believe would be made for other groups had their flags — national, Indigenous or religious — been replaced by Satanic symbols. I believe they would be taking it more seriously,” Mr Stowe-Lindner said.

“I’m puzzled. To quote (English comedian) David Baddiel: ‘Jews don’t count when it comes to discrimination or harm.’

“I collect political cartoons myself and enjoy satire and humour but the guidelines that the Press Council sets themselves on cartoons is pretty specific.”

Cartoonist Alan Moir.

The Age editor Patrick Elligett. Picture: Twitter

The cartoon was amended by The Age, edited by Patrick Elligett, after it included an Israeli flag with a five-pointed Star of David (instead of six), leading to some interpretations that Moir had imposed Satan’s pentagram on the flag.

The spelling of Netanyahu was also wrong and had to be fixed.

The APC’s statement of principles states: “Media organisations should take reasonable steps to avoid causing or contributing materially to substantial offence, distress or prejudice, or a substantial risk to health or safety, unless doing so is sufficiently in the public interest.”

Mr Stowe-Lindner said: “What public interest is served by replacing a religious symbol with a satanic symbol? I don’t understand why the Press Council isn’t reflecting on its own guidelines with regards to this complaint.”

A correction and apology was published by The Age and SMH two days after the cartoon ran. “A cartoon by Alan Moir published on the letters page in the Saturday Age/Saturday’s Herald mistakenly included a star on the Israeli flag that was not the Star of David and misspelt the name of the Israeli prime minister.

“The Age/The Herald regrets the errors.” Bevan Shields is the SMH editor.

An APC spokeswoman confirmed on Friday the matter would not be taken further.

“The issues raised in the complaint were carefully considered and assessed against the Council’s Standards of Practice,” she said.

“Prior to the council receiving the complaint, The Age published a correction and an expression of regret for the error. In accordance with council processes, a decision was made not to proceed further with the complaint on the basis that the publication had sufficiently remedied the matter.”

A spokesperson for The Age declined to comment.

Originally published as Australian Press Council rejects complaint against Israel-Gaza cartoon in Nine mastheads