A note from the Editor-in-Chief on today’s Johannes Leak cartoon

Readers may be aware The Australian’s cartoon has today caused some controversy. I want to explain to you its context in this statement.

NOTE: The Press Council has decided that this cartoon breached its Standards of Practice. Read the full adjudication here.

Australian Press Council.

Readers may be aware The Australian’s cartoon has today caused some controversy. I want to explain to you its context in this statement.

The words “little black and brown girls” belong to US presidential candidate Joe Biden, not The Australian’s cartoonist Johannes Leak.

When Johannes used those words, expressed in a tweet by Biden yesterday, he was highlighting Biden’s language and apparent attitudes, not his own.

The intention of the commentary in the cartoon was to ridicule racism, not perpetuate it.

Illustration: Johannes Leak

In the context of Biden’s words, this is evident. Clearly some, including those without that context, have wrongly attributed Biden’s words to Johannes, and in doing so have attributed abhorrent and inaccurate motives to him.

The Australian, and Johannes, opposes racism in all of its guises.

This morning, little girls woke up across this nation — especially Black and Brown girls who so often may feel overlooked and undervalued in our society — potentially seeing themselves in a new way: As the stuff of Presidents and Vice Presidents.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 12, 2020