Why the New York Post's Crazed Chimp Cartoon Matters

It's a refrain I heard a lot while fielding responses and offering commentary on the New York Post's awful cartoon depicting the authors of the Obama administration's economic stimulus package as a crazed chimp killed by police:

This doesn't really matter.

Indeed, when the New York Post finally got around to apologizing for the explosion of vitriol it sparked, one line from the statement stood out for me: "Sometimes a cartoon, is just a cartoon."

That was news to me. Because I thought the reason all of us in media spend so much time sweating over the words and images we put into print and in the airwaves is because this stuff does matter. Tremendously.

Media images can sway a country to war or persuade a nation to buy luxury automobiles. Billion-dollar industries are built on the notion that public image counts for a lot. And if a cartoon is just a cartoon, why wasn't Sean Delonas' work wedged in with that day's Marmaduke and Peanuts panels on the comics page?

Call me old fashioned, but I've always seen major metropolitan newspapers and broadcast news outlets as a reflection of their communities. They are our barometer of the boundaries of our common culture -- who is in and out, who did well and who did wrong.

That's why journalists of color have fought so hard for so long to make media outlets more diverse and more racially aware. Because for too long, media has excluded or misunderstood or misrepresented large swaths of society out of ignorance or disregard, and one of the impacts from Obama's election is confirmation that we all deserve better.

Since I first wrote about the cartoon, I've spoken about it on National Public Radio, fielded comments on my own blog, participated in an online chat organized by the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, sent Twitter messages and conversed with a wide circle of friends on Facebook. Opinions seem about evenly divided between those who criticize the cartoon and those who don't see a problem.

But what is remarkable is the passion of those on both sides. And their inability to understand why the other side doesn't agree with them.

This is the kind of uncomfortable discussion about race that our attorney general said we are too cowardly to attempt very often. It is bumpy and sometimes hurtful -- especially when practiced by those more focused on expressing themselves than listening to the other side -- leaving a bitter aftertaste that is difficult to forget.

But these are the conversations we need to have as a culture; a reminder that, increasingly, there are different sensibilities out there demanding respect and attention, especially from a major news outlet in America's most diverse city.

In the end, that may be what undoes the thinking which produced both the cartoon and the Post's muted reaction. Owner Rupert Murdoch knows he needs to stay on the new administration's good side to keep regulators from interfering too often with whatever new media revolution the mogul has up his sleeve.

And if the spectre of a negative Obama reaction inspires Uncle Rupe to make some changes at the Post to help editors make better decisions, well that's a wonderful side benefit from our newfound governmental diversity, too.

Let's be honest: At a time when the newspaper industry is drowning in red ink, can the New York Post really afford to shrug off an image that has inspired so much anger and condemnation as "just a cartoon?"

 

Follow Eric Deggans on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Deggans

Comments

[torbo]

If anyone thinks that Murdoch is going to apologize for the chimpanzee cartoon they are in denial about the history of the United States. History states the United States enslaved thousands Afircan human beings and killed million other slaves coming to America. After slavery Jim Crow, murder,lynching,and segregation in education,­housing,mi­litary,pub­lic accommodat­ions,feder­al employment, and transportation. It was not out of the goodness of the slave master heart, past presidents or some made up laws that so called free black people in America. If it was not for prayers and the grace of God black people would still be on some white mans plantation because it never was in the scheme of things for black people to be nothing but slaves in the United States.

[UKOH]

Eric

I totally agree with you. Even ignoring all the obvious racial overtones the cartoon was in poor taste making a point that we shoot people who disagree with us rather than debate with them.

I am a white British citizen living in the USA. The race debate is far more open here than it is in Europe and that is a good thing. In Britain racism is all "hush hush" with establishment figures pretending that because it is not openly visible it does not exist. My South American wife will tell you all about racisism in England! (Compared to the USA there are only a few South Americans in the UK).

However I am still sadened by the race debate in the USA. I just want to relate to people AS PEOPLE, treated on their own merits. I might notice externals such as color, creed, religion or gender but they in no way influence my opinion of a person. I treat everybody with respect until and if they have shown me they are not worthy of respect.

[stack]

Eric,
As you know because you work for one of the best newspapers in the country, the difference between a blog, or a group blog like Huffington, and a newspaper, is that a newspaper has editors. The function of an editor is to improve content. As I have told many people about this cartoon incident, when I worked on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's editorial page, if one of the cartoonists (for a wonderful time, the P-G had two brilliant cartoonists, Tim Menees and Rob Rogers) submitted such a cartoon, the editorial page editor would have looked at it and said, "What?" He would have handed it to the deputy editor, who would have responded similarly because the cartoon did not make sense and was not funny, in addition to being offensive. Then the editorial page editor would have called the cartoonist and rejected the cartoon unless major revisions were made. This is the counterpart to an editor demanding a rewrite for a poorly written or flawed editorial. That is the job of an editor. The question is: What kind of editor let this excuse for an editorial cartoon get published?

[manylittle]

What I am concerned about, and what I am not hearing about or reading about is the terrible possibility that some nutball who has been led to believe that the stimulus plan is the evil of all evils will take the implied advice of the cartoon and assasinate Obama. That was the first thing that hit me when I saw the cartoon was, that the cartoonist was saying that a solution to not liking the stimulus plane would be to shoot Obama. It sent chills up my spine!!!! Unbalanced people have killed with less provocation!!! Manylittle

[beckpod1]

Here's a cartoon in bad taste.....A picture of McCain back in a Vietnam Prison camp being tortured..­.Caption..­"They sent me back here for picking Sarah Palin..and saying..Country First!).
The republicans and racists would want to create a special panel to investigate the motive behind this...and cartoons in general.

[djwfutbol]

Sir,

I see you are from St. Petersburg, so perhaps you are not aware but those of us in New York who value good taste and intelligent thought have always treated the New York Post as fit for lining bird cages or housebreaking puppies. Ignore it, is my advice. We all have bigger fish to fry, no?

David

[Pie7]

co-sign

[TRYKER]

We all have bigger fish to fry, no?" djwfutbol

You think another fish is bigger than the first black president of the US? With 2 policemen killing him?...not to mention maligning the Stimulus that is designed to save our country from it's free fall?...and then...calling it a "cartoon" to boot. A cartoon? This was NOT funny.
This is NOT the kind of thing we should ignore, that is why there IS this sort of thing happening...we ignored it for too long.

[djwfutbol]

Who said it was funny? But expecting anything sensible out of the New York Post is akin to trying to teach a frog to yodel. Move your self righteous energy on to something useful.

[JimR]

There was a chimp killed in Connecticut last weekend by police. THAT is the chimp in the cartoon, not Obama.

[SonyaInTx]

This is the same news organization that called Michelle Obama, "Barack Obama's baby mama..."

I never liked NewsCorp or FoxNews. Now I'm going to find the advertisers still associated with them and stop buying their products. Money talks and their BS organization is going to go broke.

Enough is enough with the overt, blatent racism in the 21st century.

[greginwva]

Dowd was nasty about Holders comment today,calling him a coward for the Marc Rich pardon even though Holder's comment was about race discussions, but not one word about the chimp cartoon.Walk a mile in a black person's shoes Maureen before making your snarky comments.This was from a DC raised white woman who knows just how racist white residents of Washington DC have tended to be .She actually said we dont need a Jackson/Sharpton lecture on race .She also promoted McCain voter Rick Santini's(Matthews at least got him to admit that upfront) rant about Obama saving iresponcible mortgage owners even though its been exposed as propaganda generated by the right.

[apexfork]

I don't think it has been "exposed as propaganda"

If any mortgage holders are getting federal money (and lots are, $75b worth), then Santelli's point and rant are valid.

[TadekKorn]

Mr. Deggan, I agree with you whole-heartedly. I've been an avid reader of newspapers all my life and I've been observing their demise over the last several decades. The New York Post has come a long way since Rujpert Murdoch purchased it from it from Dorothy Schiff, all of it downhill. The same may be said of too many papers and much of the media. The notion of the existence of a "left wing" media bias is a joke, and not a funny one at that. Sadly, our information reporting agencies seem to have lost the minimal effort to distinguish between true and false.

[Phillip Velez]

How do you connect a dead chimp to the stimulus package? I don't see it. The only thing I see is an underlining racial connotation. It's not the first time a unit of News Corp. has been accused of racism. I hope this discussion continues and something comes out of all the controversy. I don't read the New York Post but support a consumer boycott. The NY Post really crossed the racial line with this cartoon.

[manylittle]

The cartoon itself connected the dea chip to the stimulus package.

[tonguetied]

I just think it would matter much more if Obama had actually been portrayed or referenced in the cartoon. I simply think the editor assumed we all knew who wrote the stimulis bill and since Obama didn't write it the cartoon has nothing to do with him.
Honesty, I think it's more important to discuss why so many people don't know who wrote the bill.

[tjdestry]

If you think either Obama, Pelosi, Reid or Danielle Steele or Charles Dickens sat up late into the night scribbling away at this thing, you have no idea of how legislation works. Who "wrote" it doesn't matter -- it's who directed it, who takes responsibility for it. And it's not called the Pelosi/Reid Act. It's called "The President's Stimulus Act." So, in the common parlance, Obama "wrote" it because he's the person taking responsibility for it.

End of civics lesson. Thanks for asking -- It's hard to admit your own ignorance, and you're to be commended!

[apexfork]

It's a shame that the people we elect to write the laws don't write the laws.

[JimR]

Poor analogy. Pelosi and Reid tell someone what to put in the bill, so while they actually do not do the nuts and bolts text entry, they do indeed have a hand in writing the bill.

That is YOUR civics lesson for today.

[steele967]

I'm pretty sure you made up the title of the act. As far as I have read, it's called "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act."

[siellis]

I do not think anyone looks at that cartoon and think of the word "wrote" in literal terms. I showed the cartoon to at least 5 people the morning story before the broke. Each person thought the chimp was Obama. I even played devil's advocate and said, "maybe it's the Congress". I was laughed at.

I think News Corp tried to ride the wave of ambiguity by not identifying the chimp - leaving it up to interpretation. I agree with Deggans. It is the media's job to understand and utilize symbolism and communication. I do not believe that a group of aware people (like journalists and editors should be) - white or black- don't understand the history of the imagery put forth in that cartoon.

[timetorevolt]

Here is a link to NAACP's email that is being sent to Murdoch.
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/2446/t/4676/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1086

[timetorevolt]

NAACP is staging a boycott of the NY Post. And a number of celebrites, lead by John Legend, are going to refuse to do any business or interviews with Murdoch's media until a true apolpgy is issued. NAACP is calling for the firing of the cartoonist.

Murdoch just lost billions last quarter and now a lot of corporations are going to pull their ads. Good thing.

They have the right to free speech and we have the right to boycott.

[nana4g]

First of all the choice of the chimpanzee incident was most offensive and outrageous. Since when is the near death mauling and ripping off the face of a victim a cause for humor and satire? This is unacceptable and inexcusable. Her life, if she lives, will be forever permanently and drastically altered.

Secondly, it could easily be interpreted as racist and disrespectful. And, since the majority of the feedback says it is, it is. Communication is two way. The one sending the message has not completed the messge until it has been received by the receiver. The receivers received a racist and disrespectful message.

Thirdly, parodying the tragic, violent accident and a black President writing a controversial Stimulus Bill, was not something to parody. There was no connection to each and it was dumb and a far stretch. Unless you are connecting violence, black, and chimpanzees. Then, you are still dumb and racist, too.

I went to the Post website this morning to send them my comment and when I saw the home page, I understood. This is not a serious newspaper. It is a tacky, gossipy rag. With the financial futures of the newspapers in this country at risk, this is certainly one that we can well afford to shut down. Conservative Right Wing can go to The New Republic and WSJ and gossip lovers can go to any other number of publications who do not pose as "newspapers".

[JimR]

Obama did not write the bill. The president cannot introduce legislation in Congress.

[siellis]

Jim R, we all know that the president did not write the bill and can't introduce leislation. You sound like the Post cartoonist - playing dumb and blaming the offended.

[rfshunt]

Yes, thanks for the civics lesson.

But the point is that the stimulus bill is identified with Obama. Not just by people who object to the cartoon, but by most, if not all of the major mainstream media.

I posted a list elsewhere, but I'll repeat it here

The New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/26/us/politics/26talkshow.html?hp

Bloomberg News
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_mccaughey&sid=aLzfDxfbwhzs

The BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7874407.stm

CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/09/democrats.stimulus/

CBS
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4683516n

And there are many others.

And you know this and are being intentionally obtuse.

[americanalien]

The New York Post is a very corrupt newspaper. They lack any kind of credibility whatsoever. This is the most offensive piece of material I've ever seen printed by any entity in the national media. It's a disgrace to journalism and a disgrace to the United States of America. This is why the Post has been losing tens of millions of dollars yearly. The fact that NewsCorp hasn't fired this anti-American cartoonist says a lot about an organization that hemorrhaged about $4 BILLION last year.

[andav]

I honestly don't find this cartoon offensive, and believe that the Post's statement was correct. It was not intended to be racist... as Nancy Pelosi wrote the stimulus.

[CaptainStormfield]

As someone else on this thread pointed out, Nancy did not right the stimulus.

[tonguetied]

More importantly, Obama didn't write it and the cartoon had nothing to do with him.