The Chris Moeller Archives

Censorship watch 7/26/05

Ten to 12 newspapers have objected to a "Doonesbury" comic strip this week that refers to presidential advisor Karl Rove as "turd blossom." The phrase, of course, is the well-documented nickname for Rove by the President.
First, some context: this is just 10 to 12 papers out of 1,400 papers that publish the strip. And in most cases, the objection from the publisher seems to be that the phrase would be appearing on the comics page, rather than the news or opinion page. That's fine. I've always felt it appropriate that "Doonesbury" and other politically-bent comic strips appear on the editorial page, not because their content is inappropriate for children, but because too few adults read the funnies. My problem is with newspapers like the Providence (RI) Journal, which took the liberty of editing the word out of the strip. If I were a cartoonist, my policy would be-- alter the strip and it never appears in your paper again. Get that in the contract.

I own a fine book called "The PreHistory of the Far Side," written by the greatest cartoonist of all-time, Gary Larson. His brilliant strip, "The Far Side," was frequently pulled during its run in the '80s and '90s due to perceived "tastelessness." (An example he cites is an illustration of two dogs engaged in a game of "Tethercat." You get the idea.) Larson couldn't abide syndicate editors that altered cartoons rather than just rejecting them outright. It seems virtually unthinkable to me that a newspaper editor would have the legal protection to make such a revision. Run it in its entirety or not at all. They don't edit syndicated columnists like David Broder or Robert Novak, although, with Novak, the occasional edit might save you a subpoena down the road.
"Doonesbury's" syndicate, to it's credit, refused to send replacement strips to papers that rejected the first.

---
There's a slick promotion Friday night at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals will be in Los Angeles playing the Dodgers, but a couple hundred fans will be camped out on the outfield grass of the ballpark in downtown St. Louis. For $250 a head, you can spend the night at the park, while watching the Cards in LA on the video board. Campers will have access to the outfield, the Cards' clubhouse and dugout, family pavilion and courtyard, even the umpires' room. Breakfast at 8am.

---
The Cards are in San Diego tonight. You may have heard that Padres' slugger Phil Nevin used his limited no-trade option to nix a deal to Baltimore earlier in the day. It's the second time he's killed a trade in the last three seasons. The Friars are having their revenge, though. They started Nevin at catcher for just the second time since 1999. Classic. Tomorrow night, he'll probably be hawking peanuts in the bleachers. It reminds me of that "Welcome Back, Kotter" episode where Kotter promised Mr. Woodman that they'd use textbooks in class, but he didn't promise how they would use them. So the Sweathogs walked around the classroom, trying to balance the books on their heads.

---

I don't want to say that Iraq is another Vietnam, but they just cancelled the Smothers Brothers again.

posted by CM @ 9:47 PM