RACHEL PENNIALL AGAINST THE PRESS

The Press published a cartoon on July 15, 2024, depicting a caricature of former US President Donald Trump commenting on his narrow escape from a would-be assassin’s bullets. It has the words “If you take a shot at the Don... you best not miss.”

Rachel Penniall complained that the cartoon violated hate speech laws. She also asked if cartoons were judged by a different standard than other published material.

The Press responded saying it recognised a cartoon of this nature was likely to offend some readers. However, it believed the complainant had misinterpreted the cartoonist’s meaning.

Aside from the obvious fact that the would-be assassin didn't in fact kill Donald Trump, the cartoonist was drawing on a reasonably well-known line from pop culture ("you come at the king, you best not miss") and was seeking to make the point that surviving the shooting would serve to highlight Trump's strength - as indeed it appeared to have done.

It did not seek to condone, endorse or encourage the attempted murder of a presidential candidate. To suggest it condoned violence against a person was drawing a really long bow.

It added that the cartoonist had drawn a similar cartoon after the aborted coup against Vladimir Putin and the subsequent downing of the mercenary warlord's aircraft.

The Media Council notes that New Zealand does not have a specific hate speech law that would apply here. While the Human Rights Act makes it illegal to incite racial disharmony, the Bill of Rights Act provides that “everyone has the right to freedom of expression.”

The Media Council’s Principles also provide a similar balance. While Principle (7) Discrimination and Diversity says publications should not place gratuitous emphasis - on gender, religion, minority groups, sexual orientation, age, race, colour or physical or mental disability - the Council has always held that there is no more important principle in a democracy than freedom of expression.

The Media Council has repeatedly ruled that cartoons are expressions of freedom of speech, they have wide license, and, by their very nature, they can be confronting, challenging and sometimes offensive.

“Cartoonists employ wit, satire, exaggeration, caricature and humour to make a point. A few deft strokes of the pen and a few well-chosen words can do what would otherwise take many words to express. Cartoons often deal with grave situations and can make fun of unfunny events; by their nature they will often cause offence.”

The decision to run this cartoon was a matter of editorial discretion.  This cartoon was not inciting violence.  It was just making an obvious point, in the spirit of innumerable Westerns and action films, that if you fail to kill your target there will be dire consequences.

There are no grounds to proceed.