20130814_chip

CHIP wrote to us (see his note above in the Sidelines column) to say that this cartoon had been pulled by his newspaper, as the editors deemed it to be possibly defamatory. Of course, a newspaper's right to pull a cartoon (or suggest edits to avoid doing so) is to be respected, and they might even be forgiven for erring on the side of caution, given the readiness of the nation's president to sue over cartoons that he felt had defamed his own image.

But in our opinion, this cartoon is simply a visual representation of the allegations (about  another drunk driving charge brought against the subject, and a comment about his special connections), which are common knowledge and believed to be true by many - including the cartoonist. Surely a cartoon should be expected to present an opinion in such a case? If every cartoon were taken so literally, there'd be defamation cases aplenty!