- (New Zealand Press Association) -- An award-winning cartoonist
dumped by New Zealand's biggest newspaper because of his drawings on the
Middle East conflict said he stood by his work and rejected an editor's
right to direct what he could or could not draw.
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- Malcolm Evans, twice named as the country's cartoonist
of the year, says he was sacked by The New Zealand Herald after the newspaper
received complaints from Jews about his cartoons on the conflict between
Israel and the Palestinians.
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- Evans, who denied that his cartoons were anti-Semitic,
said while he accepted an editor's right to reject a cartoon, he did not
accept an editor's right to direct what he should draw.
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- He said the paper's editor-in-chief, Gavin Ellis, had
told him to stop submitting cartoons on Israel.
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- However, Ellis said Evans had been sacked on legal advice,
but would not comment further.
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- Evans, who had worked for the Herald for seven years,
told National Radio the argument had started when the paper received letters
from readers about his cartoons critical of Israel.
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- "I have got to acknowledge in the first instance
that the paper had the balls to publish those cartoons, but once they were
published and reaction came in, the paper seemed to shrink from association
with them and ultimately I received this edict."
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- The Waikato Times newspaper quoted Auckland rabbi Jeremy
Lawrence saying he believed the cartoons lacked balance in their portrayal
of Israeli-Palestinian relations and had double standards.
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- Copyright © 2003. The Sydney Morning Herald.
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- http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/14/1060588531032.html
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