Berita Harian issues public apology over tsunami cartoon

Due to a comic published in Berita Harian, the newspaper had to give out a public apology. The following is the comic that was published; it was drawn by Mohd Zohri Sukimi:

This comic was published following the tragedy that happened in Japan, where an earthquake and tsunami took thousands of lives. The comic stirred a lot of emotions, and many feel that it was done in distaste. It even sparked a lot of anger on the Internet, where users would comment angrily on the issue, such as when they commented on a post on this website. Like them, I am no different - I think the same. Allowing the publication of such a comic is extremely insensitive to the Japanese, especially since they were still healing from this fresh wound.

The publication of this comic clearly breaches one of the four ethics that journalists must uphold. The ethical issue that it has breached is minimizing harm. According to Herrscher (Cenite et al. 2009, p. 579) this principle encompasses several aspects which include matters having to do with confidentiality, taking the feelings of others into consideration, holding a sense of respect towards diversity, causing harm to the reputation of others and so on. Journalists need to make sure that the publication of a certain piece would not cause offense or harm to others.

A scenario that is similar to this happened nearly a year ago. A cartoonist who went by the name Molly Norris had to go into hiding due to a comic that she drew (McLaughlin 2010). In the comic, she made fun of the Prophet Mohammed (McLaughlin 2010). It was no surprise, of course, that the Muslim community was outraged by her gall to draw such a thing (McLaughlin 2010). This act goes against the ethical principle to minimize harm since the comic does not respect diversity. She may not be a journalist, but the editor should have known better than to allow such a comic to be published.

Editors need to carry out gatekeeping in order to decide what gets published in the news. Gatekeeping involves checking every piece of material for any bias, conflicts of interest, and advocating of interest (Yu 2011). The publication of materials that do not adhere to the minimization of conflict will only cause tension to rise amongst the public, as shown from the two incidents. The editors for both newspapers should not have let those comics been published. It was highly unethical of them.

References:

1. Cenite, M, Detenber, BH, Koh, AWK, Lim, ALH & Soon, NE 2009, 'Doing the right thing online: a survey of bloggers' ethical beliefs and practices,' New Media & Society, vol. 11, no. 4, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://nms.sagepub.com.ezproxy.taylors.edu.my/content/11/4/575.full.pdf+html>.
2. McLaughlin, EC 2010, ''Draw Mohammed' cartoonist goes into hiding, paper says,' CNN 17 September, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/17/draw-mohammed-cartoonist-goes-into-hiding-paper-says/?iref=allsearch>.
3. Yu, H 2011, 'Beyond gatekeeping: J-blogging in China,' Journalism, vol. 12, no. 4, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://jou.sagepub.com.ezproxy.taylors.edu.my/content/12/4/379.full.pdf+html>.