A cartoonist Daryl Cagle ,employed by MSNBC.com has depicted the Mexican National Flag ,what’s normally a regal-looking eagle at the center of Mexico’s flag riddled with bullets and bleeding. It’s a reference to the drug wars that have riled Mexico and left more than 28,000 people dead there in less than four years.
Freedom of the Fourth Estate is to be guaranteed.At the same time journalists presume that they are above normal human sensitivities in their pursuit of their story and their so called ‘creativity and independence’ by hurting the sentiments of the people.
They should understand their freedom ends where my nose begins.
Worse is his audacity in defending his action.
Cagle has not yet issued any apology, and newspapers continue to reprint his cartoon despite the controversy. The cartoonist also sought to defend his choice of material as freedom that comes with his profession.
“National flags are common fodder for editorial cartoonists around the world, so the reaction to this cartoon was surprising to me,” Cagle wrote. ”
The Mexican embassy responded that it respects freedom of speech unless it is directed at national Mexican symbols.
“Mexicans and Americans alike cherish freedom of expression as a fundamental right and a cornerstone of democratic societies, where satire and political cartoons are one of its distinctive manifestations. They serve as an important vehicle for voicing dissent, and expressing opinions…
Our national emblems (sic) have a particular place in the hearts of all Mexicans; we respect them as part of our national identity, regardless of political preferences.
The cartoon in question has triggered a negative response from some sectors of Mexican public opinion.”
Ricardo Alday, a spokesman for the embassy, then goes on to imply that Cagle should not do that again.
Media men get carried away while interviewing.They can at least have some manners .Glad Jayalalitha did what she did.
KT: So in other words you buckled under media pressure?
JJ: No, not at all. It was misunderstood by many people. It was not an anti-conversion law, it was an anti forcible conversion law.
KT: But it was misunderstood for almost two years. You could have repealed it earlier, you didn’t. You only repealed it after you failed to win seats.
JJ: It has nothing to do with that. If you insist on giving this interpretation I can’t help it.
KT: What about the…
JJ: (Intervenes) As to why the media is biased, that is because I am a self-made woman. Politics has for long been a male bastion. Mrs. Indira Gandhi changed all that, but still you must remember that Mrs. Indira Gandhi had all the inbuilt advantages. She had the advantage of being born in the…
KT: (Intervenes) You’re saying that media picks on you?
JJ: I do think so.
KT: Because you are a woman?
JJ: You are not allowing me to finish anything I want to say.
KT: No, is it because you are a woman?
JJ: I don’t think it’s because I am a woman. It’s because I don’t have a background like other women political leaders of Asia. If you’ll allow me to complete a sentence, Mrs. Indira Gandhi was born into the Nehru family. She was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru. Mrs. Srimavo Bandaranaiake was the wife of Bandaranaiake, Benazir Bhutto was the daughter of Bhutto, Khaleeda Zia was the widow of Zia-ur- Rehman.
KT: What’s the point you are making?
JJ: Sheikh Haseena was the daughter of Mujibur Rehman. I have no such background. I’m a self made woman.
KT: And so you are picked upon.
JJ: Nothing was handed to me on a golden platter.
KT: But are you saying that because you are self-made you are picked upon?
JJ: I do not know the reasons. It’s the media who have to explain why they have been so biased.
KT: Okay. You say that you are not irresponsible, you say that in fact calibrated changes…
JJ: (Intervenes) If you knew my routine you would be surprised. I get up at 4 o’clock in the morning and I am awake till one the next morning and all my time, all my attention is religiously devoted to work, work and nothing else but work. I have no time, no time to think of vendetta or think of vengeance against…
KT: (Intervenes) You are saying you have no time… It is interesting that you should pick the word vendetta. You say you have no time for vendetta. The press point out that when you arrested your predecessor you did it at two in the morning, on a Saturday although the case against him had already been filed a day before.
JJ: If you allow me a few minutes…
KT: But can I finish the question and then…
JJ: I know what you are getting at. So, the DMK’s government foisted cases against me and threw me in jail. I languished in jail for twenty-eight days in a case in which I was ultimately acquitted…
KT: (Intervenes) So was it revenge?
JJ: When Mr. Karunanidhi did this the media gave him kudos for throwing me into jail portraying it as a triumph of good over evil. If only they knew the truth, later the people saw through Mr. Karunanidhi’s mean game and they elected me to power in 2001 with a thumping majority.
KT: (Intervenes) But when you arrested him…
JJ: When I became Chief Minister Mr. Karunanidhi was arrested in a corruption case. At that time his family channel Sun TV played a big hoax with a very cleverly edited footage…
KT: (Intervenes) Can I interrupt because I think the important thing Chief Minister…
JJ: (Intervenes) And at that time the entire media was…
KT: (Intervenes) You are reading a statement…
JJ: (Intervenes) I’m not reading. I’m looking at you and talking. You can check it in the camera.
KT: But I want to say…
JJ: I’m looking at you and speaking. I’m not reading.
KT: I’m want to put out a concern to you. People say…
JJ: (Intervenes) You have notes before you. Shall I say you are reading.
KT: I have questions in front of me.
JJ: Alright I have notes in front of me. Nothing forbids me from having notes.
KT: Chief Minister…
JJ: I’m not reading. I’m looking at you straight in the eye. I look everyone straight in the eye.
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