Orange Order cartoon complaints dismissed by press standards body

The Ian Knox cartoon on May 28 featured a procession of elderly Orange Order members, including one using a walking frame and one in a wheelchair, parading behind a ‘Grand Centennial Parade’ bannerette.

Also in the cartoon, one woman watching the parade says to another: ‘Next time around they’ll need avatars.”

The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) said it received several complaints about the publication.

The complainants challenged the depiction of the Order’s members as disabled and elderly – questioning whether this amounted to unacceptable discrimination.

This complaint was rejected as the alleged discrimination “did not relate to an individual, nor is age a characteristic protected by the Code”.

In a response addressed to “multiple complainants,” IPSO said the complaints had been given careful consideration, however, it was deemed that the cartoon “does not raise a possible breach of the Editors’ Code”.

The IPSO letter states: “We appreciate that many complainants found the cartoon to be insulting and tasteless. However, the Editors’ Code does not address issues of taste or offence.

“It is designed to deal with any possible conflicts between the newspapers’ rights to freedom of expression and the rights of individuals, such as their right to privacy.”

In relation to complaints that the cartoon was a distortion of events that was not accurate, IPSO said: “The cartoon was clearly a satirical interpretation of the event and not intended to be an accurate or serious account of the event”.

The letter adds: “For the reasons set out above we will not be taking forward the complaints we received about this article”.

The May 28 cartoon was published the day after another Ian Knox depiction of loyalists was widely criticised, including by a Sinn Fein TD, as “provocative” and “offensive”.

That cartoon depicts four overweight, heavily tattooed skinhead men in boots and sleeveless Northern Ireland flag t-shirts, with the two Harland & Wolff shipyard cranes in the background, taking offence at being referred to as “Planters”.

The planter reference relates to the unionist backlash when US Congressman Richard Neal earlier this week referred to “planters” in Ireland.

He later defended his comments, saying he made a historic reference in relation to the Plantation of Ulster in the 17th century.

As well as a unionist backlash on May 27, Sinn Fein TD for Cork South Central, Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire, tweeted: “This kind of imagery and caricature is at best unhelpful & provocative, and you could reasonably say offensive”.

Responding to criticism of the first cartoon, Irish News editor Noel Doran said Ian Knox has a long history of “satirising extremists on all sides, including those from the same Ulster-Scots background as himself,” and added: “His contribution of May 27 specifically highlighted the context of the 1970 anthology The Planter and The Gael by John Hewitt and John Montague, and he was fully entitled to make his point.”

READ: Editor defends cartoon branded ‘offensive and provocative’