The Advertiser, an Australia-based tabloid, has issued prominent apologies on its social media channels following outrage over a controversial cartoon (see below) published this week by cartoonist Jos Valdman.
The apology came Thursday shortly after Pappas Post publisher Gregory Pappas wrote an open letter to the publication and the cartoonist, and also after outrage from the newspaper’s local Greek community.
Full text of apology from Editor Matt Deighton
A CARTOON about the Greek fire tragedy, published in yesterday’s Advertiser, has caused distress for many of our readers.
It was intended as a tribute to the Greek people – reflecting on the tragedy they now face and their long history of resilience, stoicism and courage in the face of hardship.
But many of you told us you found the cartoon to be offensive, insensitive and in bad taste.
It was never our intention to add to the pain and grief that the Greek community is enduring as a result of the devastating wildfire that has claimed dozens of lives.
We have received strong and direct feedback from the people of Greece, the affected families, the Greek diaspora and the Greek community of South Australia.
We accept we caused offence and, for this, we unreservedly apologise.
As a paper, we have also reached out to local Greek community leaders and offered to do all we can to publicise the fire relief effort and let South Australians know how they can help.
Known as “the Tiser” for short, the publication belongs to the media empire of Rupert Murdoch, which includes numerous tabloids in the U.K. as well as the U.S. cable network Fox News.
The newspaper also shared the apology on its Facebook and Twitter pages.
APOLOGY FOR GREEK CARTOON
Dear all, A cartoon about the Greek fire tragedy appeared in yesterday's Advertiser and unfortunately upset many of the people who saw it.— The Advertiser (@theTiser) July 26, 2018
See the cartoon
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