Karnataka-based cartoonist Satish Acharya had alleged censorship by Mail Today, a tabloid newspaper, regarding a cartoon being dropped for alleged political reasons. In a Facebook post, he had said that he had withdrawn his cartoon column with Mail Today following continuous editorial interference.
The editor of the daily in a statement has defended its position claiming the cartoon did not pass the editorial standards of the paper and that their “editorial integrity is inviolable”. The said cartoon was Satish’s depiction of “the growing influence of China around Indian interests”.
In a statement, Dwaipayan Bose, Editor, Mail Today said, “Freelance cartoonist Satish Acharya has been a regular contributor to Mail Today, and this is the first instance in the recent past that his contribution has been dropped. As a newspaper, we are under no obligation to carry content that fails to pass our editorial standards; the cartoon in question did not.”
He added, “On some other occasions, when his cartoons have been on sensitive issues -- including particular communities or courts – we’ve discussed it with him and carried a mutually agreed revised version.”
The statement continued to say, “For sure, Acharya has a right to creative differences with us, but so does the newspaper, and to make baseless accusations and try to assign motives where none exist is unethical. We do not act on the dictates of any entity. Our editorial integrity is inviolable -- and stays unaffected by Acharya's false allegations.”
In a long post on Sunday, Satish alleged the publication decided to “crawl when asked to bend”. Satish said the editor’s reaction to the latest cartoon was “very defeatist and the China problem is being overplayed’. He also described how a photo replaced his cartoon.
He further stated how on previous occasions too, the publication made him modify his cartoons citing “the editor was not too happy” or asked if “Modi’s character can be replaced with any general BJP character”