A couple of Herald Sun readers contacted me yesterday saying they will no longer purchase the paper following its publication of the cartoon featuring a naked, pixelated but naked, Premier of Victoria, Jacinta Allen.
I’d been on the road all day and was not across the story. I checked out coverage at the ABC, Nine Media and The Guardian.
The readers contacted me because they wanted to speak to someone. I couldn’t;t help them, of course. But I listened to their anger.
Having looked at the cartoon and read reports in other outlets, I like this from The Guardian:
Victoria’s inaugural Public Sector Gender Equality commissioner, Niki Vincent, said she found the cartoon tiresome and suggested it used sexism.
“Often we see women leaders with their bodies focused on, their clothing focused on,” Vincent told ABC Radio Melbourne.
“So this is another example of how to make fun of a woman leader using their body.”
It seems to me that News Corp courts anger, not only in its shrill headlines but also in deliberately provocative cartoon content. It’s moved a long way from being a trustworthy newspaper and a platform of enjoyable content.
Utterly disgusting by the herald sun cartoonist and editor.
One of the advantages with a Sale or Return Model where you only get low numbers of something, is you can top it and claim a refund. Further once I sold pus 10 Herald Sun’s a day however news took over the distribution system and it commonly arrives 1 or more days late,. They stuffed themselves.
I had not see the cartoon until l I looked it up. It’s disgusting. If I was a Melbourne newsagent and knew it was in a paper I was selling I’d lose remaining stock.
Its clear that there is nothing the Herald Sun wont do if they think it will help get John Pesutto and the rest of their Liberal mates elected in 2026.
Personally I hope Jacinta follows her predecessor Dan and tells the Herald Sun to “get stuffed” (or just ignores the crap it prints) and gets on with doing the right thing for the people of Victoria.