The four-time Walkley Award-winning cartoonist Cathy Wilcox is described as having cocked her sceptical eyebrow and poked her inky nib at pretty much any subject you care to name. But following intense controversy over her work, the satirist has decided to leave The Sydney Morning Herald after a 37-year career.
Wilcox was attacked in the media and subjected to a torrent of abusive correspondence over her cartoon criticising Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Rupert Murdoch, as well as senior politicians for attempting to stoke division in Australian society in the wake of the Bondi massacre. The SMH subsequently apologised for publishing Wilcox’s cartoon and the “hurt it [had] caused”, exposing what PEN sees as the media’s vulnerability to public and political pressure campaigns.
Wilcox’s initial silence was interpreted as an admission of antisemitism, and when she protested, she was portrayed as protesting too much. Wilcox’s demonisation for publishing a satirical cartoon highlights the consequences that can follow when Australians challenge powerful interests.
Australia’s liberal democracy depends on the freedom of political communication. PEN Sydney is dismayed by the brutal treatment of a cartoonist for expressing a political opinion, and we reaffirm the right of every Australian to criticise government and politicians.