Terms Of Reference And Difference

Michael Hedges January 19, 2015 - Follow on Twitter

We would like to believe in the Glinda the Good Witch, Johnny Appleseed or Santa Claus. It is not only the appeal to simple, perhaps naive comfort. Those narratives endure because they enhance our craving for a future. But even Cinderella had to learn the difference between good and evil.

Satire has been around for a very long time. As a literary genre it's been useful for sorting out society's quirks and characters since folks mostly spoke Latin or Greek. Satire commonly uses irony, exaggeration, parody and plays on words. Satire isn't necessarily thigh-slapping funny. Well written, however, satire aims directly at the head.

French weekly news magazine Charlie Hebdo is widely described as satirical, patently to the left in political orientation, irreverent and anti-racist. For its journalistic antics layered with cartoons it has gained notoriety, lawsuits, a firebombing and, most recently, the attention of homicidal maniacs. Recent circulation has been between 45,000 and 60,000 weekly copies. Business has been challenging.

Satirical magazines have appeared around the world, typically with finite lives dependent on contributors longevity, publishers interest and authorities patience. Arguably the first regularly published humor magazine illustrated with caricatures was Le Charivari, first seen in Paris in 1832. While disappearing in 1937 it inspired the creation of British satire magazine Punch in which the term "cartoon" was coined in 1843. Punch finally vanished in 2002 and its place in UK political and social humor taken by Private Eye.

More prominent than Charlie Hebdo on the French media scene is Le Canard Enchainé, also quite satirical and featuring cartoons. It first appeared in 1915 as a response to government censorship, paused for German occupation in the 1940's and has skewered French politicians ever since with biting jokes and investigative reporting. Average weekly paid circulation in 2013 was just under 400,000. An ugly email sent to Le Canard Enchainé (The Chained Duck) threatened to "slash with an axe" its jurnos, reported AFP (January 8).

The oldest more or less continuously published humor magazine in the United States is The Yale Record, published by Yale University students but independent of the institution. Since 1872 it has offered laughs to the college-aged and those who might remember private school fun. It was followed by the Harvard Lampoon in 1876. More recent Harvard Lampoon alumni migrated satire and parody to US television.

Lest anybody believe the old saw about Swiss humor contained in a book with blank pages, satirical magazine Nebelspalter has been published since 1875 in Zürich, first as a weekly, now monthly. It was banned by the German Third Reich for opposing their particular world view. It, too, has been challenged financially in recent years. Germany's best known satirical magazine Titanic is a relative newcomer, founded in 1979, regularly ripping politicians and shining spotlights on scandals. It‚Äôs often been sued and occasionally banned, most recently in Hamburg for publishing an unflattering parody of Pope Benedict.

"If you shoot at satirists," said Titanic chief editor Tim Wolff to Deutsche Welle (January 7), "you only make our work more relevant. We are beholden to the principle that every human being has the right to be parodied. This should not stop just because of some idiots who go around shooting."

Satire and parody in the media does not inspire universal admiration. Disdain for all forms of criticism runs rich through the veins of those feeling entitled to privilege and, mixed with humor, it can turn to furor. Laws curtailing insults to the king - metaphorically - are still enforced, often with sharp blades.

The intertwined concepts of freedom of speech, freedom of expression and press/media freedom are again, with the murders of Charlie Hebdo staff members, resonating broadly. And, once again, differences among absolutists, conditionalists and, certainly, rejectionists show little humor. A right to free speech has been long inscribed in common law, with detours for hate speech, defamation and insulting the king. The idea of protection for a free press, originally meant to keep kings and bishops from confiscating printing presses, has been extended, more or less, to broadcasting and digital platforms.

"Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference, and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers," says the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). Press/media freedom absolutists cite this passage, Article 19 (1) a, at every threat, which have increased significantly in recent years. Absolutists believe all ideas deserve to be heard - good, bad, popular and unpopular - because, in a democracy, good ideas drive bad ideas out.

Conditionalists are more wary or, as recent days have shown, simply terrified. They plead for tolerance, sensitivity and just good manners. "The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic," wrote US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in an opinion nearly 100 years ago still widely cited in arguments for limits to free press and free speech. That particular citation, however, is specious because the specific Supreme Court case was widely controversial and overturned 40 years later.

Several European media outlets reprinted, showed on television or posted to the web clearly identifiable cartoons from Charlie Hebdo and, even, those appearing in Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in 2005. Any news outlet not reprinting or resign the cartoons, most particularly "Anglo-Saxon media," was roundly criticised for lacking "solidarity." Jyllands-Posten did not reprint or repost the cartoons, partly out of safety concerns, said chief editor JØrn Mikkelsen, quoted by Columbia Journalism Review (January 9). "The truth is that to us, it would be completely irresponsible to print old or new prophet cartoons right now."

"The ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas," said Mr. Justice Holmes in a subsequent decision. "That the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground upon which their wishes safely can be carried out."

Rejectionists are just that; opposed to free speech, free press or, typically, freedom of anything. Scanning the bottom quadrant of the Reporters sans Frontiers (RSF) Press Freedom Index identifies the worst national offenders. Their leaders reject the criticism, obviously, and defend a right to silence the errant.

The murders of Charlie Hebdo cartoonists, editors and staff were meant, it seems, to avenge a perceived insult. Three million French citizens on the streets - not to forget more than 5 million copies of the latest edition sold - affirmed their right to assemble and express, however divergent, their views. Sparked by the return of Charlie Hedbo a week after the murders - if not the French manifestations supported by world leaders - five people died during riots in Niger and passionate demonstrations were held in many cities affirming much more than a difference of opinion about press/media freedom.

"These murders challenge democracies in the most sickening style," wrote Jyllands-Posten foreign editor Flemming Rose, who commissioned the 2005 cartoons, published in the Daily Mail (UK) (January 12). "They present a terrible threat to the free speech that is the foundation of true democracy. But the tragic events also expose our own hypocrisies, the delusions and evasion we take to keep peace in the short term, along with the destructive culture of grievance that politicians have been eager to exploit."

Ed Note: the original version of this article suggested that the Yale Record is or has been an official Yale University publication. It is not and the article has been corrected. Thanks to Michael Gerber for the heads-up.

Michael Gerber @mgerber937
@michaelftm Great post on satire mags! Tiny correction: Yale Record always fiercely independent, never affiliated with campus newspaper
07:37 PM - 19 Jan 15

See also in ftm Knowledge

Press/Media Freedom - Challenges and Concerns

Press and media freedom worldwide is facing challenges from many corners. As authoritarian leaders impose strict control over traditional and new media with impunity, media watchers have concerns for democracy. This ftm Knowledge file accounts the troubles of this difficult decade. 88 pages. PDF (December 2011)

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