Is Doonesbury being censored because of Sarah Palin?

[blogslut]

Here's an http://www.joemcginniss.net/in-the-usa-in-2011-a-comic-strip-can-be-censored/Joe%20McGinniss">excerpt of the latest post from Joe McGinniss' blog:

Major newspapers in Chicago, New York, and Atlanta refuse to run–for a full week or more–a comic strip that refers to excerpts from a book that dares to criticize a woman who once ran for vice president and then quit as governor of her state and has subsequently made millions of dollars by doing reality shows and appearing as a highly-paid political commentator on a right-wing TV channel?

Hey, people: we’ve got a problem.

Background: Author Joe McGinniss' new book The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin is to be released on September 20, 2011. In (I think) a rather clever marketing move, McGinniss has teamed up with cartoonist Garry Trudeau. Trudeau is dedicating this week's Doonesbury strip to a storyline http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/doonesburys-satirical-comic-strip-tease-with-mcginniss-and-palin-excerpts/2011/09/09/gIQABAXVLK_story.html">described by the Washington Post:

...you’ll see Hedley reading excerpts from McGinniss’s bio, “The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin,” ahead of its Sept. 20 release date...

Link to Doonesbury: http://www.doonesbury.com/

[brooklynite]

1. What "major newspaper in New York" isn't running Doonesbury?

Daily News hasn't missed a strip.

[blogslut]

3. Well, the only publications he mentions by name in the blog post are

Chicago Tribune and Newsday and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

He says there are others but he hasn't named them yet.

[slackmaster]

13. Ah, Joe has a list!

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FxwAAcmkxpk/S80GLxFxbgI/AAAAAAAAB20/WHD-Ha-SbgI/s400/joseph+mccarthy+list.jpg

[Syrinx]

2. yes

[Dogtown]

4. K&R n/t

[Cosmocat]

5. Trudeau

I don't read comics, but it has always struck me how a lot of republican friends bring Trudeau up all the time when they try to defend the "liberal media" meme ... Whatever he does, it really sticks in their/their AM radio preachers, mind ...

[madokie]

6. The Tulsa World newspaper is running it

[taterguy]

7. Not really censorship, just legal types at the papers worried about libel suits

Been fairly common throughout Trudeau's career.

My local paper stopped running the strip for a few years when he accused Dan Quayle of being a coke fiend.

Of course Falwell v. Flynt protects him but no one wants to go through the hassle of being involved in a lawsuit.

[blogslut]

8. Except Trudeau isn't expressing an opinion on Palin

One of his characters is "reading" excerpts from McGinniss' book.

Oh well, like you said, Trudeau's seen this before.

Just the same, I think the cartoonist/novelist partnership/marketing thing is interesting. I'm digging the strip this week.

[starroute]

9. Link to the website isn't working

Is someone DDOS-ing them? Or is it just all the frustrated readers whose papers aren't running the strip overloading the server?

[blogslut]

11. All the links in my OP are working for me

Which one isn't working for you?

[starroute]

14. Doonesbury.com -- but it's back now

Earlier I kept getting "unable to find server" messages.

[leftyladyfrommo]

10. KC Star is running it. It's hilarious.

If you haven't see it can't you get it on the web?

[blogslut]

12. I've seen it

I'm just repeating what Mr. McGinniss wrote on his blog. I posed the question in the title of my post because I did not wish to convey that I take McGinniss' statement as absolute truth.