NYT Will Stop Publishing Political Cartoons After Anti-Semitism Controversy

The New York Times announced it will no longer publish political cartoons in its international edition just weeks after the paper was embroiled in controversy for publishing an openly anti-Semitic cartoon involving Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump.

James Bennet, editor of the Times’ editorial page, said the paper will stop publishing political cartoons on July 1. He made no mention of the Netanyahu/Trump cartoon and said this came after more than a year of deliberation.

“We plan to continue investing in forms of Opinion journalism, including visual journalism, that express nuance, complexity and strong voice from a diversity of viewpoints across all of our platforms," Bennet in a statement.

Our statement in response to ending daily political cartoons in the international edition of The New York Times. pic.twitter.com/FcagTxEZJ9

— NYTimes Communications (@NYTimesPR) June 10, 2019

Bennet released the statement hours after cartoonist Patrick Chappatte first broke the news of the Times’ decision on his website.

He linked the decision to the Netanyahu/Trump caricature, which illustrated Netanyahu as a Jewish dog leading a blind Trump.

“I’m putting down my pen, with a sigh: that’s a lot of years of work undone by a single cartoon — not even mine — that should never have run in the best newspaper in the world,” Chappatte wrote.

The New York Times formally apologized for the “clearly anti-Semitic and indefensible” cartoon and said it should “reflect deeply on how it came to publish anti-Semitic propaganda.”