Does it matter if I was fired over one Donald Trump cartoon when every Donald Trump cartoon I submitted in the past year was axed?
— Michael de Adder (@deAdder) July 1, 2019
When you travel even a little bit in New Brunswick, you learn about the far-reaching influence of the Irving family. Brunswick News Inc. (BNI) — owned by James Irving — came up in the international news over the firing of cartoonist Michael de Adder.
Greg Perry, who was to replace de Adder, has walked away from BNI. Perry said the chain "insisted on running the cartoons I'd provided way back on Friday, despite my asking them not to."
The cartoon from de Adder featured Donald Trump trying to play through a round of golf with two migrants lying there dead. He was fired the day after the cartoon ran.
Perry says he was recruited before the Trump cartoon but to work alongside de Adder, not replace him. The two cartoonists worked together until 2 years ago when BNI laid off Perry. de Adder had been with BNI for 17 years. Perry did note that the social media backlash wasn't worth it "over a job that pays the same per month as a job at a grocery chain."
Cartoon for June 26, 2019 on #trump #BorderCrisis #BORDER #TrumpCamps #TrumpConcentrationCamps pic.twitter.com/Gui8DHsebl
— Michael de Adder (@deAdder) June 26, 2019
The concern over the firing of de Adder was linked to the oil-rich Irving family, who might not have wanted the anti-Trump cartoon. A lost detail is that de Adder never submitted the Trump cartoon to BNI, citing his concerns over sending them anti-Trump cartoons.
Neither de Adder or Perry are based in New Brunswick: de Adder is in Halifax while Perry is in Vancouver. Both cartoonists are featured throughout Canada, just not in New Brunswick. In fact, the Toronto Star agreed to pick up de Adder once a week.
BNI owns the major English-language daily newspapers: Telegraph-Journal (Saint John); Times & Transcript (Moncton); and The Daily Gleaner (Fredericton). The company also owns 14 English-language weeklies and 7 French-language weeklies in New Brunswick.
L'Acadie Nouvelle (Caraquet) is the only independent daily in New Brunswick.
CanadianCrossing.com journalism coverage
The Maritimes have been resistant to the Postmedia block that owns both daily newspapers in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa as well as the only English language paper in Montréal. New Brunswick has a similar conundrum. The SaltWire Network controls Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, as well as Newfoundland and Labrador.
The only major newspaper west of Ontario that isn't controlled by Postmedia is the Winnipeg Free-Press, owned by FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership with local roots.
Postmedia also owns the National Post based in Toronto.
When de Adder was let go by BNI, he didn't lose a newspaper in New Brunswick as a client; he lost New Brunswick as a client.
Newspaper ownership should be local and responsible. A lot of major Canadian newspapers don't provide either.
Twitter captures: @deAdder
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