TY - CHAP
T1 - Mark Knight Versus Serena Williams
T2 - Game, Set, and Match for Political Correctness?
AU - Scully, Richard
PY - 2025/12/31
Y1 - 2025/12/31
N2 - This chapter updates research undertaken at the height of the 2018 controversy between Australian cartoonist Mark Knight and American tennis player Serena Williams. Knight’s cartoon for the Melbourne-based tabloid the Herald Sun occasioned little comment when it first appeared in print, but Knight’s own use of social media platform Twitter to publicise his work prompted a huge international backlash from commentators and authors of all manner of backgrounds. Harry Potter creator J. K. Rowling in the United Kingdom, the US-based National Association of Black Journalists, and media outlets in the Middle East, China, and South Africa provided a global response to a very localised cartoon, illustrating many of the realities of twenty-first-century cartooning. Knight was defended to the hilt by his employer—the multinational News Corp—whose editorial policies and business model place freedom of expression at the heart of what they do. News’ commitment to cartooning was made evident from the highest level (global CEO Rupert Murdoch and Australian Executive Chairman Michael Miller) down through the editor of the Herald Sun itself and to its readership. Knight himself was forced to close his Twitter account and retreat from the spotlight owing to a campaign of outrage that became threatening. This chapter assesses the various responses in the light of recent and historical developments, seeking neither to defend Knight nor to condemn him (or, indeed, Serena Williams).
AB - This chapter updates research undertaken at the height of the 2018 controversy between Australian cartoonist Mark Knight and American tennis player Serena Williams. Knight’s cartoon for the Melbourne-based tabloid the Herald Sun occasioned little comment when it first appeared in print, but Knight’s own use of social media platform Twitter to publicise his work prompted a huge international backlash from commentators and authors of all manner of backgrounds. Harry Potter creator J. K. Rowling in the United Kingdom, the US-based National Association of Black Journalists, and media outlets in the Middle East, China, and South Africa provided a global response to a very localised cartoon, illustrating many of the realities of twenty-first-century cartooning. Knight was defended to the hilt by his employer—the multinational News Corp—whose editorial policies and business model place freedom of expression at the heart of what they do. News’ commitment to cartooning was made evident from the highest level (global CEO Rupert Murdoch and Australian Executive Chairman Michael Miller) down through the editor of the Herald Sun itself and to its readership. Knight himself was forced to close his Twitter account and retreat from the spotlight owing to a campaign of outrage that became threatening. This chapter assesses the various responses in the light of recent and historical developments, seeking neither to defend Knight nor to condemn him (or, indeed, Serena Williams).
UR - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-69762-3
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-031-69762-3_10
DO - 10.1007/978-3-031-69762-3_10
M3 - Chapter
SN - 9783031697616
SN - 9783031697623
SN - 9783031697647
T3 - Palgrave Studies in the History of the Media ((PSHM))
SP - 355
EP - 390
BT - Cartoon Conflicts: Contemporary Controversies and Historical Precedents
A2 - Scully, Richard
A2 - Fernandes, Paulo Jorge
A2 - Khanduri, Ritu Gairola
PB - Palgrave Macmillan Cham
CY - Cham, Switzerland
ER -