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Ever since its launch in 1970, Gary Trudeaus Doonesbury comic strip has pushed the envelope with frank, daring and funny examinations of contemporary issues.

A couple of weeks ago Doonesbury pushed the envelope a little too far for a lot of newspapers, including The Oregonian and Bends only daily, The Bulletin.

The offending strips focused on a batshit-crazy Texas law that requires women seeking an abortion to see ultrasound images of the fetus. In some cases obtaining such images requires inserting a probe-like instrument (called a shaming wand in the Doonesbury strip) into the womans vagina.

The Doonesbury strips contained some blunt language words like transvaginal and genitals but no words or images that were obscene. Nevertheless, the editors at The Bulletin and The Oregonian and at about 60 other American newspapers decided they were too hot to handle. They chose instead to publish old alternative strips provided by Trudeaus syndicate.

In a column last Sunday, Bulletin Editor John Costa tried to explain the decision. It wasnt that The Bulletin had any problem with the political position Trudeau was taking, Costa assured his readers. The Texas law, he wrote, is one that The Bulletin, a pro-choice newspaper, would vehemently oppose editorially if it were proposed in Oregon. (Thats comforting, and we intend to hold Mr. Costa to his word if the Oregon Legislature ever becomes loony enough to consider such a bill.)

No, Costa went on to say: The reason Doonesbury couldnt taint the sanctified pages of The Bulletin was that elements of it were not suitable for the predictable readership of the comics page. I didn't think it appropriate that the image of a doctor displaying the instrument he was about to insert in a woman was appropriate for the many youngsters who read the comics pages.

The Oregonian offered a similar line: The strip went over the line of good taste and humor [by] using graphic language and images inappropriate for a comics page.

The were-doing-it-to-protect-the-kiddies excuse is lame for a couple of reasons. One is that the days when the funny pages were populated by characters like Little Orphan Annie and Donald Duck are long gone; most of the strips that appear today clearly are written for adult, or at least teenage, readers. Also its hard to picture young children being mature and sophisticated enough to be devotees of Doonesbury and if they are, theyre probably not strangers to words like vagina and genitals.

We strongly suspect the real reason The Bulletin and The Oregonian decided to yank Doonesbury was fear of catching flak from their more prudish readers. And no doubt they would have.

But so what? A newspaper that doesnt ever take heat from its readers isnt doing its job. If being universally popular is an editors aim in life he should quit and become a game show host.

See the article here:
Censorship Isn't Funny