AAEC Prez Comments On Conrad Black Lawsuit

By: Dave Astor Why couldn't media baron Conrad Black have written a letter to the editor?

That's what Association of American Editorial Cartoonists President Matt Davies said about Black's libel lawsuit against illustrator Barry Blitt. A Blitt drawing in Toronto Life magazine showed Black riding into hell as demons applauded.

"You'd think that someone as rich and influential as Lord Black would have a thicker skin, or at least a better sense of humor," Davies told E&P. "What isn't funny is that Canada's courts have let the suit persist when the cartoon was quite obviously opinion. Sometimes the mere filing of a suit is enough to chill speech--and force artists to put their pens away. Let's hope that isn't the fallout here."

Davies, who won a 2004 Pulitzer Prize for the cartoons he draws for The Journal News of White Plains, N.Y., and Tribune Media Services, added: "In this situation, the normal response to an offending cartoon--a simple letter to the editor on the part of Lord Black--would probably have been adequate."

The suit was filed Sept. 10 in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and seeks $2 million (Canadian) in general damages and $100,000 (Canadian) in punitive damages, according to an article in yesterday's New York Times. Nat Ives' story said defendants include Blitt, Toronto Life's editor, Toronto Life Publishing, and the author of the satirical article--titled "A Toast to Lord Black on His Arrival in Hell"--that Blitt's illustration accompanied. Blitt has also done work for publications including the Chicago Tribune.

Black is the former chief executive of Hollinger International, whose holdings include the Chicago Sun-Times. He has been accused of using money from Hollinger to help finance a lavish lifestyle.