Ombuds Weigh In on 'Boondocks' Flap

By: E&P Staff At least two ombudsmen commented yesterday about last week's "Boondocks" controversy.

The Washington Post's Michael Getler said cartoonist Aaron McGruder's Sept. 20-25 sequence--which spoofed "The Apprentice" via a show called "Can a N***a Get a Job?"--should not have been pulled by the paper. Getler wrote: "I think McGruder, who is African American, is a brilliant artist who has created young, black characters speaking with razor-sharp, satirical candor who say things that make us uncomfortable but also make us think."

And Getler tweaked the Post for not telling readers it was dropping last week's sequence, which was also pulled by about a half-dozen other newspapers.

Sacramento Bee ombudsman Tony Marcano said his paper was correct to run daily editor's notes warning readers about the sequence. But he felt also running a Sept. 20 story was overkill. Marcano wrote: "By assigning a full article on last week's installment of 'The Boondocks'--and let me be clear that the article itself was fine--The Bee in effect elevated the issue to news.... From my standpoint, why the 'powers that be' didn't pull the strip wasn't really news. If they had pulled the strip, which would have been a highly unusual move for this newspaper, that would have been news."

"The Boondocks" is distributed by Universal Press Syndicate.