Cartoonists rocked by Paris slayings

Dylan Horrocks.

New Zealand cartoonist Dylan Horrocks has spoken of the shock among the tight-knit global cartooning community following the massacre at Paris magazine Charlie Hebdo.

A shaken Horrocks, who has been a writer for Batman and authored acclaimed graphic novel Hicksville, said: "A friend of a friend was late to that meeting, and subsequently survived - but only just."

Cartoonists often faced threats and pressures, he said, but extreme consequence tended to be limited to autocratic states.

Horrocks cited the case of Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten which attracted controversy in 2006 publishing depictions of the Prophet Muhammad, and said that case had led to a "lot of soul-searching" by cartoonists over their ability to offend. That case had also highlighted risks, with at least two cartoonists entering police protection programmes following death threats.

Horrocks said the Charlie Hebdo attack brought such risks into sharp focus.

"We kind of knew the danger wasn't limited to other countries, but could also strike comfortable cartoonists in the West - but this brings it home in the most shocking way possible."

Victoria University professor of religious studies Paul Morris said the effect on New Zealand from the Charlie Hebdo atrocity, or the risks it would be repeated here were minimal.

Especially absent in New Zealand was a satiric and partisan anti-religious press which sustained Charlie Hebdo, he said.

Professor Morris said lessons from the Jyllands-Posten controversy should be taken on board where an agreement was reached between the local Muslim community and media not to repeatedly publish the offending material.

View: A selection of some cartoonists' work in the massacre's aftermath.

"There was an awareness then that even though we live in New Zealand we're part of a global media world. If something's going to offend someone, publishing with that knowledge makes it a deliberately directed act. That makes it harder to take the line 'It's nothing to do with us,'" he said.

Jules Faber, president of regional representative body the Australian Cartoonists Association, expressed solidarity with those slain in Paris. "An incident like Paris doesn't stop us. It will never stop us. Because we are the truth in a complicated society."

Herald cartoonist Rod Emmerson, a former president of the ACA, said the attack on Charlie Hebdo was an attack on freedom of expression and while it may cause him an initial burst of paranoia he vowed it would not affect his work.

Auckland University teaching fellow and former Herald editor-in-chief Dr Gavin Ellis said local media would not, and should not, feel constrained or intimidated but should exercise restraint.

"I hope, sincerely, that this doesn't lead to the deliberate publication of material that is offensive to Muslims just for the sake of publishing it. That would be wrong-headed and counterproductive."