Censoring Dilbert?
Scott Adams, the author of Dilbert, has started a blog to document his daily life. In this post, he describes the difficult censorship issues that Dilbert faces:
The problem is that theres an unwritten rule in newspaper comics that you cant show a gun being fired. I knew that, but my editor was new on the job and I thought it was the perfect time to try and slip one through. But his alert assistant thwarted my plan and brought it to the attention of an informal committee of executives to decide how to handle it. The group ruled that the gun could not be shown. The concept of a peace officer gunning down an unarmed suspect was okay, but I couldnt show the actual gun firing. ... Luckily I have 16 years of corporate experience, and I know how to navigate my way around group decisions. What you need is a solution that could only appeal to a committee. I suggested a compromise. I would keep everything the same, except the gun would be replaced with a donut that fires bullets. My compromise was accepted. Without explanation to the readers, this is the actual comic that ran that day.I always heard that the Interweb would allow dissidents to route around censorship and I guess it's true!