Salient (magazine) - Controversy

Controversy

In September 2005, the Vice-Chancellor of Victoria University obtained a court injunction to prevent an issue of Salient from being distributed - thought to be the first time in the magazine's history this has happened. The issue of Salient contained information obtained from leaked University Council documents with details about possible university fee increases of 5 to 10 percent. The controversy made national media, with several items on the television news. The university failed to realise that information was put on to the ASPA newswire, hence the information was published in several other student magazines and on the internet. Distribution of Salient was eventually allowed, four days late after Salient and the university reached an out-of-court settlement. The documents were returned to the university, reportedly with pictures of male genitalia drawn over them.

In April 2006, Salient published a short piece which put "Chinese", along with animals like poisonous snakes and penguins, in a list of "top five species we should be wary of". The supposed "joke" upset the Chinese community and caused huge protests from both Chinese students and the Chinese Embassy. Accused of being blatantly racist, editor James Robinson apologised, saying "It was a ridiculous jab that was honestly so stupid I didn't even think twice about it," However, he argued people who were offended had misinterpreted it, "We put 'the Chinese' between 'penguins' and 'very poisonous snakes' on the list, and people somehow took it seriously." He also defended his right to publish it, saying "It's not hate speech or inciting violence against the Chinese race. It would be a dangerous precedent to come out and say, 'Sorry, we were totally out of our minds to print such a thing'."

In July and August 2007, Lindsay Perigo wrote and Steve Nicoll published two articles titled Death to Islamofascism in Salient. He denounced Islam to be stinking and stupid and in the second article infamously suggested "Some good, robust sodomy as the Muslims bend towards Mecca would go some way towards attenuating both their anal-retentiveness and their murderous savagery".

In May 2008 Salient published a feature article concerning the rise of China as a new world superpower. To promote this article the cover that week depicted a naked, yet to be identified, salient staffer draped in a Chinese flag, with Hu Jintao's face photoshopped onto their own. The cover invoked a strong reaction from the Wellington Chinese community, with Pro-China students removing the magazine from distribution at the University's Karori Campus. Following this disruption, the Chinese students association of Victoria University presented a petition of 113 signatures calling for an apology. To date, Salient has not apologised.

Responses from the Chinese community were mixed, with some commentators mentioning that this controversial cover (in conjunction with the 2006 satirical comparison of Chinese to dangerous animals) resulted in a possible ban on Salient writers traveling to China.