He can win a Putlitzer, but he can’t get his work into Apple’s app store

Update: Mark Fiore’s app is available in the App Store, TUAW’s Michael Grothaus reports.

Cartoonist Mark Fiore this week became the first online-only journalist to win a Putlitzer Prize, winning the editorial cartooning prize for his work with SFGate.

However, when Fiore tried to submit an app to Apple’s online store containing the same editorial content, he was rejected. The reason? His app contained content that, in Apple’s judgement, “may be found objectionable, for example, materials that may be considered obscene, pornographic or defamatory.”

SFGate reported that Fiore has resubmitted his app to Apple for consideration this morning. Fiore also told the New York Times that he felt guilty that his Pulitzer publicity helped his cause:

Sure, mine might get approved, but what about someone who hasn’t won a Pulitzer and who is maybe making a better political app than mine? Do you need some media frenzy to get an app approved that has political material? I wish they would accept decent political material based on merit, not on popularity.

Apple has received plenty of attention lately for its strict policies regarding what is allowed into the app store. Some have said that Apple’s closed door, strict policies are too much to bear.

Take a look at Fiore’s work and let me know what you think. Should Apple allow him to sell his app, even though it does skewer public figures? Has the company’s self-filtering gone too far?