In the wake of the terrorist attack on French satirical newspaper Charlie Habdo for publication of cartoons of Mohammad, a number of Western outlets are on the record refusing to the publish the same cartoons.
(NOTE: For the record, The Daily Caller has decided to publish the photos when necessary — partly as a stand for free speech, but mostly out of a complete disregard for staff safety. Look, here’s one now!)
Associated Press
A statement from the Associated Press indicates that it is their policy not to publish Mohammad cartoons. “None of the images distributed by AP showed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad,” a spokesman told The Daily Beast. “It’s been our policy for years that we refrain from moving deliberately provocative images.”
And yet, many on Twitter noted that the AP was still selling images of “Piss Christ,” the anti-Christian piece of art depicting a crucifix dipped in urine. Shortly after the hypocrisy was pointed out, AP pulled that image as well.
NBC, MSNBC and CNBC
Buzzfeed’s Rosie Gray reports that NBC News’ Group Standards team has instructed all three networks not to touch the photos.
NBC News spox to me right now says they will not be showing cartoons that “could be viewed as insensitive” pic.twitter.com/kPXP6QsNP8
— Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) January 7, 2015
CNN
Politico’s Hadas Gold obtained a CNN memo confirming the network will not show the images, but asked employees to describe them in detail:
“Although we are not at this time showing the Charlie Hebdo cartoons of the Prophet considered offensive by many Muslims, platforms are encouraged to verbally describe the cartoons in detail. This is key to understanding the nature of the attack on the magazine and the tension between free expression and respect for religion.”
Of course, since Islam does not ban describing blasphemous images, CNN’s stance is about as brave as not covering the images at all.
New York Daily News
The left-leaning New York tabloid is printing images of the Charlie Hebdo covers… but with the offending images blurred.
The Telegraph
The UK paper is likewise blurring images of Muhammad.
How the terrorists win: @Telegraph is now blurring the cover Mohammed cartoon of #CharlieHebdo in its reporting pic.twitter.com/DffGzIrQZI
— Yair Rosenberg (@Yair_Rosenberg) January 7, 2015
Jewish Chronicle
The editor of the UK publication was open about the fact that as a Jewish publication, publishing the photos would put his employees at special risk.
Get real, folks. A Jewish newspaper like mine that published such cartoons would be at the front of the queue for Islamists to murder.
— Stephen Pollard (@stephenpollard) January 7, 2015
Just to provide some extra context – we are already targets and have had to have armed police protection relatively regularly.
— Stephen Pollard (@stephenpollard) January 7, 2015
UPDATE: Unfortunately, the list of media outlets refusing to publish the cartoons continues to grow.
The New York Times
Via Buzzfeed’s Rosie Gray:
NYT just sent me statement also saying they will not publish images of the Muhammad cartoons
— Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) January 7, 2015
ABC News
Again, courtesy of Rosie Gray:
ABC News to me just now: "We are describing the cartoons in our reporting but will not show them.” sorry if this is getting repetitive
— Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) January 7, 2015
CBS News
Once again, via Rosie Gray, who has been doing a truly incredible job pressing networks:
CBS News also not showing the cartoons, CBS News spox says. That’s every major network
— Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) January 7, 2015