Appearing on “Meet The Press” Sunday, new Charlie Hebdo editor Gérard Biard scolded NBC and other networks and outlets that refused to air or publish the latest edition of Charlie Hebdo, which featured a cartoon of Muhammad on the cover.
The latest cartoon featured a tearful Muhammad while holding a “Je Suis Charlie” sign.
Biard told moderator Chuck Todd that networks that blur out the cartoon or censor it “blur out democracy” with their decisions.
NBC News, CNN and The New York Times all decided to blur out the cover.
“Listen, we cannot blame newspapers that already suffer much difficulty in getting published and distributed in totalitarian regimes for not publishing a cartoon that could cost them at best jail, at worst death,” Biard said.
“On the other hand, I’m quite critical of newspapers which are published in democratic countries,” he continued. “This cartoon is not just a little figure, a little Mohammad.”
“It’s a symbol of freedom of religion, democracy, and secularism. It is a symbol that these newspapers refuse to publish.”
“When they refuse to publish this cartoon, when they blur it out, when they decline to publish it, they blur out democracy, secularism, freedom of religion, and they insult the citizenship,” Biard concluded.