[ Friday ]
News Outlets Run Scared on Danish Cartoons
--
American newspaper publishers and television networks have succumbed to the threats of retaliation by Islamic extremists by not publishing the cartoons which provoked riots in other countries. By their own definition of 'journalism', and as criticized by numerous columnists and educators, the outlets have refused to convey the news as it happened to the general public. In an interview aired on PBS, the publisher of the San Francisco Chronicle stated that he believed his paper could tell the story in words, without reprinting the actual cartoons.
--
Imagine the Kennedy assassination without the Zapruder film, or the dead U.S. soldiers being dragged through the streets of Somalia...without the photos. Explain those events in words to the public, and see if the impact is the same, according to one of the educators being interviewed.
--
The events surrounding the riots and their provocation is suspect, being that many moderate Muslims understand freedom of expression in other countries and tolerance in other religions. But American newspaper publishers cannot consider themselves journalists without telling the full, unbiased story as it happens, lest they become like the government censors of other countries for whom they have so much disdain.
MM [08:31]
![[Link to THOMAS Home Page]](http://thomas.loc.gov/images/link.gif)
