A regional daily has published an image of the Charlie Hebdo front cover after a newsagent in its area decided to sell the magazine.
The editor of the South Wales Argus, Kevin Ward, explained in an editorial: “Now more than ever... we have to defend the right to freedom of speech within the law”.
He ran the picture in the Argus and on its website, both bearing a caption apologising to readers who may feel offended by it. Ward wrote:
“To ban people from expressing their views just because we happen to find them disagreeable or offensive is the thin end of a particularly unpleasant wedge...
There are many views expressed on our website and our letters page with which I disagree. But that does not mean they should not be published.
Voltaire’s view (though not an actual quote) – ‘I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it’ – means more now than ever before”.
The Argus’s deputy editor, Nicole Garnon, also wrote that it was “not a decision we have taken lightly or without a great deal of thought and discussion”.
She stressed that publication was “not intended to cause gratuitous offence to any of our readers, particularly among the Muslim community, although we accept that it will be offensive to some people”.
But the decision to publish was taken “on the basis of its news value”. Garnon pointed out that the image was taken in a news context, illustrating that the magazine was going on sale in a Newport newsagents.
She wrote: “We feel it would be disingenuous to report the fact that Charlie Hebdo is on sale in Newport without showing, as a small image, a cover which is the subject of worldwide debate”.
Kenyan newspaper apologises for publishing Muhammad image
A Kenyan newspaper, the Star, has apologised for reproducing the Charlie Hebdo magazine cover, reports PA Media Lawyer.
The paper said many Muslim readers had complained about the depiction of Muhammad, which appeared in Wednesday’s issue. It sincerely regretted any offence and pain caused by the picture and will bear Muslim sensibilities in mind in future.
Kenya is battling growing extremism blamed on the recruitment of Kenyan youth by al Qaida-linked al-Shaabab militants from Somalia.
In Turkey, the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office launched an investigation into two journalists who featured Charlie Hebdo’s cover in their columns.
The Anadolu Agency reported that prosecutors were investigating whether Ceyda Karan and Hikmet Cetinkaya violated laws against “inciting hatred and enmity” and “insulting religious values.”
They write for the pro-secular newspaper Cumhuriyet, which printed a selection of cartoons and articles in a show of solidarity with Charlie Hebdo, but did not feature the cover.
