Posted on 02/27/2006 2:22:49 PM PST by fanfan
Magazine kept busy after printing controversial images
It's been two weeks since the Western Standard published the Danish cartoons depicting Muhammad. We didn't know what to expect.
The worst case scenario was physical violence. That's what happened overseas. But then again, in almost every case, that overseas violence was whipped by up agents provocateurs.
By contrast, not a single hostile person presented himself to our office and not a single protest or demonstration was organized. Give credit where it is due -- Canada's Muslim community responded peacefully.
In fact, the only ones who were in a frenzy were the rest of the media. The day our magazine rolled off the presses, for example, CTV interviewed me on three separate occasions!
My own theory for this is other journalists had a pent-up interest in the story and its issues of censorship, the separation between mosque and state, and other questions that they had not been able to fully plumb before we gave them an opportunity.
The response from our readership and the general public could not be called a frenzy -- but it was large. Our magazine had four people answering our phones non-stop for a week. To our delight, the calls were more than 10 to one in our favour. We sold several hundred new subscriptions, which more than made up for the handful of newsstands that refused to carry that issue. I must have been copied on at least a 100 angry e-mails to Chapters/Indigo, criticizing them for censoring our magazine. Just as we have freedom of the press, Chapters has freedom of association and freedom of contract -- they have no obligation to carry our magazine. But they certainly paid a price for their decision amongst their customers, who saw the ban as a slap in the face to their freedom to read.
Perhaps the most interesting development over the course of the week was the number of "off the record" phone calls and e-mails I received from other columnists, reporters and even editors and producers who supported our decision to publish, even though their own media companies didn't.
It was bracing and particularly heartening so many left-wing journalists took time to send their support. That was particularly gratifying, since freedom of speech and a secular media free from religious law have historically been issues for the left.
Some long-time free speech advocates, such as PEN Canada and Amnesty International, actually came out against the freedom to publish the cartoons. But others, like the Canadian Association of Journalists, came to our defence.
A most welcome moment was when COMPAS released a poll of 221 of Canada's working journalists. According to that survey, fully 70% of Canadian journalists supported our decision to publish the cartoons.
Interestingly, 35% of journalists said that "all" or "most" of the media should have done so, too, not only because of the newsworthiness of the cartoons, but for freedom of speech reasons, too.
The poll also showed journalists were aware of the message that self-censorship sent to the Muslim community: The overwhelming number of journalists polled said not publishing the cartoons strengthened the extremists within the Muslim world and undermined the moderates. After all, if the mighty CBC or Globe and Mail can be silenced, how can an individual Muslim moderate possibly fight the radicals?
I wonder how many other senior editors and producers would have published or broadcast the cartoons in retrospect, knowing now that to do so would not have hurt them physically or economically, and that the bulk of their own newsrooms were in favour?
Canada Ping!
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"...and Amnesty International, actually came out against the freedom to publish the cartoons..."
Not surprising - the Secretary General of that organisation is a muslim woman:
Irene Khan - Biography
Irene Zubaida Khan joined Amnesty International as the organization’s seventh Secretary General in August 2001.
Taking the helm in Amnesty International as the first woman, the first Asian and the first Muslim to guide the world’s largest human rights organization,
http://web.amnesty.org/library/print/ENGORG100102002
Good for them. I am very concerned by how few newspapers capitulated to political correctness in this. If we can't count on them to defend freedom of speech, what can we trust them for?
Yuck.
Let me guess, no one was caught for that particular act of bravery.
Not much.
I suspect they will continue to collect paycheques in any event.
:-(
Hey Ezra.....maybe this just means nobody reads the Western Standard, eh!?!??!
Three of those new subscriptions are mine. I bought one for myself and two, anonymously, for institutions of Western Standard's choosing.
Wow, That's great!
History will thank you!
Meanwhile, take the thanks from me.
:-)
The reason was pusillanimity, not politics.
My ex-wife was actually going to join Amnesty International (in France) until she went to her first meeting.
She was told (in no uncertain terms) that they were not there to "debate" or even "think" about different types of repression (her thing was the Muslim oppression of women) but simply to sign the petitions that the leadership put out.
She never went back.
PEN Canada often defends speech with which many of us strongly disagree. If we did not, the principle of free speech would be meaningless. Healthy debate has been the way of our society, within the bounds of decency and the law. PEN Canada supports the right of a free press to publish these cartoons, but also believes that a wise consideration of the principle of voluntary restraint would have led to better decisions. Finally, we urge all Canadians as they enter into dialogue on this matter to support two great principles on which our democracy depends: the right to free speech and respect for the dignity and beliefs of others. Both must be upheld.
Someone fetch me an Air Canada barf bag...
Congratulations! Your wife is a treasure. Amnesty International has the same odour as the UN...IMO.
I wonder what their policy is regarding Salman Rushdie's "Satanic Verses." Is it displayed on the open shelves?
I have not looked for it in the shelves lately but it is in their web site in both hardcover and trade paperback format with an estimated shipping time of 24 hours.
Use search term "Satanic Verses"
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