Newsrooms in publications across the United Kingdom saw fierce debates over whether to reproduce the cover of the latest issue of Charlie Hebdo — the “survivors’ issue” as it has been called — which went into a record 5 million print run on January 14.
The latest issue of the satirical magazine carries a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad on its cover that is a tearful and forgiving depiction of the founder of Islam.
While some publications have opted to publish the page in their regular reportage on developments around the weekly magazine — that lost six of its editorial leadership and three others to terrorist bullets last week — others have declined to do so.
The Guardian ; Times ; Independent ; Financial Times and the BBC have published the cartoon, as have major websites like Huffington Post, Buzzfeed and the news sites of Yahoo and Google.
The Daily Mail ; Telegraph ; Sun ; Mirror ; Sky News; ITN; and Press Gazette have not republished the cover page.
The magazine — sold out in France, and selling at astronomical prices on ebay — will be available in Britain at select outlets on Friday. Bookshops and magazine distributers are cagey about the number of copies that they are likely to receive.
The Muslim Council of Britain has responded to the publication with restraint. A statement signed by 53 imams of mosques from across Britain, said that although most Muslims will be “hurt, offended and upset” by the re-publication of the cartoon, the “best and immediate” response is to emulate the “enduring patience, tolerance, gentleness and mercy as was the character of our beloved Prophet.”
“We must recognise the right to hold non or anti-religious views; Newspapers are secular, not religious institutions,” Gavin MacFadyen, Director of the Centre for Investigative Journalism, told The Hindu .
He argues that the right-wing and chauvinist stance of the Danish magazine that started the crisis “doesn’t make the rights issue invalid.”
The repercussions of the killings could be far-reaching and dangerous, Mr. MacFadyen warned. “The killings will now be used to justify crippling authoritarian legislation, surveillance and censorship. Cameron and the French government are already and immediately proposing anti-civil libertarian measures that compromise the anonymity of journalists [and lawyers] sources. There will be no issue then of a free press or free speech, but [the emergence of] a police state.”
