8 February, 2006

china won’t publish cartoons

Not a surprise, but China has ordered media not to publish the Mohammad cartoons. More surprising, domestic media have been instructed not to mention anything further about the devolving mess.:

Got word of an new injunction: no publication of the Danish cartoons that have pitted one fourth of the world’s population bitterly, even violently, against Europe; no further coverage of the aftermath.

Too bad. I was actually thinking of doing something on that. But the censors certainly reacted too late this time. Guess they don’t pull Spring Festival shifts like us journalists do. The "damage", whatever it is, is already done. Domestic media have covered the whole sad affair, the violence included. Although somewhat timidly when it comes to the European papers’ defence of and insistence on, their freedom of speech. Maybe this very phrase is already banned in publications.

Most of my colleagues’ reaction to the news of the ban was something like "Yeah, right. As if we WERE REALLY PLANNING to run those cartoons", followed by some verbal abuse concerning certain people’s potential IQ scores. Even without instruction I think Chinese papers do have the good sense not to do that.

But what about simple, brief and unbiased coverage of the aftermath? Or subtle-worded op-ed pieces on the issue that might appear in the press? Are the censors worried that even this could be harmful to religious and ethnic relations?  I guess so but it’s almost impossible to stand in their shoes and follow their perverse thoughts.

AsiaPundit will not be publishing any the cartoons that caused such an excuse to pillage and riot offense. However, in solidarity with the right of press freedom, the right to criticize religions, and the right to give offense, AsiaPundit will  publish a 21st century image of Mr Jacques Barrot, winner of the French Pig-Squealing Championships in rie-sur-Baise’s annual festival.:

Pigsqueal_1

Technorati Tags: , , ,

by @ 9:34 pm. Filed under China, Asia, East Asia, Northeast Asia, Media, Censorship

2 Responses to “china won’t publish cartoons”

  1. ifex Says:

    see what various free expression groups around the world are saying about this brouhaha:
    http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/71980/

  2. jim Says:

    What isn’t being reported is that in a lot of instances Muslims in the protesting areas are disinfranchised male youth in single parent families. Unfortunately, young males who grow up without a strong father figure in the home or neighborhood have a tendency to “go to the dark side”. This problem is not unique to Muslims, and has nothing to do with the religion per se. The violence and protests have a much deeper root cause and the instigators are using these disinfranchised youth to put forth their sick political views.

    Do I agree that Allah should be portrayed in a negative light? No, we should take care to not offend people’s deeply held beliefs. However, that does not give the offended the right to violence. No, the Danish government shouldn’t punish the newspapers. Freedom of the press is important.

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