At least they're honest

A British magazine, The Liberal, featured one of the Danish cartoons on its website - and then replaced it with a "censored" banner after the police told them it could not guarantee their employees' safety:

Politics magazine the Liberal has followed the Spectator in publishing then hastily withdrawing from its website one of the controversial Danish cartoons featuring the prophet Muhammad.

The independent title, which played a prominent role in the campaign to oust former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy by organising a petition, yesterday published a cartoon on its website alongside an editorial calling for free speech.

Senior police officers at Scotland Yard warned the magazine its staff could not be guaranteed protection from possible protests, after which the cartoon was pulled from the Liberal's website and replaced by a large white square with the word "censored" placed over it.

Following the withdrawal of the cartoon, Ben Ramm, the magazine's editor, announced on the website: "Despite our wishes and convictions, for reasons of safety the magazine will no longer carry the cartoon itself." (via LGF)

The website appears to be down right now, but here's what the cached version looks like. I would be cutting the mainstream media much more slack if they were being so honest about the reasons why they won't show the cartoons, instead of hiding behind a previously nonexistent "respect for religious sensitivies". Plus, that huge white space with the word "censored" on it makes the point about threats to freedom of expression much better than any editorial.

Posted by damian at February 10, 2006 04:28 PM | TrackBack