The lethal attack on Charlie Hebdo, and the firebombing of a tabloid in Germany, has brought out a major contradiction in the Religion of the Press, and a lot of members of the press are demonstrating their confusion in how they respond.

Exit Wounds: On Condemning Charlie Hebdo After The Attacks

...a minority [of those commenting on the Charlie murders] have made it clear that whilst they also condemn the murders, their condemnation is qualified, usually in the form "They didn’t deserve to be killed, but…”.  The ‘but’ refers to their disgust at Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons, and necessarily following from that, disgust that people are supporting or praising the paper...  For this minority, the attack on freedom of speech by violent Islamists is a trivial concern – the priority is instead criticising Charlie Hebdo for their sense of humour.  This is an attempt to shift the focus of the discussion away from the murdered journalists and police officers and towards the sensibilities of this minority and their taste in cartoons.

Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 00:12:21 GMT | Comments (13) | Add Comment
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