Colin Steer, Associate Editor - Opinion
Bangladeshi Muslims chant slogans during a rally against the recent publication of cartoons in a Danish newspaper depicting Prophet Mohammad in Dhaka last Friday. The protesters are supporters of the Islamic Law Implementation Committee. - REUTERS
THE FLAMES have died down but the recent controversy sparked
by a Danish newspaper's publication of cartoons lam-pooning Islam in general,
and Prophet Mohammed in particular, is sure to rise again in relation to other
issues.
In an age of global communi-cation and heightened sensitivity to concepts of what is culturally acceptable, the potential for offending any one group at any time is a minefield not easily traversed without an explosion.
The cartoon controversy threw into sharp focus issues of freedom of expression and concerns about the need for media managers and editors to demonstrate religious and cultural sensitivity when reporting on diverse ethnic and social groups. But which editor can be equally 'inoffensive' at all times? As we often say in Jamaica, "What is joke to you is death to me." And should editors or commentators be obliged to tiptoe around the sensitivities of diverse groups of people without the fear of some violent backlash - even where there are clear disclaimers of not endorsing the views aired in their media?
CONDEMNED FOR CAVING IN
Ironically, while many newspaper editors condemned the violent reactions to the publishing of the cartoons, few, except for some catering to extreme right-wing views, republished them. The rationale by those who did not publish was that they were respecting Muslim sensibilities. In effect, they stood condemned for caving in to pressure from extremists.
At a meeting at the offices of the International Federation of Journalists in Brussels, Belgium, on February 15, the International Press Institute (IPI) and other press freedom organisations issued a statement supporting editorial independence in light of the Danish cartoon controversy.
Commenting on the statement, IPI Director Johann P. Fritz said, "Freedom of expression and freedom of the press are not European or Western values; they are universal rights applicable to everyone, and this appears to have been forgotten in the discussion about the relationship between press freedom and freedom of religion."
At the same time, Muslims have no monopoly on irrational behaviour or intolerant views. The rise in political influence among the alliance of political conserva-tives and the religious right in the United States is only one step removed from the physical violence displayed by angry Muslims. Anti-abortionists who celebrate the right to life have no hesitation in throwing bombs into clinics that might kill a pregnant woman, her foetus and medical doctors.
In 1989, a vigorous campaign was mounted in the United States by political conservatives against the National Endowment for The Arts mounting an exhibition which included Andres Serrano's 'Piss Christ' - a photographic depiction of a plastic crucifix immersed in urine. The piece caused a scandal, with detractors accusing Serrano of blasphemy and others raising this as a major issue of artistic freedom. Conservatives wanted taxpayer funding withdrawn from the National Endowment for the Arts.
TRANSCENDING RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL ISSUES
And while the media may provide a conduit for the airing of different perspectives, the very fact that 'minority' views get published at all, is often interpreted as an endorsement of those perspectives. So the Qatar-based Al Jazeera satellite television service remains on the air only because some key allies of the United States have urged restraint on the hawks in the Bush administration who wanted to bomb it for airing material more sympathetic to Arabs.
But the push or felt need for political correctness transcends religious and political issues. At the height of the O.J. Simpson trial in the early 1990s, American news anchors tripped over themselves repeatedly in discussing Los Angeles Police Department policeman Mark Fuhrman's reported reference to Simpson as a 'nigger'. Their policy did not allow them to report that Fuhrman said the word nigger. They kept referring to the fact that he used the N- word.
Political correctness in the United States often does not allow for an accurate reporting of racist slurs. The fear is that usage equals endorsement.
In Latin America, many journalists regularly practise self-censorship in reporting on politics and crime, especially as the latter relates to the drug trade. It really is a matter of life and death - 'he that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life'. Many have been killed for reporting on drug cartels.
So the concept of freedom of expression is increasingly being counterbalanced not only by concerns about security and safety, but also 'sensitivity' in relation to gender, race, politics, religion and sexual orientation. There will also be concerns about economic survival where the writer or publisher may choose not to print material, deferring to the interests of the advertisers.
The journalist who is prepared to be guided by the principle, 'Publish and be damned', is increasingly becoming an endangered species - across cultures.
