A deeper understanding of the religions in the world — along with newsroom diversity and cultural awareness — is crucial for reporting on and discussing major events, professors at ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication said.
A vigorous debate about free speech was ignited after major websites, newspapers and television channels decided not to show the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad depicted in French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo after 12 people were killed in an attack on its Paris offices by Muslim extremists a week ago.
One of the issues the panel addressed was whether or not newsworthiness meant the media should publish the cartoon.
“There’s a lot of different ways to look at this situation,” Professor Tim McGuire said. “A lot of questions rose on freedom of press and ethical issues.”
Panelist Omar Mohammed, a visiting journalist from Tanzania with a Muslim background, said the cartoons negatively emphasized Muslim stereotypes.
“The image is quite racist of what Muslims look like,” Mohammed said. “Personally I did not find it funny and found it offensive.”
The panel agreed that part of the problem is the lack of knowledge on the subject matter of religion in journalism.
“You need to ask, ‘Do you or the public understand why drawing a figure of Mohammed can be offensive?,'” Professor Rick Rodriguez said. “Do we publish anything because we can? Is there a real value in satire — but do you go too far? Are there limits? All of these things need to be taken into consideration.”
Mohammed suggested the media could gain real understanding of broad subject matters like religion and race through diversity.
“Newsrooms need to be more diverse to provide alternative points of view,” Mohammed said. “The lack of diversity in newsrooms is a deep, deep problem.”
Professor Susan Lisovicz said offensive material is hard to escape, especially in the digital age.
“So many people can be offended by this cartoon,” Lisovicz said. “But we live in the 21st century and the trend of media content, like satire cartoons, is getting more offensive … you can’t escape it.”
The panel came to the consensus that freedom of speech and expression have different meanings for different media organizations around the globe.
“Different publications will have different values and boundaries,” Professor Leonard Downie Jr. said. “Stay true to your publication’s values.”
Freshman journalism student Summer Cordero-Torres said the panel shied away from the real conflict that caused the attack.
“The panel did not address that the initial attack on the newspaper did not really have to do with this specific cartoon itself,” Cordero-Torres said. “The terrorist carried out the attack more to limit free speech.”
Cronkite graduate student Fan Wang was surprised to learn there are so many viewpoints on the issue.
“We had a discussion in my journalism ethics class about this cartoon today and a majority of people agreed freedom of speech is more important than respecting people’s religions,” Wang said. “But the panelist believed freedom of speech and fully respecting people’s beliefs can coexist.”
Communications major Jiun-Yi Tsai said she came to the event because she had been keeping up with the news about Charlie Hebdo through Twitter.
“I ponder if there is a real middle ground regarding free speech in the media,” Tsai said.
Contact the reporter at hzhan138@asu.edu
