BBC Broadcasts Cover Of Charlie Hebdo Depicting Cartoon Of Prophet Muhammad

Charlie Hebdo

This Article Does Not contain An image Of The Prophet Muhammad.

The BBC’s Newsnight which was broadcast after the 10 o’clock news last night, briefly showed a copy of the latest edition of Charlie Hebdo, which displays a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad on the cover. It was a photocopy, not the actual magazine and the shot was brief and only showed it in closeup for seconds. Was it correct for the BBC to broadcast this image ? Was it brave ? or was it just stupid given the tinderbox situation that has European leaders holding high-level security meetings as we write this.

Last Thursday, the BBC also ran Charlie Hebdo’s controversial depiction of the Prophet Mohammed, a move that flew in the face of editorial guidance that the network now says is outdated. The cartoons were broadcast on the BBC’s “Ten O’Clock News” and “Newsnight” during coverage of the shooting in Paris on Wednesday.

The latest cartoon which is published today, on the front cover of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo,  shows a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad crying while holding up a “Je suis Charlie” sign. Above the cartoon are the words “All is forgiven”.

This comes after self-styled Al-Qaeda gunmen attacked the magazine in Paris, killing 12  journalists and cartoonists, last week. The murderers justified the attack by saying that they wanted to avenge the prophet for Charlie Hebdo’s satire of him. 3m copies of the latest edition of the magazine is set to be released today. They are to be printed, in 16 languages, after the massacre triggered a worldwide outcry on freedom of speech. More than 4 million people took to the streets on Sunday in France for a unity march. Many other countries also held rallies to show support.

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