This post has ben updated.
The Associated Press on Wednesday removed photos that included French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s Muhammed cartoons from its commercial photo system following the attack on the magazine, Buzzfeed News reported.
The photos that include the cartoons will remain on the wire service. The images of the cartoons on the AP wire service, including the one below, were taken by photographers with SIPA, a French Photo agency.
“None of the images distributed by AP showed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. It’s been our policy for years that we refrain from moving deliberately provocative images,” AP spokesman Paul Colford told Buzzfeed.
Other news outlets, including the New York Daily News and The Telegraph, have blurred out images of the cartoon in photos published on their websites Wednesday. TPM has also reprinted the images, but has kept them as they were originally published.
CNN also decided not to show the cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, according to a memo obtained by Politico.
“Although we are not at this time showing the Charlie Hebdo cartoons of the Prophet considered offensive by many Muslims, platforms are encouraged to verbally describe the cartoons in detail. This is key to understanding the nature of the attack on the magazine and the tension between free expression and respect for religion,” CNN senior editorial director Richard Griffiths said in the memo.
CNN’s “Reliable Sources” host Brian Stelter on Wednesday shared a statement from CNN noting that the network is still figuring out the best way to cover the cartoons.
Just received this statement from CNN re: showing #CharlieHebdo cartoons. For now, the network is not. “We are actively discussing…” (1/2)
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) January 7, 2015
“…the best way of addressing the key issues and images across all of our platforms. Those conversations will continue.” (2/2)
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) January 7, 2015
Well, I guess when you think of bravery, don’t think of AP.
Chickenshits - although they haven’t been a reliable source of journalism and truth for a long time, thus I am not surprised
The terrorists won.
The AP has cravenly surrendered. It probably has something to do with making a dollar, too.
I think that’s bullshit. When the AP whimpers and whines about the 1st amendment in any form, don’t bother to take them as a credible source. I haven’t for a long time. Overreaction is just as bad as not being willing to stand by your reporting, which includes the images and cartoons you keep on file that accompanied your previous reporting. If its in their archives as an example of a story they’ve already done, then self-censorship at this point seems to be a meaningless dead letter approach. Its nothing more than succumbing to intimidation by a criminal element that should be a pariah to all.