Posted on 02/15/2006 6:19:24 AM PST by abb
Published: February 14, 2006 11:30 PM ET
CHAMPAIGN Two editors at the University of Illinois student-run newspaper were suspended Tuesday for their decision to run a series of cartoons that have sparked outrage and violence around the Islamic world.
Editor-in-chief Acton H. Gorton said the Daily Illini's publisher suspended him and the newspaper's opinions sections editor, Charles Prochaska, for two weeks pending the outcome of an internal investigation.
"I'm very disappointed. I think this is nothing more than a cover-up," Gorton said.
Publisher and general manager Mary Cory released a statement Tuesday night saying a student task force will "investigate the internal decision-making and communication surrounding the publishing" of the cartoons.
The paper's editorial staff told readers in Monday's editions that the decision to run the cartoons was made by Gorton and Prochaska without their knowledge. While the staff apologized to the Muslim community, it stopped short of saying it disagreed with the decision.
"We want to make it clear that while we do not necessarily disagree with the decision to print these cartoons, we disagree with how they were run," the editorial reads.
According to the editorial, Gorton and Prochaska ran the cartoons without consulting the staff or the publisher.
"The board and publisher reaffirm that final decisions about content in The Daily Illini rest with the editor-in-chief," Cory said Tuesday. "But ... journalistic norms regarding professional behavior dictate that it is the editor's obligation to engage other student editors and student staff members in rigorous discussion and debate of sensitive content."
Gorton and Prochaska ran their own editorial Monday, defending their decision to reprint the cartoons, and even called "irresponsible" the decision by major newspapers around the country not to publish the cartoons.
Gorton said on Tuesday that other editors were in the same room when the cartoons were laid out on the newspaper's pages and did not object.
The Daily Illini, which is independent of the university, ran six of the 12 cartoons first published in September in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten. In the Daily Illini's Feb. 9 edition, it led with the cartoon that has caused the greatest furor: a depiction of the Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb as part of his turban.
Silly editors!
They should have just made fun of Jesus, Mary and all of Christianity in general!
Then they would have been awarded prizes and high accolades from their professional peers and liberal inteligencia.
Whatever happened to the hallowed concept of Academic Freedom? /Sarc.
Ping
Bad First Amendment! Bad!
A student newpaper at Harvard, run by conservatives, ran the some of the Mohammed cartoons and, as you can imagine, it's raining feces on Harvard Yard.
I seriously doubt that. There is too much competition for such praise for anti-Christian propaganda on college campuses.
Dear Editor,
The editors of most of America’s major newspapers are cowards (with the Philadelphia Inquirer an amazing exception). These editors thought nothing of running pictures that put our troops in more danger (such as the New York Times putting Abu Grab pictures on its front page for over 4 weeks) or running fake stories that would incite Muslims worldwide (such as the Newsweek bogus story of Korans in the Toilet). Yet when it comes to putting their own sorry X’s (rhymes with “basses”) on the line, they all of a sudden become all so sensitive and understanding. Somehow, the First Amendment is not all that important if some Islamic nut may do something to you. Shame on all of them. Cowards. Thank God we have braver and better men that refuse to lie down and give up their freedoms so easily.
Regards,
2banana
Or if they were promoting the benefits of homosexuality, that would be fine.
Does anyone know if they published a picture of the offending New York "artist" pictures of Christ on a crucifix in a jar of urine, or the black Madonna in dung?
If so, double standard (nothing unusual for the press).
Link for contact info at the Daily Illini
http://www.dailyillini.com/home/index.cfm?event=viewCustomPage&name=contact
Drexel University's newspaper was going to print the cartoons but received threats from the Muslim club on campus. Something along the lines of, "you saw what happened in Europe and the Middle East, didn't you?"
As a Univesity of Illinois alum (Undergrad '65 & Law '67) this disgusts me to no end. U of I Campaign seems, unfortunately, to be doing its best to emulate the worst aspects of UC Berkley.
That silly free speech thingy in the Constitution..
Something about a chill wind?
no guts, lost glory
coming soon to your town
We might write to extend support to the editors: news@dailyillini.com seems to be the news desk (the editor-in-chief doesn't have a separate e-mail), and opinion@dailyillini.com is the editorial page desk.
If anyone feels like tracking down who to write complaints to, feel free.
Silly college kids thought they were mocking Christian conservatives.
They should know better by now.
Freedom of expression used to be a leftist cause--one need only recall the "free speech" movement at Berkeley in the 1960's. Today, it is conservatives who are the champions of freedom of expression.
LOL.
Oh, sure. It's OK for muslims to defile OUR god ;)
Coming next: "College Editors Suspended for Running News Item Unfavorable to Muslims."
It looks like the editors who printed the photos may have bypassed the usual paper editorial procedures. Maybe they figured that the editorial board wouldn't approve the running of the pictures, or whatever. So if its an issue of the editors deciding to make a personal politcial statement by running the cartoons and bypassing the normal decision-making process, they should be suspended. But we have to wait for more facts before knowing if that was really the case.
I've never been more disgusted with my country...the Muslims are winning...go look at the Daily Illini today...front page article about a peaceful rally against "hate." i.e., Muslim students protesting the "hurtful" cartoons.
Let's just pack it in now...they're gonna win 20 years down the line anyway...the powers that be have sold us out...what don't they understand about the Islamic admonition "Convert or we will, we shall, we have the right and duty, to kill you."
Dhimmies. Each and every one of them.
If every outlet ran the cartoons there would be no problem. Instead they all cower in fear and take retributive action against those that do run them.
I guess the First just grants Freedom of Some Presses.
Now that's funny! Wish I'd thought of it first!
as a Gonzaga fan I would say "Brokeback Mountain"
The staff gave it to the Muslims
I hate to say it...but if you don't have freedom of speech...then the rest of the freedom's really don't matter. You might as well live in Iran and herd some goats for a living.
Today's press are a bunch of stinking liberal, agenda driven cowards. These brave college editors have done more for the reputation of journalism than the whole MSM combined. Shame on the university for doing this - they ought to be taken to court.
Here's another contest. Lovely! Islamic fundamentalists/extremists already lost on this one.
"Israeli Group Announces anti-Semitic Cartoons Contest - Iran Loses."
This idea is spectacular! Poke fun on your own group.
I wonder if stout Islamic extremists will have the audacity to do the same? NOT! They don't have the capacity to laugh at themselves. It's forbidden. Such weak minds.
http://kokonutpundits.blogspot.com/2006/02/israeli-group-announces-anti-semitic.html
What does the First Amendment have to do with this?
Thank you for the inspiration. I sent my 2 cents:
opinions@dailyillini.com
Dear Editor,
You are moral hypocrites and cowards for suspending your editors. The Cult of Fundamental Islam doesn't distinguish between quislings and patriots. Fortunately, there are many people braver than me that will surely defend you when the Islamofascists come calling to lop-off the heads of your loved ones. As far as defending your from the stink of "political correctness," I fear you may very well may be on your own.
Regards,
--
Michael A. Smith, M.D.
Low Country Internal Medicine of S.C., P.A.
coming soon to your town"
Mission statement for the Demonrat party.
Don't buy the left's myths. True freedom of expression was the exact opposite of their movement. The Berkley crowd in the 60s studied Orwell very closely and coined the term "free speech" when there actual intention was to silence anyone who disagreed with them. Like many trends, the leftist PC censors started at Berkley and have now taken over virtually every campus in the country.
Sharia on campus. What a bunch of dhimmis.
BURN
:)
This was not good. Given that the Muslim response to these cartoons has often been violent, students whose names are listed on the paper's masthead as members of the editorial staff should have been notified, so that they would be aware that they might be targets of violence, and take appropriate measures to protect themselves.
Two editors at the University of Illinois student-run newspaper were suspended Tuesday for their decision to run a series of cartoons that have sparked outrage and violence around the Islamic world. . . . Editor-in-chief Acton H. Gorton said the Daily Illini's publisher suspended him and the newspaper's opinions sections editor . . . The Daily Illini, which is independent of the university
Most of the posters on this thread seem not to have lined up these pieces of information, which together make it clear that these students were not suspended from the university, nor was their suspension from their positions at the paper imposed by anyone with an official connection to the university. This is a technically private newspaper, published by who knows who, but not by any entity with an official connection to the university (not unusual, for student papers with a conservative bent). The publisher of a privately funded periodical is certainly not violating the First Amendment in any way, by suspending editors who act in a way that displeases the publisher. I suspect that failure to consult in advance with the publisher, and secondarily the failure to notify all other editors in advance, is behind the publisher's decision, since this put the publisher and editors at risk of being the targets of Muslim violence without any warning. If I was funding a campus newspaper, I'd be pissed too.
These editors' hearts were in the right place, but they should have thought this through more carefully, and gone through proper channels, before making a decision that many major US newspapers have been afraid to make because of the serious potential for violence and for liability to injured employees.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.