Margaret Sullivan, the Public Editor for The New York Times, wrote Wednesday that she believes the Times made a mistake not publishing the Charlie Hebdo Muhammad cartoons, and firmly believes the Times should publish the latest Charlie Hebdo cover, which is currently selling millions of copies across the world.
Times editor Dean Baquet pretty much told her to go pound sand:
I asked Mr. Baquet on Tuesday if he had considered changing course — as some media organizations did, including The Wall Street Journal and the news pages of the The Washington Post — in order to publish the image of the new edition’s cover. He told me that he had thought about it but decided against it, in keeping with his original thinking.
Here’s my take: The new cover image of Charlie Hebdo is an important part of a story that has gripped the world’s attention over the past week.
The cartoon itself, while it may disturb the sensibilities of a small percentage of Times readers, is neither shocking nor gratuitously offensive. And it has, undoubtedly, significant news value.
John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC