CNN has decided not to show close-up images of cartoons published in the Charlie Hebdo magazine that may be deemed offensive to Muslims, the American news site Politico revealed on Wednesday.
According to the report, CNN senior editorial director Richard Griffiths sent out a message to staff Wednesday afternoon following a terrorist attack on the satirical French newspaper that claimed the lives of 12 people.
Griffiths' email reads:
"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.
Video or stills of street protests showing Parisians holding up copies of the offensive cartoons, if shot wide, are also OK. Avoid close-ups of the cartoons that make them clearly legible.
It's also OK to show most of the protest cartoons making the rounds online, though care should be taken to avoid examples that include within them detailed depictions of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons."Four of France's most famous cartoonists were among those murdered in the attack, French prosecutors said.
Long before being targeted in Wednesday's massacre in Paris, satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdohad been considered high on the potential hit-list for jihadists calling for strikes in the heart of Europe.
When Charlie Hebdo defiantly republished already controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed considered sacrilegious by Muslims in 2006, it knew it was taking a risk.
Politico noted that several other news organizations have in the past censored the French paper's cartoons depicting Mohammed, including the Associated Press, the New York Daily News and theTelegraph, among others.
