For most of the West, it's difficult to understand people being killed in Europe and the Middle East over a cartoon perceived as blasphemous. In America, the concept of blasphemy as a legally punishable offense was mothballed centuries ago with the passing of Cotton Mather and a few other hot-tongued Puritans. Lately, however, the provocative potential of acts that some consider blasphemous has become only too clear as outraged Muslims protest violently against the publication in Denmark of cartoons that lampooned the prophet Mohammed...Kelly McBride, a journalism ethics expert at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., said, "The idea of freedom of the press is that you can say whatever you want. That's true...but it doesn't mean you necessarily should." She said the role of journalists is different from those in the entertainment industry, but in each case people would do well to examine their purposes before publishing something that they should know will offend a lot of people. "Why would you publish a cartoon of Mohammed with a bomb in his turban? . . . Is it because you want to provoke discussion, inspire commentary, get people to think about issues as they've never thought about before?"More of this article...Search Google News for Kelly McBride...
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