In the interest of improving The Badger Herald as a source of quality journalism, the position of ombudsman was established last semester to act as a kind of public editor — an editor whose role is both critic of the publication and advocate for the reader.
In September 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, including one that shows him wearing a turban in the shape of a bomb with a lit fuse. Islam forbids depictions of the prophet.
After enduring four months of criticism, the newspaper issued an apology on Jan. 30. But violence, as well as peaceful protests, erupted. Global trade has been impacted by boycotts. Ambassadors have been recalled. The UN even appointed racism experts to carry out an investigation.
It seems the American press began to take serious notice of the controversy in late December. By early January, the International Herald Tribune, which is owned by the New York Times and affiliated with several other newspapers worldwide, began consistently running stories covering the issue, along with publications like the Washington Post and the Times itself.
Monday, the Herald republished one of the cartoons in an Editorial Board piece entitled, "Sacred images, sacred rights." Members justified their decision, writing, "We print this as a symbol of our continued dedication to free speech and as a means of better informing the debate that has been sparked." They also wrote that the cartoons are, "newsworthy and the key to helping many form intelligent opinions about the international riots and ever-increasing destabilization of a volatile region."
Tuesday, Chancellor Wiley issued a statement that, thankfully, did not admonish the Herald or attempt to punish it in any way for the decision. Rather, he wrote, "It should never be routine to recall that this university has for more than 100 years championed the cause of free and open debate, the 'fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.'" This is a departure from the practices of other administrators at other universities who have seen fit to reprimand their student newspapers for reprinting one of the cartoons. Students should be thankful that their Chancellor believes wholeheartedly in the right to free speech.
But the Chancellor was also careful to note that the Board, "has explained its decision and must answer to its readership, ultimately, regarding how it chose to balance information and community impact."
In my time at the UW, I learned from a great professor that with every sacred right comes a sacred responsibility. And whereas the Herald certainly has a right to republish the cartoon, it has an important responsibility to provide timely, newsworthy information to its readers. In this context, the Badger Herald Editorial Board has made a poorly-reasoned decision that is both shoddy and cowardly. As the ombudsman of this paper, I believe the Board has attempted to be controversial for controversy's sake — a kind of yellow journalism that has no place on this campus.
Let me be clear: The Herald has a right to publish the cartoon. But key questions of quality journalism must also be taken into account whenever publishing content: Why is the Herald reporting the story? Is the story fair? Have the authors attempted to report all angles? Who will be affected by the story? Can the Herald defend its decision to report the story? Are accompanying graphics and/or pictures necessary to an understanding of the story? Is the story being published in a timely fashion?
It is in this qualitative sense that the Herald failed — badly. The cartoons were old news by the time the Board republished one of them. As noted above, they were originally published in September, debated in the European press for months, and reached our shores' headlines in late December and early January. It is now mid-February — at least one month later. That the Herald did not provide the cartoons in its news content prior to this date indicates a debatable subject: In December and January, when this was a topic first making news headlines throughout the U.S., a decision to print one of the cartoons in order to bring context to the situation may have been appropriate. It would have answered the question for many students, "What exactly are these cartoons that have set off such a firestorm?"
But to do so weeks later, on the opinion page, with little or no accompanying news stories, after nearly every other news outlet covered it, is simply poor journalism. If this cartoon was truly relevant and necessary for readers' understanding of the issue, why was it not published long ago — and on a news page, where such information belongs? Was it because of a fear by news editors that it would offend some? If so, Editor in Chief Mac Verstandig would have been well within his right to override his news editors and publish the cartoon in a news article. Or was it because the Board members wanted to do something controversial simply because it could — a way to gain attention for attention's sake while self-congratulating themselves for exercising their right to free speech? I'm inclined to believe that readers are, unfortunately, dealing with the latter circumstance.
If the Board wanted to write a hard-hitting piece defending free speech in the context of the Danish cartoon debate, it could have done so just as well, or even better, without including the cartoon. That it chose to publish the cartoon and devote nearly all of the accompanying editorial to defending its right do so shows misplaced judgment. By neglecting to offer sufficient reason for republishing the cartoon on grounds of newsworthiness, the Badger Herald failed to exercise precisely what is its right (and responsibility) to do: provide important, timely information to readers.
Republishing the cartoon for the sake of being controversial is nothing but a race to the bottom. While I will defend the right of the Herald to publish the cartoon, and might even have advocated doing so in a timely news piece, Monday's editorial is totally misguided. The Herald should not have printed the cartoon in that context.
Paul Temple ([email protected]) is the former editorial page editor of The Badger Herald. He is a 2004 graduate of the UW and lives in Madison.
