- Danes less fearful of a terror attack in Denmark (30 Dec 14)
The Wednesday attack on the French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo, which
killed at least 12, left many in the Danish media community shaken.
In 2006, Charlie Hebdo reprinted all 12 of the controversial Muhammad
cartoons from Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, adding some of their
own. That decision thrust the satirical magazine into the international
spotlight and set it up as a target for Islamic extremists.
In November 2011, the magazine published an issue in which it renamed
itself ‘Charia Hebdo’, saying the issue was guest edited by Muhammad.
When the magazine’s Paris offices were fire-bombed in direct response to
the issue, Jyllands-Posten stood by the controversial French magazine.
““I sent a note of sympathy to the publisher and chief editor of
Charlie Hebdo today. I clearly remember the threats we received in the
Muhammad case. It means a lot that you don’t feel alone in this sort of
situation,” Jyllands-Posten’s managing director Lars Munch wrote in a
statement.
In a strongly-worded editorial
printed the day after the firebomb attack, Jyllands-Posten thanked
Charlie Hebdo for standing by it in 2006 and said Western media should
refuse to be intimidated by violence.
“Charlie Hebdo stood shoulder to should with Jyllands-Posten when it
really mattered and when many other media outlets were busy looking the
other way. At Jyllands-Posten, we fully understand the rage and
frustration, and also the feeling of helplessness, that must be
affecting Charlie Hebdo’s employees and owners right now,” the Danish
newspaper wrote.
“Will violence win? One must be firm in their faith to simply brush
aside that question. Does violence work? Here one must unfortunately
answer in the affirmative. But this much is certain: if you bow to
violence, you won’t get less violence, but more,” the newspaper
continued.
In the immediate aftermath of Wednesday’s fatal shooting attack in
Paris, Jyllands-Posten was focused on reporting the news and had not
released a statement.