An Al Jazeera spokeswoman handled damage control Sunday morning after leaked emails this week revealed a rift in the Qatar-based news group over the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris.
“We join the rest of the civilized world in being horrified by the barbaric and heartbreaking attack on the Charlie Hebdo journalists,” an Al Jazeera spokeswoman told the Washington Examiner.
Likely Islamic terrorists assaulted the Paris offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday, murdering 10 journalists and two police officers. It’s widely believed that the assault was in response to the magazine’s repeated mocking of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.
Leaked emails first obtained by National Review Online revealed this week that Al Jazeera correspondents are torn over whether the French magazine provoked Wednesday’s deadly attack, with one side arguing that support for Charlie Hebdo is support for free speech and the other side arguing that the magazine acted irresponsibly.
The Al Jazeera spokeswoman told the Examiner: “We are proud of the Al Jazeera coverage of the ongoing events and will continue to cover the story with facts and analysis in the coming days. The email exchange in question reflects the values of diversity and debate that are inherent in [Al Jazeera Media Network]; that disparity of views is both healthy and, as reflected here, leads to the sort of inquiry, examination and challenging of views that ensures comprehensive, agenda-free coverage.
“We encourage our journalists to challenge each other in pursuit of truth. Every news organization has, and should have, conversations like this. It is a healthy organization which can accept the discussion of those opinions within the newsroom. What should be noted is what is presented on screen to our audience. Al Jazeera covered the story in an objective and responsible way, as anyone who watched our screen or read our website can see,” she added.
The inter-office rift revealed this week by National Review Online begins with an email written by Al Jazeera English editor and executive producer Salah-Aldeen Khadr.
Khadr, who is based out of London, suggested in his note that Al Jazeera correspondents ask if the massacre was was “really an attack on ‘free speech,’ ” and whether “I am Charlie” is an “alienating slogan.
“Defending freedom of expression in the face of oppression is one thing; insisting on the right to be obnoxious and offensive just because you can is infantile,” Khadr wrote. “Baiting extremists isn’t bravely defiant when your manner of doing so is more significant in offending millions of moderate people as well. And within a climate where violent response — however illegitimate — is a real risk, taking a goading stand on a principle virtually no one contests is worse than pointless: it’s pointlessly all about you.”
U.S.-based Al Jazeera journalist Tom Ackerman responded by quoting a recent New York Times article, titled “The Blasphemy We Need,” that argues Charlie Hebdo’s often obscene depictions of Islam and Muhammad must be republished because “the murderers cannot be allowed for a single moment to think that their strategy can succeed.”
In response to this suggestion, Al Jazeera English’s Mohamed Vall Salem wrote: “I guess if you insult 1.5 billion people chances are one or two of them will kill you. And I guess if you encourage people to go on insulting 1.5 billion people about their most sacred icons then you just want more killings because as I said in 1.5 billion there will remain some fools who don’t abide by the laws or know about free speech.”
Salem added: “What Charlie Hebdo did was not free speech it was an abuse of free speech in my opinion, go back to the cartoons and have a look at them! … It’ snot [sic] about what the drawing said, it was about how they said it. I condemn those heinous killings, but I’M NOT CHARLIE.”
