Two high-ranking editors of the student newspaper at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign were suspended Tuesday after they decided on their own to run some of the controversial cartoons that have sparked protests and outrage from Muslims around the world.
Acton Gorton, the editor in chief of the Daily Illini, and Chuck Prochaska, the opinions editor, said they stand behind their decision to print cartoons of the prophet Muhammad that were originally published by a Danish newspaper.
"I think it's unfortunate because what we did for our readership was something that most newspapers were scared to do," said Prochaska, 20, a junior from a suburb of Chicago. "I think Acton and I made a brave decision to publish the cartoons."
Many newspapers, including the Post-Dispatch, have not reprinted the cartoons. Since the Daily Illini published the cartoons Thursday, the paper has received criticism from readers, Muslim groups and Chancellor Richard Herman, who wrote a letter to the editor.
The editors have been suspended with pay for about two weeks, pending an investigation by a task force of senior members of the newspaper.
Mary Cory, the newspaper's publisher, who has received a steady stream of complaints from student staff members, said that it appears that the two editors "intentionally stifled any opportunity for discussion and went ahead with printing it on their own." While the editor in chief has the final say on content, she said it is also the editor's obligation to engage other editors and staff members in "rigorous discussion and debate of sensitive content."
The Daily Illini is owned and operated by the Illini Media Company, a nonprofit organization that is independent of the university. On Monday, the newspaper's editorial board apologized to the Muslim community and its readers for Gorton and Prochaska's actions. The editorial said that the two editors did not consult the editorial board, the editorial adviser or the publisher of the paper in their decision, which it characterized as the "the callous bravado of a renegade editor in chief."
"We want to make it clear that while we do not necessarily disagree with the decision to print these cartoons, we disagree with how they were run," the editorial said.
Gorton and Prochaska are also on the editorial board and wrote a dissenting editorial saying that outlets like the New York Times and Washington Post have been "irresponsible" in not publishing the cartoons. They said they will not apologize or resign.
Gorton, 25, a senior from Carbondale, Ill., said the piece ran as his opinion and not that of the newspaper. He also claimed that other members of the editorial board saw the page before it went to press and didn't say anything.
By printing the cartoon, he said, he had hoped that "readers could look at the cartoons and see if it justified the amount of violence that they see on the television."
Most members of the newspaper staff have been angry with him, he said, telling him he didn't take their safety into account.
Prochaska added that the majority of the 300-plus e-mails sent to the opinions page have been supportive of the decision to print the cartoons.
