The publication Spare Change News today published one of the hugely controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad and called other Boston newspapers "cowardly" for refusing to print the drawings that have touched off weeks of rioting.
The biweekly newspaper, which is mostly distributed by members of the homeless community, juxtaposed one of the offending cartoons, which has fueled riots in parts of the Middle East, with a picture of a burned-out bus in a Middle Eastern street on its op-ed page with the caption "What is more offensive?"
In a corresponding editorial, the paper condemned the violent response by some Muslims and criticized other local newspapers, including The Boston Globe, The Boston Phoenix and the Herald, for not running the images.
"Newspapers in general . . . must reprint the cartoons in defense of free speech as well," the paper states. "To do otherwise is to cower before fear and intimidation."
The cartoons, many of which depict the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist, were originally published in the Danish paper Jyllands Posten and sparked riots in parts of the Middle East.
In Syria and Iran, protestors set fire to Danish embassies. Rioters attacked American and European businesses in Pakistan and attempted to storm an American military base in Afghanistan.
Many papers nationally and locally have refused to run the cartoons, stating the images are too offensive.
But Samuel Scott, editor and executive director of The Homeless Empowerment Project, which publishes Spare Change News, said yesterday newspapers are motivated by a fear of offending readers and advertisers.
"The mainstream media has become very timid," Scott said. "Newspapers are scared to death of offending anyone."
Herald Managing Editor Kevin Convey yesterday said the paper is not running the inflammatory cartoons for the same reason it would avoid printing images purposefully offensive to Christians.
Boston Globe editor Martin Baron told the Globe last week that the cartoons did not meet the paper’s publishing standards.
