Journalism under attack: The Charlie Hebdo covers and reconsiderations of journalistic norms

Abstract

In January 2015, masked gunmen attacked the satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo. The events presented an ethical dilemma for news organizations around the world, which had to determine whether to republish controversial images from Charlie Hebdo’s history. Many US news organizations explained their ethical decision-making in their own publications or provided interviews to other news agencies reporting about the disagreement. This study is based on a qualitative textual analysis of 35 articles from news outlets in the United States published within a month after the attacks. The analysis considers the journalistic norms and boundaries underlying the news organizations’ decisions to republish or withhold the images and how these norms shape assumptions about journalistic professionalism.

Free speech versus marginalized groups: Public and newspaper responses to the Charlie Hebdo attack

“…News media outlets particularly highlight the importance of guarding freedom of expression, not curtailing it, which not only pinpoint the news media’s role in upholding freedom of speech, but also raise the problem of prioritizing certain values and claims over the other. Our findings complement previous research on the Charlie Hebdo attack (Jenkins & Tandoc, 2017; Sreberny, 2016; Wessler et al, 2016), and illustrate that the free speech frame and the protection of marginalized Muslims frame are more prominent in British newspapers than American ones. Framing the Charlie Hebdo attack with a focus on freedom of expression, the editorial decision-making process (whether or not to republish images of Muhammad), and the plight of Muslims, provides a nuanced insight into the differences between U.K. and U.S. newspapers.…”

Journalism, solidarity and the civil sphere: The case of Charlie Hebdo

“…Across all the newspapers included in the study, the Charlie Hebdo attack was broadly represented as a terror act which struck European values in general and free speech in particular (see also Jenkins and Tandoc, 2017). The ‘we’ is constructed around several symbolic categories.…”

“…The Charlie Hebdo attack soon became a highly symbolic event, reflecting the core struggle between free speech and religious values that escalated after the ‘cartoon crisis’ in 2005 (Colbjørnsen, 2017; Jenkins and Tandoc, 2017; Kunelius et al, 2007; Połońska-Kimunguyi and Gillespie, 2016). Public expressions of outrage and large rallies supporting Charlie Hebdo followed, showing support to the victims and to free speech as a sacred value (Smyrnaios and Ratinaud, 2017; Sumiala et al, 2016; Walter et al, 2016).…”

“…Building on Alexander’s (2006) cultural sociological perspective and studies on media performance in the context of conflicts, dissent and extreme events (Cottle, 2004, 2006, 2008; McAdam, 2000), we address the discursive struggle over the inclusion and exclusion of actors and actions in relation to the Charlie Hebdo attack. We believe the case is interesting because the attack was interpreted by many as an attack on free speech and journalism itself (Jenkins and Tandoc, 2017). As we will see, this symbolic context manifested itself in the dilemma of whether cartoons of Muhammad should be published after the massacre, an act that was identified by many as provocative after the 2005 cartoon crisis.…”

El lápiz como arma: la respuesta del humor gráfico al atentado terrorista contra «Charlie Hebdo»

“…El atentado fue rápidamente condenado por parte de la comunidad política internacional y dio lugar a la celebración de varias manifestaciones ciudadanas que convirtieron el lema «Je suis Charlie» en un homenaje a las víctimas y un símbolo de la libertad de expresión. Entre las múltiples imágenes y textos que circularon después del atentado, los cuales han sido objeto de varios análisis académicos (Leone, 2015;Wolska-Zogata, 2015;Gustafson y Kenix, 2016;Gómez-Domínguez et al, 2017;Al Nashmi, 2018;Eko y Hellmueller, 2018;Giaxoglou, 2018;Payne, 2018;Jenkins y Tandoc, 2019;Niemeyer, 2019;Johansson y Laippala, 2020), encontramos también las imágenes elaboradas por los propios dibujantes en homenaje a sus compañeros de profesión muertos durante el atentado. Este corpus de imágenes no ha recibido demasiada atención académica 2 , a pesar de su importancia en un caso como este, el cual nos permite observar de primera mano cómo responden los dibujantes a un ataque directo contra su propio trabajo bajo la forma radical de un asesinato.…”