MSU Student Site Draws Criticism for Posting Danish Cartoons

By: Miki Johnson An online newspaper run by a professor and students from Michigan State University's journalism school drew criticism from Muslim groups yesterday for posting several of the Danish cartoons that have sparked controversy in recent weeks.

The SpartanEdge, which is paid for and overseen by MSU new media instructor Bonnie Bucqueroux but is not affiliated with the university, posted late Sunday a box at the top of its home page with a photograph of Muslim protesters in Europe burning a Danish flag and the words, "Those infamous Danish cartoons -- it?s your choice. Click here to see what the furor is all about -- or don't, if you would be offended."

The online publication of the four cartoons -- one of which depicts the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb as his turban -- sparked complaints from the group Muslims and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Dawud Walid, its director, called the cartoons offensive and asked that they be taken down, according to a story yesterday in the Detroit Free Press. Bucqueroux told E&P by e-mail that she and Walid had spoken and now "agree to disagree."

Bucqueroux also said, in an action by the university's Muslim Students' Association, organized before but cemented by the SpartanEdge's publication of the cartoons, about a dozen students protested outside the Administration Building today.

The cartoons appear in the SpartanEdge's "Free Speech Issue," which is slated to be online for about two weeks. The issue also includes a feature story about free speech issues brought up by preachers on campus and counter-protests, along with an "Edgitorial" by editor Alexander Scott defending the decision to post the cartoons. "Admittedly, the print and broadcast media do have a rationale for not showing the comics: anyone who tunes in or flips the pages would be forced to see the evil cartoons and that person could be offended by it," Scott writes. "SpartanEdge.com has the advantage of the Internet. We have the ability to show the images to people who consciously click the link to the page containing them."

The editorial letter has so far sparked 28 comments, ranging from strong support of the cartoon's publication to its characterization as a ploy for media attention. Bucqueroux defends the cartoons' publication in her own "Publisher's Blog," stating "When the SpartanEdge.com editorial board decided this week to publish a handful of the Danish cartoons, a voice inside me cheered. There?s a reason for that Edge in the name -- the young people attracted to this publication are passionate about free speech issues. And I am proud to provide them a platform for their views."

SpartanEdge went live Jan. 16 and has courted controversy from its earliest days. E&P reported in January about its Spartanette blog, which drew concerns from professors and administrators that readers would not understand the delineation between the blog's opinionated writing and the rest of the site's "traditional journalism." Bucqueroux and the staff of students envision the site as a "sand box" for students to explore and develop new Web publishing techniques.