Posted on January 30, 2015

After Charlie Hebdo, Balancing Press Freedom and Respect for Religion

Jeffrey Gottfried and Michael Barthel, Journalism, January 28, 2015

About three-in-four Americans (76%) have heard at least a little about the attack on the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center, conducted January 22-25 among 1,003 adults. Of these, a majority (60%) says that it was okay for Charlie Hebdo to have published cartoons that depict the Prophet Muhammad, but nearly three-in-ten (28%) do not support the magazine’s decision to publish this material–saying it was not okay.

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Opinions about the appropriateness of publishing the cartoons vary considerably among demographic groups. One difference that stands out is between whites and non-whites.

While seven-in-ten whites who have heard about the attack support Charlie Hebdo’s decision to publish the cartoons, this is true of just 37% of non-whites. Instead, about half (48%) of non-whites decry the cartoons–saying it was not okay to publish them.

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Hebdo