Thursday, May 07, 2015

Charlie Hebdo Editor Seeks to Distance Newspaper From Anti-Islam Causes

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The top editor at Charlie Hebdo, the satirical Paris newspaper that was attacked four months ago by militant gunmen over its cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, sought on Tuesday to reject attempts by right-wing activists to exploit that attack for their own agendas.

In an interview with members of the editorial board of The New York Times, the editor, Gérard Biard, disputed any analogies drawn between the Charlie Hebdo attack and the assault on Sunday against an art contest in Texas organized by Pamela Geller, a conservative activist and blogger.

“We have nothing to do with Pamela Geller’s work,” Mr. Biard said. “When Islam or the Prophet Muhammad jump out of the news, we comment on it, we mock it, maybe. But we are not obsessed about it.” » | Rick Gladstone | Tuesday, May 05, 2015