The Washington Post today commends Middle Eastern newspapers for “bravely” republishing the offending Muhammad cartoons, yet chides European newspaper for doing the same in journalistic solidarity. (The Post still hasn’t published the cartoons for its readers, as a letter writer points out — fortunately, there’s the Internet.) The Post’s reasoning is a bit silly: the freedom of the press isn’t threatened in Europe, so newspapers should restrict themselves. Further, the Danish prime minister should have met with Muslim ambassadors to defuse the controversy, when he has no control over these free newspapers. In other words, by the Post‘s understanding of freedom of the press, freedom isn’t free.
