Keeping News Coverage Safe

About two months ago when Pastor Terry Jones announced he planned to burn the Quran, the Muslim holy book, on September 11, 2010 the news sparked an international turmoil.

As the 'Burn a Quran Day' came closer in the calendar, tensions grew and caused alarm in the media.

While there was uncertainty about whether the Quran burning was going to occur or not, news agencies and television networks were already thinking about proper ways to report this event. Some news agencies, like the Associated Press, viewed this event as "provocative and offensive," therefore declined to distribute images, audio or detailed descriptions of burning Qurans.

Similarly, CNN reported that a host for a popular Pakistan TV channel "didn't dare to report the news because if he did, not a single American would be safe in Pakistan."

It seemed like the reporting of burning Qurans through mainstream media would not have helped in any way, but it would help further spread hate and discrimination against Muslims.

Pastor Terry Jones, leader of the Dove World Outreach Center in Florida, planned the commemorative event to mark the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. "Despite pressure from The White House, religious leaders, and others to call it off," Pastor Jones was determined to carry-on with his plans.

The Quran burning was eventually called off by Pastor Jones himself.

The fact that some news agencies and television networks agreed not to release any offensive, discriminative, or disgusting content is something to be proud about.

Nowadays, news agencies try to get better rankings and notoriety among others by releasing the most shocking news. In such a sensitive case as the Quran burning, keeping news coverage under certain limitations, I believe, says much about a conscientious news organization and its journalistic values.