The attack Wednesday that killed 12 members of the staff,
including editorial director Stephane Charbonnier, was bad enough. Allowing the
thugs who carried out the massacre to kill the French satirical weekly would
have been catastrophic. Despite the deaths of most of its senior journalists,
the show will go on, Richard Malka, the paper's lawyer, told Le Monde. And
newspaper plans to print 1 million copies, a figure that dwarfs its usual print
run of 60,000.
In an interview on French television reported by the
Guardian, Patrick Pelloux, a doctor who also writes for the paper, put his
finger on why this decision is essential. If Charlie Hebdo were
simply to go away, he said, the death of his colleagues would have been
"for nothing."
Charlie Hebdo stirred up controversy with its
irreverent, sometimes crass take on the world. It particularly offended Muslims
with its treatment of the prophet Mohammed.
Extremist zealots, not known for their senses of humor, hope
to control the conversation through fear. Whether it's shooting up Paris
newspaper offices, beheading journalists in the Middle East or ruthlessly and
relentlessly persecuting reporters and editors in despot-ruled nations. The
goal is the same: Kill the messengers and make the message go away.
But it can't. The pen is mightier than the sword. But it
certainly doesn't always seem that way. The power of evil people who kill
without conscience can make the pen (or the keyboard) seen frail indeed,
completely overmatched.
Years back, giving a commencement address at the Philip
Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, humorist Gene
Weingarten brandished a mammoth scabbard and a tiny pen. Gene was on to
something. But the way truth continues to emerge is that there is often someone
to pick up the shield of the slain colleague. Despite the sharply escalating
anger of covering international flash points, for example, journalists continue
to bear the enormous risks.
Click
here to access the full article on USA Today.