U.S. media show Muhammad cartoons

Last night, on the News Hour's segment on the controversy, they had footage of a Muslim man holding up the cartoons, voicing his outrage about them. And while he was talking, the camera zoomed right in. Very clever.

Later footage showed a cartoon in a newspaper, but only about 1/3 of the cartoon was visible - the shot was mostly of the headline. You could tell they were very concerned about not being among the first U.S. media sources to rebroadcast the cartoons. Yet, they were.

CNN has said it will not show the cartoons, "out of respect for Islam." Most print media agree, see NY Times link below.

Have other U.S. sources reprinted or broadcast the images? They're all over the web, of course, so perhaps it's not even necessary. It's not like the media have a monopoly over information flow anymore. But one does wonder if they will be shown.

FEB. 4 UPDATE: The U.S. State Department finally addressed the issue, saying basically the same thing Denmark has said - the cartoons are offensive, but we support free speech. Perhaps the U.S. didn't say it as simply as that, for the NY Times framed the situation with the headline "U.S. Says It Also Finds Cartoons of Muhammad Offensive." No big news there.

But fortunately, even though the U.S. slipped in a little "but we also support a free press," no one is calling for a boycott of U.S. goods yet. Also, according to the article, ABC, in its "Nightline" program, became at least the second program (after "News Hour") to show one of the cartoons.

Whispered: Fortunately for us, the outrage has been somewhat unfairly focused on Europe. The United States is apparently just as "guilty!" Don't tell anyone.