For choosing to publish a cartoon from the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the Washington Post claims it is on the outs with al Qaeda.
After two gunmen affiliated with al Qaeda recently shot up the Charlie Hebdo newsroom in Paris, killing 12 people in the process, the Post has at least twice chosen to run cartoons from the magazine that depict the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.
In a Wednesday story about al Qaeda claiming responsibility for the attack, the Post said that one of its sources within the terrorist group is no longer communicating with the paper.
"An individual who has claimed to represent [al Qaeda] and who has previously provided statements and other information to The Washington Post said he would no longer do so because of the paper’s decision to publish the first post-attack cover of Charlie Hebdo, released this week," the Post said.
In contrast, separate stories by the New York Times and the Associated Press indicate that those two news outlets remain in touch with an al Qaeda source. Unlike the Post, the AP and the Times have declined to republish the Charlie Hebdo cartoons that mock Muhammad, asserting that the cartoons are offensive to Muslims.
An excerpt from the AP report published last Friday: "Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula directed the attack against the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris 'as revenge for the honor' of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, a member of the group told The Associated Press on Friday."
Here is a piece from the Times report that appeared Wednesday: "A member of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, who spoke to The New York Times on the condition of anonymity, said the joint timing of the two operations [the Charlie Hebdo shooting and a separate hostage situation] was a result of the friendship between [the three terrorists], not of common planning between the Qaeda group and the [alternate terrorist group] Islamic State."
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/al-qaeda-punishes-washington-post-rewards-n.y.-times-ap-on-charlie-hebdo-cartoons/article/2558698
