media, self-censorship, and islamic radicalism

"But precisely because of these antecedents, the decision to censor the episode of "South Park" is especially troubling. An earlier episode in 2006 that satirized the way in which the Western media cower to blackmail by fanatics who do not tolerate images of the prophet had already been censored; later, the president of MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, regretted publicly caving in to political and commercial pressure. This time, the bear suit in the first of the two episodes implied a mockery not of Muhammad but of the Western media, which makes no apologies for trashing other spiritual icons, including Jesus, Moses and Buddha -- all of whom were ridiculed in that episode, by the way -- and has accepted the Muhammad taboo, avoiding all depiction of the prophet. One of the child characters in the show, incidentally, often mocks Jews even though one of the directors is Jewish.

Comedy Central would not have been right to censor the first episode, but it made things worse by showing the first uncensored and then censoring the second one in response to the threats. Any time fanatics carry the day against free expression, something essential is lost."

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/04/28/south_park_and_self_censorship_105331.html