ST. LOUIS—At least two newspapers have decided against distributing a video insert that American Muslims have found offensive.
The DVD—called “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West”—was produced by the Clarion Fund, a New York-based group that says its mission is to “educate Americans about issues of national security.”
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on a blog Monday that the paper was asked to include the DVD as an insert this summer.
But the DVD’s promoter would only let the newspaper view a trailer, not the entire video. The Post-Dispatch’s vice president of advertising, Jen Wood, said the newspaper declined because it was unclear what message the DVD was trying to send.
The News and Record in Greensboro, N.C., has also refused to distribute the DVD.
Phone calls to the newspapers and Clarion Fund by The Associated Press seeking comment were not immediately returned Tuesday.
American Muslim leaders have spoken out against the video, saying it feeds anti-Islamic sentiment and stokes fear that most Muslims support militant Islam.
The Denver Post, which distributed the DVD, reported on its Web site Tuesday that the DVDs have been sent with papers in 14 states considered to be battlegrounds in the presidential election.
A clip from the documentary on the video’s Web site states “most Muslims do not support terror. This is not a film about them.”
The video draws parallels between modern Muslim countries and Nazi Germany, portraying Adolf Hitler’s attempt to win over Arab leaders in the 1930s. The video includes graphic scenes of terrorist attacks, including 9/11.
James Nolan, spokesman for the Denver Newspaper Agency, which manages the business operations of The Post and Rocky Mountain News, said the company doesn’t endorse the message in the DVD but reached the same conclusions as other newspapers that distributed it, including The New York Times. More than 553,000 copies were distributed with the Post’s Sunday, Sept. 14 edition.
“Keeping our advertising pages open is important in the whole free speech context,” Nolan said. “However outrageous their viewpoint may be they certainly have a right to express it.
“We certainly respect the right of the Muslim community to be on the other side of the equation, to disagree with the point of view. … We’re not in the censorship business.”
———
On the Net:
———
Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
