Networks Ignore Story of Publisher Caving to Fear of Radical Islamist Violence

Photo of Ken Shepherd.

Two weeks ago, my colleague Matthew Sheffield noted an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal about a publishing company going back on its agreement to publish a historical fiction/romance novel centered around Aisha, a wife of the Prophet Muhammad. As of August 21, the mainstream broadcast media networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) are ignoring the controversy, even as more print outlets cover the developing story.

Today, Erik Lacitis of the Seattle Times reported the story in the August 21 paper, including details of how Random House-retained book reviewer and University of Texas Austin professor Denise Spellberg actively sought to inflame Muslim Web sites with fury over the unpublished manuscript of Spokane, Wash., journalist Sherry Jones's "The Jewel of Medina" (emphasis mine):

Ironically, an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin - cited by Jones in her list of reference materials - has been called the instigator for the publisher's decision.

Denise Spellberg, an associate professor of history and Middle Eastern studies, also under contract with Random House's Knopf, was sent a galley of the book. Random House was looking for a positive blurb.

Instead, Spellberg went ballistic.

"Denise says it is 'declaration of war ... explosive stuff ... a national security issue.' She thinks there is a very real possibility of major danger for the buildings and staff and widespread violence. Thinks it will be far more controversial than the satanic verses and the Danish cartoons ... thinks the book should be withdrawn ASAP," an editor at Knopf wrote in an e-mail that made the rounds at Random House.

[...]

The professor went further.

She contacted Shahed Amanullah, 40, an engineer and real-estate developer in Austin who runs the Web site altmuslim.com.

Having never heard of the book, Amanullah says, he sent e-mails to about 200 graduate students in Islamic studies, telling them of Spellberg's "frantic" call and asking if they had heard about the novel.

"What I got back was a collective shrug of the shoulders," says Amanullah.

"The thing that is surreal for me is that here you had a non-Muslim write a book, and you had a non-Muslim complain about it, and a non-Muslim publisher pull the book."

So let's get this straight. A college professor asked to review the book not only privately sent her concerns to the publisher but actively sought to circulate excerpts she thought offensive in order to inflame Muslims and make her prophecy a self-fulfilling one. And yet, on top of that, every Muslim who was sent Spellberg's complaints thought she was overreacting.

At the very least Spellberg was acting unprofessionally, at worst she was actively doing her part to potentially endanger author Sherry Jones's life. As for Random House, the decision to not publish shows cowardice in the face of terrorism, especially given the blase reaction of Muslim scholars who found no problem with Jones's manuscript.

So where are the mainstream broadcast media on this story? Nowhere to be found. A search of Nexis from May (when the book was shelved) through today found no hits for "Jewel of Medina" or "Sherry Jones" when searching the news transcripts of ABC, CBS, and NBC, whose "Today" show hyped Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code", a fictional account involving a love affair between Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene.

For MRC's May 2006 study -- "The Trashing of the Christ" -- on media hype about Brown's Christian-offending novel, click here.

—Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters


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Any radical muslim who reads this will smile and laugh

The weak and timid west is already censoring itself so as not to inflame the islamic spetznaz troops. We are already doing some of their bidding out of fear and cowardice. As Stalin said, there are always useful fools.

 

The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic. Let's get it back! Alan Keyes '08.

i beg to differ the west

i beg to differ

the west isn't week and timid IMHO

we just walk very softly

ask OBL and the taliban how weak and timid we are

that is if you can find the cave they're cowering in 

Journalism is the opium of the liberals

I think the author is on to

I think the author is on to something.  The popular crime novelist, Sue Grafton, has published a series with the title always beginning with the letter of the alphabet. 

Given the many wives of the "prophet" muhammad, Sherry Jones' series could run out of letters in the English alphabet before she runs out of the "prophet's" wives.  Now, if she can just get that first one published . . .

By the way, I could care less what the musalims think or do.  The last time that they got "upset" about those rather amusing cartoons concerning the "prophet" whatever his name is, they ended up murdering mostly each other over it.  I am sure it was for the upmost "honor." 

Thanks

Thanks for highlighting this story Mr. Shepherd. The local "news" paper had the following story in a recent edition, I find the last couple of lines telling..

http://missoulian.com/articles/2008/08/16/news/local/news04.txt

China detains 35 terrorists...

Here is another story that I doubt you will here much about.  China detained 35 terrorists on suspicion of wanting to disrupt the Olympics.  This story doesn't fit the liberal media talking points that terrorism is the result of US foreign policy. 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/China_detains_35_Pak_nationals/articleshow/3385671.cms

Bill of Rights for Muslims only

It seems that we have arrived at the point where the Bill of
Rights only applies to Muslims.

Hang on to your guns, boys, we’re going to need them.

Impunitas semper ad deteriora invitat.

needle, I agree 110%.

The civilized world is folding like a cheap tent before the path of the 7th-Century barbarian horde.

How sad.

-Dave.

Vote None of the Above in '08!