College editors suspended

College editors suspended for running Muhammad cartoons

Two editors at the University of Illinois student-run newspaper were suspended Tuesday for their decision to run a series of cartoons that have sparked outrage and violence around the Islamic world.

Editor-in-chief Acton H. Gorton said the Daily Illini's publisher suspended him and the newspaper's opinions sections editor, Charles Prochaska, for two weeks pending the outcome of an internal investigation.

Publisher and general manager Mary Cory released a statement Tuesday night saying a student task force will "investigate the internal decision-making and communication surrounding the publishing" of the cartoons.

The paper's editorial staff told readers in Monday's editions that the decision to run the cartoons was made by Gorton and Prochaska without their knowledge. While the staff apologized to the Muslim community, it stopped short of saying it disagreed with the decision. ...

The Daily Illini, which is independent of the university, ran six of the 12 cartoons first published in September in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten. In the Daily Illini's Feb. 9 edition, it led with the cartoon that has caused the greatest furor: a depiction of the Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb as part of his turban.

{Source: The Associated Press via Editor & Publisher]