The Danish author Kåre Bluitgen found it difficult to find an illustrator who would undertake to illustrate a children's book about Mohammed, the Prophet of Muslims, no one dared draw the prophet, and when the author did find an illustrator, the latter demanded anonymity.
Against that backdrop, adding examples of self-censorship abroad, our culture editor asked a number of Danish cartoonists to draw the Prophet - leaving it entirely up to them to draw him as they saw him.
The 12 resulting drawings were published along with an article about the problem of self-censorship. The article pointed out that in a free democratic society anyone must put up with scorn, mockery and ridicule. Some of the cartoonists actually chose to scorn, mock and ridicule Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, and these drawings were of course published too. As you know, reactions were violent and unexpected.
Jyllands-Posten and I still find that anyone must put up with being referred to in a critical and satirical way.
As I understand your review of the Dutch situation, the Dutch media contemplate whether, for fear of violent reactions, they should refrain from reporting on a journalistically relevant event. It would be detrimental to the credibility of the free press to yield to such fear. The free media are the pillars of a democratic society and must never let themselves be frightened from reporting on relevant topics and events, and a threat of violent reactions on the background of a film must really be considered journalistically relevant.
After the Mohammed crisis, we continued to report critically on Islam and, in particular, on Islamist violent trends in our society. Some Danish media have been critical towards Jyllands-Posten's Mohammed drawing initiative and termed it an unnecessary provocation, which it was not. It was a journalistic initiative on the background of the well-known motto: don't tell it, show it!
However, there is a general agreement among Danish media that free speech must never be ignored for fear of violent reactions and that free speech also includes the right to insult and hurt. Insults must be refuted in a matter-of-fact way, not violently.

You asked me about the attitude of a Danish media ombudsman towards the affair described by you. There is no media ombudsman in Denmark; there is, however, a governmental press complaints commission which, on the basis of an official ethical code, may level criticism against the media. The question of the Mohammed drawings was never put before the press complaints commission. The Danish Public Prosecutor, however, has found that there was no basis for prosecuting Jyllands-Posten for blasphemy.
Upon that ruling, a group of Muslim associations started defamation proceedings against Jyllands-Posten on the grounds that the members of the associations felt personally insulted. This case was dismissed in a court of first degree and an appeal lodged with a higher court.
To sum up I have no doubt that the Danish mass media, the Danish press complaints commission and, at any rate in principle, the Danish system of justice would find it quite natural for the Dutch media to report on the Dutch affair in question based on ordinary journalistic criteria, i.e. no matter whether certain groups might feel offended. The Dutch media would in fact be failing in their duty if they withheld information about such a relevant topic from the population.

Carsten Juste
Editor-in-Chief
Responsible for the content of Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten

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”A possible Dutch "Mohammed Affair"

By Carsten Juste

Dear media-ombudsman, The very basis for the Danish Mohammed affair was the recording of increasing and intolerable self-censorship as a consequence of fear of violent Muslim reactions.

Dear media-ombudsman,
The very basis for the Danish Mohammed affair was the recording of increasing and intolerable self-censorship as a consequence of fear of violent Muslim reactions.