I don't think they did anything wrong by publishing them. This entire controversy* started when a Danish author complained that he couldn't find an artist brave enough to illustrate his upcoming book about Mohammed. The newspaper
Jyllands-Posten issued a call for submissions from artists willing to take up the challenge and printed the submissions.
Kudos to the other papers who've also published them (except the
France Soir newspaper--they sacked their editor
). It's a bit sad to see all the newspapers that have reported on the controversy but haven't dared to show their readers what the fuss is about.
*Don't tell anyone, but Mohammad was also caricatured in a
South Park episode.
He also appears on the north frieze of the US Supreme Court building (as one of the law givers).
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The Ottawa Citizen and Southam News wish to apologize for our apology to Mark Steyn, published Oct. 22. In correcting the incorrect statements about Mr. Steyn published Oct. 15, we incorrectly published the incorrect correction. We accept and regret that our original regrets were unacceptable and we apologize to Mr. Steyn for any distress caused by our previous apology.