In January 2007, The Columbia Journalism Review's [1] Alia Malek interviewed Flemming Rose, cultural editor of the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, about how his views on journalism and the way his paper has done business have changed since the violence and furor that accompanied the publication of the Mohammad cartoons.

Here are some excerpts.

How has this changed your view of journalism?

[Laughs] I have far more understanding for those complaining about the media every day that we are inaccurate and biased. It’s one thing to have a sense of this; it’s another to be the object of this kind of journalism yourself.

Has it improved or changed your own journalism?

I have become more conscious about what kind of authority you give to experts—so-called experts—in a news story. You give your readers the impression that someone speaks objectively about something because he has special knowledge. In this case, especially experts on Islam or religion, their opinions and statments are informed by political standpoints. So you should explain from where this person is speaking, if it’s an institution or university with a certain tradition or whatever.

One of your stated goals was to challenge moderate Muslims to speak out. Do you think the cartoons strengthened or hurt that effort?

Definitely strengthened. Because of this the leader of the Danish People’s Party, an anti-immigrant, anti-Islamic party, wrote an internal e-mail to party members saying, “until now we have spoken about them as one. From now on I want you to differentiate between radical and moderate Muslims.” The same day the embassies were burning in Beirut and Damascus, Democratic Muslims, which has become a very important voice in public debate, was founded in Copenhagen.

Are immigrants in Denmark equally, or at least similarly situated to engage in public dialogue as other Danes? Are they frequently and complexly represented in news, pop-culture, politics?

You have several rappers in Denmark with an immigrant background. I accept your point. Before the cartoon case, you had fewer Danes with an immigrant background in public appearances, but why only talk about Muslims, the biggest minority? What about Vietnamese, Chinese, Russians? Everyone is focusing on the Muslims because they are the most vocal and it’s a hot issue. There are many minorities out there that would not get as fair a hearing as the Muslims...

Click here to read more from Malek's interview with Rose on the CJR website. [2]