Dialogue needed to heal cultural divides

The two heavily armed perpetrators of the deadly attack on the offices of Paris-based satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Jan 7, were killed when police cornered them in northeast Paris on Friday. The two brothers, Said Kouachi and Cherif Kouachi, killed 12 people, eight journalists, two police officers, a caretaker and a visitor in their killing spree.

Of course, one has no sympathy whatsoever for the terrorists. China strongly condemned the deadly terrorist attack, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei, on Thursday. Yet, the tragedy also brought forward an important question for all media outlets: What on earth are the boundaries between respect for religion and freedom of the press?

The widely recognized press freedom compromises freedom of publication, communication, news gathering, and expression. It was further stressed in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, passed by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1966, that all people have the right to freely air their opinions without interference (Article 19).