|
Cartoon controversy sells
10/02/2006 10:34 - (SA)
Paris - European publications have enjoyed a boom in sales and web traffic after printing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
Denmark's biggest-circulation broadsheet Jyllands-Posten triggered the controversy in September by publishing 12 cartoons of the prophet. Its weekday circulation has not moved much, at about 154 000 per day. But the newspapers in France and Norway that reprinted the drawings with much international ado have enjoyed a profile boost and tonic for otherwise lacklustre sales.
If there is a lesson, it is an old one: Controversy sells.
Mohamed Bechari, a vice-president at the French Council of the Muslim Faith, France's largest Islamic organisation, said he thinks French readers are buying up the newspapers out of "curiosity" and not because of anti-Arab or anti-Muslim feelings.
"Here's some advice to those newspapers today facing ruin, bankruptcy or collapse: All you need do is insult Muslims and Islam, and sales will get hot as blazes," he said at a Paris conference on Thursday on promoting dialogue between the West and the Muslim world - convened in response to the international furore over the drawings.
The cultural divide began swelling in January after the Arab League chief protested the Danish issue, and Saudi Arabia pulled its ambassador from Copenhagen. Rallying in defence of free speech, many European newspapers reprinted the cartoons or published their own.
What the fuss is about?
Demonstrators in Syria, Lebanon and Iran have attacked Western embassies. Protests and impromptu boycotts of Danish goods have erupted in numerous Arab and Islamic countries. Three days of riots across Afghanistan have left 11 people dead.
Some European readers may simply be seeking to get a look at the caricatures to know what the fuss is about.
Consultant Vegard Kobberdal said print sales at Norway's Magazinet have been flat since it ran the drawings on January 10, but daily hits on its website have more than tripled, to about 800 000.
France Soir's February 1 issue with the drawings sold 40% more than the usual daily circulation, and executives are tantalised that the newspaper's increased profile could translate into long-term gains.
"Over time, it could change the brand image of France Soir... it shows we're capable of leading a battle for freedom of the press," said circulation director Philippe Soing.
Up for sale
France Soir, a legendary daily whose circulation hovered around a million a day in the late 1960s, is now up for sale because of dire financial straits.
"If we wanted to use this to save France Soir, we'd need a story like this every day, and I dare hope that there won't be," said editor-in-chief Arnaud Levy.
|
News
