The Reaction To The Charlie Hebdo Attack

Debating free speech in the wake of Charlie Hebdo; plus, the relevance of impartiality and objectivity in journalism.

We had planned to lead with a different story, but when gunmen stormed the office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and killed 12 people, we had no choice but to switch the lead package.

The initial reaction was shock and this grew into a debate about freedom of speech. The provocative publication has a history of publishing cartoons that many have deemed offensive, and what was missing from the initial coverage was context and an attempt to understand why this had happened.

France has a tradition of satire that shocks and savages - to an extent that would not be tolerated in other so-called liberal democracies. There is nothing that justifies the murder of any journalist or cartoonist over their work, but this is a story in need of explanation. Helping us to do that this week is Padraig Reidy from Index on Censorship; Anna Reading a professor at Kings College London; writer and academic Richard Seymour; and Alain Gresh, the editor of Le Monde Diplomatique.