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  • 2015-12-09 (xsd:date)
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  • Image Problem (da)
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  • On 5 December 2015 a Facebook user published the above-reproduced status update, claiming lawyers for deceased San Bernardino mass shooting suspect Tashfeen Malik had requested that her face not be shown media reports out of respect to her religious beliefs. The poster encouraged others to share both the photo and the claim, asserting that: The uncited claim was somewhat unusual, as Malik had died in the hours after the shooting in which she took part. The deceased are occasionally represented by lawyers for matters pertaining to their estates, but it didn't seem plausible any such legal representative would advocate for the redaction of images of her face in media reports presented after her death. A 4 December 2015 New York Times article identified two lawyers representing the Farook family (presumably on a number of issues related to the shooting). In that article, neither lawyer mentioned photographs of Malik's face nor described the use of such images as offensive or disrespectful to her and Islam. However, a portion of that article might have inadvertently spawned the rumor: By that account, Malik indeed typically kept her face covered for religious reasons. However, we were unable to locate any quoted material (either in the Times or elsewhere) in which either lawyer requested that Malik's face not be shown in the media in deference to her religious devotion. A related iteration of the rumor attributed non-existent offense over the publication of images of Malik's face to MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry. On 7 December 2015, the conspiracy-oriented web site InfoWars published an article that claimed: Immediately underneath the assertion, the site embedded a video which did not include Harris-Perry making any such statement: In the clip, Harris-Perry interviewed Linda Sarsour, executive director of the Arab Association of New York, who expressed frustration at the inclusion of images of standard Islamic items (such as a Qu'ran) in the Times' coverage. Harris-Perry then pointed to an adjacent photograph of Malik and asserted that the paper had juxtaposed her picture with one of Islamic religious objects. However, Harris-Perry did not criticize the paper for publishing a photograph of Malik's face, nor did she suggest, insinuate, hint, or claim that the use of the photograph constituted an offense to Islam by merit of the fact that Malik's face was uncovered. The MSNBC host simply opined that the side-by-side images together created the impression that Islam was indistinguishable from terrorism. Harris-Perry's specific comment clearly did not indicate that the sight of Malik's uncovered face could offend Muslims: While Tashfeen Malik was apparently in the habit of covering her face, it's not true that lawyers representing her in death requested images of her face not be published. Moreover, Melissa Harris-Perry was not outraged that the New York Times insulted Muslims by publishing a photograph of Malik's face. (en)
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