# Prophet Muhammad Cartoons - timeline question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prophet-muhammad-cartoons-timeline-question/343144>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 5, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prophet-muhammad-cartoons-timeline-question/343144 "2006-02-05T21:22:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prophet-muhammad-cartoons-timeline-question/343144/1 "2006-02-05T21:22:30Z")

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I was puzzled by something, and the Times’ (UK) otherwise useful timeline of the brouhaha has still not helped: [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2021760,00.html](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2021760,00.html)  
We’ve got:

> [@](#):
>
> September 17, 2005: Politiken, a Danish newspaper, reports that Kaare Bluitgen, a writer, cannot find an illustrator for a book about the life of Muhammad, because artists fear reprisals from Islamic extremists
> 
> September 30: In response, Jyllands-Posten, a right of centre newspaper, asks artists to draw Muhammad as they imagine him and publishes 12 cartoons of the prophet

Then

> [@](#):
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> January 10, 2006: Cartoons reprinted by Magazinet, a Norwegian Christian newspaper

And finally

> [@](#):
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> February 1: Newspapers in Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands publish one or more of the cartoons. France Soir publishes all 12 and a new cartoon of its own.

So … why did all of those European papers decide to reprint the cartoons on the same day (Feb. 1)? Did they have a conference call or something? There seems to be no particular outstanding event the day (or two) before that would have suddenly compelled them all to print the cartoons in response, and Feb. 1 wasn’t even a Monday, or anything–it was a Wednesday. Why did they all choose to run the reprints on the same, otherwise unremarkable, day?

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**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prophet-muhammad-cartoons-timeline-question/343144/2 "2006-02-05T21:45:08Z")

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The two days before, the profile of the story was raised by the introduction of violence or the threat of violence. Masked gunmen, bomb threats – now _that’s_ worth some ink. Maybe even a pictorial.

I can’t make up my mind whether or not the logic is perfectly perverse or entirely sensible.

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**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prophet-muhammad-cartoons-timeline-question/343144/3 "2006-02-06T10:09:47Z")

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Yup. Your timeline only says who published what when. Add in who protested in what way when, and it becomes… well… let’s say non-random.