What is the issue?
As reported in (ABC News 2008), Tempo apologized on publishing a cover depicting former president Suharto and his children in a composition impersonating Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper. After the cover was released on February 6, 2008, many Christian activists gathered at the Tempo’s building to protest against the cover of the Suharto. They were offended when Tempo magazine make a comparison between Suharto and Jesus as the picture was a mimickry of Leonardo Da Vinci's The Last Supper which featured Jesus Christ and His disciples, and the headline read, 'After He Departed'.
*Below is Tempo Magazine's Cover
(Source: Daylife.com)
*Leonardo Da Vinci's The Last Supper which featured Jesus Christ and His disciples
(Source : Davinciexposed.com)
On a latter basic, Tempo's chief editor Toriq Hadad apologised following by a large headline read, "Tempo Magazine Apologises," with a subheading: "We had no intention of hurting Christians." We were only inspired by the composition of the Leonardo painting, and not in the concept or context of the event told in the holy bible," Another example reported in (BBC News 2006), states that Hundreds of Danish Muslims have been demonstrating in Copenhagen against the reprinting of a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad they consider offensive. Obviously the Mohammad cartoons offended the Muslim belief because Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet, even favorable, for fear it could lead to idolatry.
*Cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad
(Source: Flapsblog.com)Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) opines that different people have different interpretations of texts due to different perspectives based on culture background and personal experience. At this point, Tempo not only does not publish responsibly but also fail to do a complete background study before publishing such sensitive material which provokes Christian's anger. Besides that, Basorie (2008) who teaches journalism at the Dr. Soetomo Press Institute (Indonesia) opines that 'If the press is to be a meaningful service to mold a civil society, it will have to put more substance in its role as information and education provider.'
Schriver (1997) argues that culture strongly influences the way individuals decipher words and images. Therefore, Cross-cultural misunderstanding easily takes place, evoking anger and confusion if ideas are not communicated properly in the context of a particular culture. A good document designers should always remind themselves to post ethically and convey effective message that can reach a common understanding.
References
Kress, G. & van Leeuwen, T. 2006, Reading Images, Routledge, London
Schriver K.A 1997, Dynamics in Document Design: Creating Texts for Readers, Wiley Computer Pub., New York
ABC News 2008, 'Indonesian weekly apologises over Last Supper Suharto cover', ABC News, access 1 June 2009,
<http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/06/2156269.htm>
BBC News 2006, 'Danish Muslim in Cartoon Protest', access 1 June 2009,
Bosarie 2008, 'Indonesia: People Say Yes to Press Freedom', Eye on ethics 2008, access 1 June 2009,
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