Business Case Studies & Business Publications

Davis Press and Meccan Madness

Freeman, R. Edward...

Case

Davis Press and Meccan Madness

Freeman, R. Edward; Wicks, Andrew C.; Werhane, Patricia H.; Berne, Rosalyn W.; Mead, Jenny

E-0073 | Published January 15, 2005 | 5 pages Case

Collection: Darden School of Business

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The owner/editor of the small Davis Press encounters a dilemma when she is given the opportunity to publish a novel set in the Islamic holy city of Mecca. Given the events of the last 16 years—the angry fallout after Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses, the continuing Iraq War, and the recent controversy of Koran desecration at the U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay—publishing the novel presents a host of various ethical dilemmas, including whether she should put her staff at risk. This case discusses the ethics of a free press and challenges the profit motive in the face of jeopardizing political and religious world affairs.