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Neither NBC nor ABC had a reporter in Sudan to cover the plight of Gillian Gibbons, the teacher at an elite Khartoum grade school, who faces the possible punishment of a flogging with 40 lashes for a misunderstanding with a teddy bear. Both NBC's Ned Colt, who perceived a "measured" response from British diplomats, and ABC's Jim Sciutto (subscription required), who characterized the British response as "real anger," covered the story from London in Gibbons' native England, where the story fell into the category of mishaps in foreign lands rather than offering cultural insight into the Sudanese practice of Islam. Gibbons suggested that her class of seven-year-olds think of a name for the stuffed toy. They chose to name it after their classmate Mohammed. The teacher wrote a letter to her students' parents encouraging participation with teddy. They complained that the Prophet himself (peace be unto him) was being insulted. Gibbons is charged with showing contempt for Islam.
It is a good thing Gibbons' letter was not illustrated with Danish cartoons.
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