Publish or Not?

Carol Davis and the Board of Directors of Davis Press should not publish Jonathan Taajwar’s book “Meccan Madness” due to the controversy of the content of the book; this could be badly received by the people of the Islamic faith and it could affect the company’s reputation and safety of the employees. Carol Davis has to decide what is best for the company and the customers; if she does not think only about profit and becoming famous for something that is not appropriate or adequate for her company to do, she should not let the book be published.

Davis has the responsibility of ensuring the safety of her employees, thus she should be aware of the potential danger to the firm and its employees if she decides to publish the book. It would be unethical for Carol Davis to risk the safety of her employees for a potential profit opportunity. The book could be very interesting for select readers that are interested in learning more about the Islamic faith due to the events happened in September 11; however it could result in a volatile environment for the other portion of readers that could possibly feel offended by it. It is not worth the profit and popularity that could result from the controversial book if the employees are put at risk with the knowledge of the events that happened after publishing previous books, such as Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses” and others that incited violent riots in Afghanistan (which resulted in more than 20 deaths and many injuries, and anger and fury in the Muslim world.) Also, learning from “The Satanic Verses,” Davis should look at all the costs associated with securities for the employees that the publisher had to face after that book and the violent acts by the readers.

However, Davis also is respectful and is very committed to the value and the rights of freedom of press, and in her opinion, Taajwar had every right to free literary expression. People have a right to be educated on these controversial matters despite the...