Malaysia Blacks Out Pictures Of Pigs In The New York Times

Pigs were the target of censorship in The International New York Times on Wednesday.

KHL Printing Co., which prints the newspaper in Malaysia, blacked out the faces of pigs in two photos accompanying an article.

The edits were ridiculed by Malaysians and non-Malaysians alike:

If you are going to be offended about pigs, perhaps you should not read the NYT in the first place. http://t.co/w1PtWqDhoW

— Syahredzan (@syahredzan) January 22, 2014

An employee told the AFP news agency that the company was merely following standard protocol in Malaysia, where Islam — which considers pigs unclean — is prevalent. "This is a Muslim country, so we covered the pigs' eyes," he said. He added that images of "cigarettes, weapons, guns and nude pictures" in The International New York Times also get censored.

The company noted that the government did not order it to edit the photos, according to the Malay Mail Online.

(h/t Al Jazeera)