What was left out of the "cartoon controversy"

Cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper were discussed again on NPR this morning, and once again, the "liberal media" failed to mention that before publishing those inflammatory cartoons the same newspaper had refused to publish satirical cartoons depicting Christ. Christians don't have the same prohibition against depicting religious figures that Muslims do, and the West is "tolerant" of satire and encouraging of free speech...so what gives?