The truth is more complicated than reaction to a cartoon. I believe that most people realize this, but in typical fashion the right will draw it's own simplified caricature of events in order to politicize them as much as possible. Do you really think the riots would have occured at this scale if the pot hadn't been ready to boil?

The publishing of the images (after the initial publication) in context of the news event is also a very complicated matter. Questions of whether greater purpose is served by sufficient description or whether it is necessary to see the image to understand the story had to be on the mind of every editor across the country. Does the purpose of viewing the actual image outweigh the potential offense? That is the question of import, not whether or not a paper has the "balls" to prove they are a free press. I don't pretend to have the answer. It's a difficult question, but not the one addressed by your post. Rise above the petty need to provoke "because you can."