It's not news that South Park pokes fun at religious figures. So the recent episode that shows the Prophet Mohammed obscured in a bear costume is just another instance of its hey-look-at-me antics.

But CNN, which has seen its ratings fall off lately, used the cartoon to perpetuate a stock storyline in which radical Muslims threaten free speech with violence. Perhaps taking a cue from imagination-challenged Hollywood studios, the news channel saw a chance to create a sequel to the Danish cartoon controversy.

It's become commonplace for news outlets, always courting conflict, to quote extreme voices. But CNN has taken things a step further by sending its "special investigations unit" to dig up an obscure radical Muslim group and elevate it to national prominence. Which begs the question: At what point is CNN creating news rather than reporting on it?

That strategy played into the hands of two parties playing similar, headline-seeking games. First CNN took the bait dangled by South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who seem to relish being provocative. Then they provided a forum for New York-based Revolution Muslim, which issued a "call to protest" in response to the episode and posted a photo of slain Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh on its web site. Van Gogh was murdered by a Muslim extremist in 2004 for making a film that was critical of how women are treated in Islamic societies.

"We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo van Gogh for airing this show," the group said. "This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality that will likely happen to them."

Revolution Muslim has denied the statement was meant to encourage violence.

Then CNN aired a year-old interview with Revolution Muslim's co-founder Younes Abdullah Mohammed, who said the deaths caused by 9/11 were justified and that "we're commanded to terrorize the disbelievers." For the record, the interview had nothing to do with the South Park episode or any other depictions of the prophet in popular culture.

Bloggers immediately picked up CNN's angle. Now the New York Times, USA Today and other major dailies are reporting that Comedy Central has decided to censor portions of a follow-up episode that also features the Prophet Mohammed.

The Los Angeles Times offered a little more perspective. Reporters Scott Collins and Matea Gold said that Revolution Muslim formed in 2007 and includes about a dozen members. Its website once had a poem during the Jewish High Holy Days asking God to kill all the Jews.

Quoting a source conspicuously missing from CNN's reporting, Collins and Gold talked to Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. He called Revolution Muslim "an extreme fringe group that has absolutely no credibility within the Muslim community. In fact, most Muslims suspect they were set up only to make Muslims look bad."

Hooper added that CAIR hasn't made a statement about the South Park episode because the group doesn't want to give it any more attention.

The Times' angle may lack CNN's drama, but it does feature the virtues of context and thorough sourcing. Remember those?

Jason Ma is an M.A. candidate in the specialized journalism program at USC Annenberg.