Publishers, human rights groups and campaigners have expressed “substantial and increasing concern,” according to a memorandum submitted to a select committee of British MPs, that Britain’s reputation for “libel tourism” will force them to abandon the sale of newspaper and magazines and even block access to their websites. In the past decades, several book publishers have been successfully prosecuted under strict libel laws for comments protected by free-speech laws in their own countries. The penalties, they argue, are far out of proportion to often tiny British readership. The memorandum states: “Leading US newspapers are actively considering abandoning the supply of the 200-odd copies they make available for sale in London—mainly to Americans who want full details of their local news and sport. They do not make profits out of these minimal and casual sales and they can no longer risk losing millions of dollars in a libel action which they would never face under US law.”
Print
Comment
- Harper's rut - 88 Comments
- CIDA's Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund: millions raised, nothing spent - 102 Comments
- The Best—and Worst - 11 Comments
- Canada Reborn - 24 Comments
- Gordon Brown’s cry of impotence - 39 Comments
Need to Watch
From Macleans
Vancouver 2010
Canada Reborn
Own the Podium was more than just good sport. It was a picture of our country as it was always supposed to be.
Opinion
The Best—and Worst
SCOTT FESCHUK: Judging various elements of the Vancouver Olympics using a numerical ranking from zero to 10
TV Guidance
If 24 Ends…
The show was a big advance in the well-known art of washed-up movie stars re-inventing themselves for TV
Beyond The Commons
The Commons: Comedy, tragedy, but no inquiry
Well, not a ‘public inquiry’ at least
Mark Steyn
Gordon Brown’s cry of impotence
MARK STEYN: If he rages naked at his aides it’s because he can do nothing about anything that matters
Books
Macleans interview: Lionel Tiger
Anthropologist Lionel Tiger on faith and sexual behaviour, why religion comforts us, and how churches act as ‘serotonin factories’
Newsmakers
That, and they look kind of silly, TV to the rescue and Semi-naked ambition
Newsmakers
Not all, but far too many Brits are idiots
Far too many Canadians too! It would not surprise me in the least to see this same crap here in the near future!