Much relief in the world of theatre critics that the Appeal Court has not allowed the composer of the opera Manifest Destiny to sue critic Veronica Lee for her comments in the Evening Standard. Her review had suggested that the work was anti-American and made terrorists seem heroic. The court decided this was 'fair comment'.
It is always a worry for the media that a review might step over the line into libel. I had the same concern myself when publishing audience reviews on a website . A successful libel suit would have severely restricted all of us from giving our opinions in public.
It is right that people should not be free to make damaging remarks about a product or person out of malice or by implying an opinion to be a fact. However giving an opinion reasonably formed from an experience is fundamental to our freedom of speech.
See Veronica's response to the verdict on the Observer website.
Showing posts with label censorship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label censorship. Show all posts
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Shocking News
I was discussing with one of my clients ways in which they could get more media coverage. At one time sex, nudity and swearing were surefire ways of whipping up some media controversy. Nowadays these things pass without notice.
I remember being disappointed when the appearance of The Vagina Monologues at my theatre a few years ago failed to raise even an eyebrow, let alone a green ink letter. A few days ago Wedding Belles on Channel 4 offered us necrophilia, hard drug taking, gory murder and foul language and still didn’t make the headlines. Disappointing for us publicists, but at least artists can now get on with exploring human sexual activity without their efforts being viewed through the filter of shock.
On the other hand, religion is definitely worth a try if you want to get some media attention. You don’t even have to go out of your way to offend some Christians or Muslims- it seems they’re going out of their way to be offended. The latest is the banning of an exhibition of a naked Jesus made of chocolate that was due to be displayed in a New York gallery. The Catholic League For Religious And Civil Rights did the deed in this case. I’d never heard of Cosimo Cavallero before but now I’ve seen his website and think some of his work looks quite impressive.
Let’s be thankful there are still people around who can guarantee the arts a bit of publicity.
I remember being disappointed when the appearance of The Vagina Monologues at my theatre a few years ago failed to raise even an eyebrow, let alone a green ink letter. A few days ago Wedding Belles on Channel 4 offered us necrophilia, hard drug taking, gory murder and foul language and still didn’t make the headlines. Disappointing for us publicists, but at least artists can now get on with exploring human sexual activity without their efforts being viewed through the filter of shock.
On the other hand, religion is definitely worth a try if you want to get some media attention. You don’t even have to go out of your way to offend some Christians or Muslims- it seems they’re going out of their way to be offended. The latest is the banning of an exhibition of a naked Jesus made of chocolate that was due to be displayed in a New York gallery. The Catholic League For Religious And Civil Rights did the deed in this case. I’d never heard of Cosimo Cavallero before but now I’ve seen his website and think some of his work looks quite impressive.
Let’s be thankful there are still people around who can guarantee the arts a bit of publicity.
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