Category: issues

A libel trial in London over a controversial book on the Holocaust has Europe buzzing. But what is at stake is not the truth about the Holocaust, which has been well-documented, but that alarms about the trial “may give the verdict more weight than it deserves, so that if the plaintiff wins, the alarmists will have created the very sort of damage they are trying to prevent: doubt among the ill-informed about whether the Holocaust happened. And because of trial technicalities or the nature of British libel law, the plaintiff could conceivably win.” – New York Times

— responding to pressure, says it won’t advance-screen TV shows for anti-drug messages. – Variety

The British government is selling off public buildings all over London to private developers. The law requires getting the highest prices possible on the open market, never mind that there are public-interest groups that could actually use the digs. And then there is the issue of public property built and maintained at public expense for sometimes 100 years, being handed over to private interests in return for a one-time quick cash fix. – The Times (UK)

Emmanuel Goldstein is the first defendant charged under the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which bans the distribution of any “technology” that can bypass a copy protection scheme. Hackers who cracked the entertainment industry’s DVD codes clearly violated the law. But is the law constitutional? The scramble for digital protection of copyright heads to the courts. – Wired

— with one of the most robust economies in all of Europe. Artists are sharing in that prosperity, but despite the good times, modern Irish artists are “still relying on hackneyed images of the past,” rather than developing a new sense of visual culture. – Irish Times

— the giant German media conglomerate, has it that the Nazis closed down the company during the Second World War because of its political opposition. Now a team of scholars, hired by the company, disputes that record. – New York Times

Though artists have occupied various ranks of the social ladder throughout history, in the 19th and most of the 20th centuries they were considered specialized members of high culture whose primary mission was to hone their expressive skills. That is changing. “Being an artist now includes things like being an articulate advocate, and ambassador and an educator.” – Orange County Register

Recent experience of the past hundred years says that art commissioned by government is usually a mediocre affair. But step back a few centuries and it’s a different story. Without the Vatican, the Italian principalities and the royal courts of Vienna, Paris, Madrid, London and Brussels, among others, Europe’s artistic heritage would be a great deal poorer. – New York Times

— new hopes for a theater district for a depressed westside of downtown. – Baltimore Sun

The US presidential campaign is heating up, and politicians seeking the highest office, especially Democrats, have discovered that they are nothing without the entertainment industry’s mixture of cachet and cash, and without a passel of actors and moviemakers in their entourage. – The Globe and Mail (Canada)