[ExI] Usages of the term libertarianism

[Stefano Vaj]

On 23 May 2011 22:25, Kelly Anderson <kellycoinguy at gmail.com> wrote:

> Perhaps they are just under reported... I don't exactly know how free
> the press is in Europe these days, but I've heard Hitchens complain
> about there being less freedom of the press in England.
>

There again, "freedom" is a relatively concept. A rather libertarian legal
framework can go hand in hand with a semi-monopolistic control of
information ("Freedom of speech is nothing without freedom of radio speech",
Ezra Pound used to say) or with a very high pressure on publishers and
journalists to conform with some kind of political correctness or other.

The angle under which UK is criticised with regard to freedom of press
usually has to do with the explosive combination of very restrictive laws on
libel and defamation, very high legal costs, and a strong inclination of
British court to affirm jurisdiction on cases where only the most tenuous
connection with the country exists.

This makes for a plaintiff's paradise, because anybody sued in England in
this respect is practically compelled to settle by offering retractions,
money, apologies, etc., unless they have very deep pockets. And this has a
strong influence as well on the freedom of press in other EU countries,
given that according to the Brussels Regulation UK judgments are directly
enforceable in the entire EU, so that a Bulgarian publisher can go bankrupt
because a Romanian rockstar has sued him in UK on the basis that the
Bulgarian magazine concerned has ten subscribers in Wales.

-- 
Stefano Vaj
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