Phil Robertson was suspended by A&E for bigoted comments in GQ. Conservatives cry foul, but it hardly violates his rightsThe right to free speech isn't just a fundamental American value; it's enshrined in the first amendment to our constitution. If only the most loud-mouthed among us actually understood what it says. Here's what the First Amendment offers: you can say, write or publish pretty much whatever you want, no matter how offensive (with a few exceptions), and the government can't step in and censor you or put you in jail. Here's what the first amendment doesn't do: allow you to say, write or publish whatever you want, no matter how offensive, and also entitle you to a giant pay check from your starring role on a cable reality TV show.This isn't exactly Harvard-level legal theory, but many Republicans, Christian organizations and garden-variety tweeters enjoy spouting off about their love of freedom and the Constitution while remaining disturbingly unaware of what the Bill of Rights actually says and means. The right-wing passion for a set of ideals they claim to revere – but remain ignorant of – is not new, but it's news again this week. They're up in arms at the suspension of Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson for a series of homophobic and bigoted remarks he made to GQ magazine. Professional consequences for bigoted comments, they say, violate the constitutional right to free speech.Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal said: Phil Robertson and his family are great... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2013-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
In a passionate speech, writer takes aim at publishers who put profit before artUrsula Le Guin cries freedom as she is honoured for contribution to literatureTo the givers of this beautiful reward, my thanks, from the heart. My family, my agents, my editors, know that my being here is their... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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YouTuber Alfie Deyes is to write two more books for Blink Publishing, including a sequel to his bestselling debut The Pointless Book. The sequel to The Pointless Book, which has sold more than 100,000 copies through Nielsen BookScan, will be published in April 2015. This will be followed by a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Bookseller's Futurebook conference found the UK publishing industry focused on issues of marketing, ebook subscriptions and direct sales, among others. The post UK’s FutureBook Conference 2014: The Penguin Random House Show! appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-11-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Every weekday, we bring you the Ad Age/iSpot Hot Spots, new and trending TV commercials tracked by iSpot.tv, a company that catalogs, tags and measures activity around TV ads in real time. The New Releases here ran on TV for the first time yesterday. The Most Engaging ads are showing sustained... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2014-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Conde Nast of old aimed to sign star scribes like Christopher Hitchens and photographers like Annie Lebowitz. The Conde Nast of now has its sights set on YouTube stars.To meet the content demands of its growing millennial audience, the magazine publisher's digital-video division, Conde Nast... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2014-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PBS will live-stream three days of events from this month's Miami Book Fair. Will it become appointment viewing for the mass market? The post Will the Miami Book Fair Become Must-See TV? appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Every weekday, we bring you the Ad Age/iSpot Hot Spots, new and trending TV commercials tracked by iSpot.tv, a company that catalogs, tags and measures activity around TV ads in real time. The New Releases here ran on TV for the first time yesterday. The Most Engaging ads are showing sustained... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2014-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House UK chair Gail Rebuck has used her maiden speech in the House of Lords to champion greater literacy for the “most marginalised and excluded women in our society”, saying the literate woman is “a potentially empowered woman”. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Entertainment company Lionsgate is teaming with Dutch media company Imagine Nation and US based Triangular Entertainment to adapt Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games series (Scholastic) for the stage. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Mockingjay' is an adaptation of part of the final book in Suzanne Collins's trilogy. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-11-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Comics like Powers are flooding networks, cable, and now your PlayStation--often with a more diverse cast than they had on the page.In December of 1999, well before he became the man behind every Marvel title of note from Avengers to X-Men, writer and artist Brian Michael Bendis published a... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2014-10-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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We need to reflect the reality of our communities, says The Fault in Our Stars writer John Green in video backing social media-led We Need Diverse Books campaignAll readers need to know that they too can be the heroes of a story, according to the bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-10-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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For the first time in the five years of the FutureBook Digital Census, more respondents say they commonly read on an iPad (41.9%) than do a Kindle (37.9%). However, Amazon is still by far the dominant retail site for buying ebooks. The results, from FutureBook’s Digital Census completed by... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ann Leckie's prize-winning sci-fi novel Ancillary Justice (Orbit UK) has been optioned for TV. Writing on her blog, the author revealed that the book has been optioned by production company Fabrik and Fox Television Studios, which previously worked together on the US version of "The Killing"... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Every few months the notion of celebrity librarians (celebrarians?), sometimes embarrassingly referred to as “rock star librarians,” appears on our radar. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dan Brown's talk at the Sharjah Book Fair, his first fair appearance outside the US, will be televised throughout the Arab world. The post Dan Brown, Arabic Authors to Star at Sharjah Book Fair appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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UK tops chart of publications per million inhabitants by a huge margin, with only China and US publishing more titles in absolute termsUK publishers released more than 20 new titles every hour over the course of 2014, meaning that the country published more books per inhabitant than anywhere... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Anna Lena Films has acquired the film and TV rights for Wilbur Smith’s novel Desert God, published by HarperCollins. The rights were bought from Kevin Conroy Scott at Tibor Jones Management. The deal also includes film and TV rights to River God and The Seventh Scroll, also from the Epic... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon KDP's top selling author of all time, Barbara Freethy, has started a new imprint to oversee publication of her works in print formats. Hyde Street Press, part of Freethy’s Fog City Publishing company, will have its titles distributed by Ingram Publisher Services. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon KDP's bestselling author of all time, Barbara Freethy, has started a new imprint to oversee publication of her books in print formats. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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