A skirmish between Apple and a French publisher over a risque book cover hardly recalls the censorship battles of the past
I wonder how many fewer copies French author Bénédicte Martin's book La femme would have sold had her publishers opted for a subtler, more abstract cover design. The image they chose to illustrate her disquisition of "Woman 2013" is a striking chimera: the top half an improbably busty woman, the lower half a knife. It was the top half that Apple objected to when they removed it from the iTunes store, devotedly obeying Steve Jobs's dictum, "no porn on the iPhone". Martin's publishers were furious, denouncing it as "an act of censorship that went against creative freedom". Even the French culture minister got involved.
People are quick to cry "censorship" when a faceless corporation does something against their liking. I once interviewed a writer of what might kindly be described as paranormal romance, who was upset that Apple had taken her books out of the romance section and labelled them as erotica, which meant they were harder to browse and didn't show up on bestseller lists. In her eyes, Apple had "censored" her art.
Continue reading... Reported by guardian.co.uk 2 days ago.
I wonder how many fewer copies French author Bénédicte Martin's book La femme would have sold had her publishers opted for a subtler, more abstract cover design. The image they chose to illustrate her disquisition of "Woman 2013" is a striking chimera: the top half an improbably busty woman, the lower half a knife. It was the top half that Apple objected to when they removed it from the iTunes store, devotedly obeying Steve Jobs's dictum, "no porn on the iPhone". Martin's publishers were furious, denouncing it as "an act of censorship that went against creative freedom". Even the French culture minister got involved.
People are quick to cry "censorship" when a faceless corporation does something against their liking. I once interviewed a writer of what might kindly be described as paranormal romance, who was upset that Apple had taken her books out of the romance section and labelled them as erotica, which meant they were harder to browse and didn't show up on bestseller lists. In her eyes, Apple had "censored" her art.
Continue reading... Reported by guardian.co.uk 2 days ago.