Librarians, Authors, and Publishers Weigh the Chilling Effects of Libel Tourism

Interesting article from the Chronicle:

"When the College Art Association decided recently to settle rather than fight a possible libel action in Britain over a book review published in one of its journals, it did more than sidestep a costly and probably doomed legal battle. It opened itself up to sharp accusations that it had failed to stand up for freedom of expression.

The episode is a reminder of how wide a gulf separates the United States—where First Amendment protections and jurisprudence make libel very difficult to prove—from most of the rest of the world, where protecting reputations and public sensibilities trump the right to say what one pleases. It also points to the hazards of publishing in a truly global context, where, thanks to the Internet, a journal article or monograph or blog post can be accessed almost anywhere, no matter where it was written or published."  [RJ]