Fw: LM NEWS: LM editor gives evidence at High Court

[Russell Grinker]

>MICK HUME GIVES EVIDENCE AT HIGH COURT
>
>Mick Hume, editor of LM magazine, gave evidence today (Thursday 9 March) in
the ITN v LM libel case at the High Court in London.
>
>Hume defended his decision to publish Thomas Deichmann's article 'The
picture that fooled the world', which led to ITN issuing a writ for libel,
in the February 1997 issue of LM:
>
>'I thought it was a great story, a very very powerful story and a great
piece of investigative journalism that deserved to be published', he told
the court.
>
>'Clearly, as with all other publications, LM is more interested in some
stories than others. This was my kind of story, not only because it was in
line with my kind of mission statement for the new magazine speaking
uncomfortable truths, which I think is an important function. But also
issues I felt strongly about to do with journalistic standards and also the
use and misuse of the Holocaust.'
>
>Hume said that all too often 'easy and casual' comparisons were made
between the Holocaust and conflicts around the globe: 'I find it worrying
because it distorts the present and the past. The present because if you
reduce a complex civil war to a rerun of the Second World War, where the
Serbs become Nazis, it's an over-simplification where you cease to
understand anything. It becomes a simple black and white moral issue; it
becomes an excuse for ignorance. It also distorts and degrades our view of
the past. The Holocaust is an absolutely unique horror in history, the great
crime of the twentieth century, and if we start putting it on a par with
civil wars of today you can only diminish its horror and do a disservice to
victims of the Holocaust.'
>
>The case continues.
>
>For more transcripts from the court proceedings, go to:
>
>http://www.informinc.co.uk/itn-vs-lm/court/index.html
>