http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle6908079.ece
American newspapers and magazines may stop selling copies in Britain and block access to their websites because of our draconian libel laws.
An article that would be regarded as free speech in America under its constitution’s first amendment becomes actionable in the High Court in London once it is deemed to have been published here, however small the readership.
Such is the UK’s reputation as a world centre for “libel tourism” that newspapers are considering whether it is still worth sending a few hundred copies to British subscribers or for sale in hotels.
...The arrival of electronic books is causing publishers a new headache. Last week, more than a decade after it was first published, The Royals, the original version of Kitty Kelley’s coruscating book about the royal family, was made available as an electronic book — except if you live in Britain.
Neill Denny, editor-in-chief of The Bookseller, said: “We are missing out in Britain. The law of libel has become a rich man’s muzzle. It is causing an insidious kind of self-censorship, which results in flimsier books being published in the UK.”
Alan Samson, the publisher at Weidenfeld and Nicolson, said: You have to weigh up whether it is worth all the time clearing investigative books legally when you know that there are people out there circling.”