BFIwatch returned from sabbatical to yet another example of the BFI's lack of respect for democracy and freedom of speech. On 2 November Sight and Sound columnist Danny Birchall was sent an email from editor Nick James informing him that due to comments about Amanda Nevill made on his blog several months earlier, his regular column for the magazine would be withdrawn. Danny was not the only person who was shocked and appalled at this heavy-handed response to a personal opinion expressed completely independently of Sight and Sound and the BFI. Subsequently Nick James relented, and sent another email reinstating Danny's column. This correspondence, Danny's responses and readers' comments can be found on Danny's blog at:
http://squaresofwheat.wordpress.com/category/bfi/
2 comments:
"To have someone who is on very public record of having called for her head as a regular contributor to S&S makes it look like we tacitly agree with you." What? I don't know which is worse, his grammar or his logic. Does Nick James seriously believe that the publication of a writer's work in his august journal 'makes it look like' he agrees with every unrelated opinion of the writer? Or was Nick James only obeying orders?
'Was Nick James only obeying orders?' I don't think it matters -- either way the incident reflects badly on Sight and Sound and its editor.
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