''Living Marxism'' was a British magazine originally launched in 1988 as the journal of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). Rebranded as ''LM'' in 1992, it ceased publication in March 2000 following a successful libel lawsuit brought by

ITN Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based television production company. It is made up of two divisions: Broadcast News and ITN Productions. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, N ...

."ITN wins Bosnian war libel case"
''BBC News''. 15 March 2000 It was promptly resurrected as ''

Spiked Spiked may refer to: * A drink to which alcohol, recreational drugs, or a date rape drug has been added ** Spiked seltzer, seltzer with alcohol **Mickey Finn (drugs), a drink laced with a drug * Spiked (hairstyle), hairstyles featuring spikes * ' ...

'', an

Internet magazine ''Internet Magazine'' was a monthly print title launched in October 1994 by the UK publishing house, Emap. Its last issue, number 119, was published in July 2004. History ''Internet Magazine'' covered almost anything internet-related, as long as ...

History

It was published by Junius Publications Ltd until 1997, and then by Informinc Ltd. Its editor,

Mick Hume Mick Hume (born 1959) is a British journalist and author whose writing focuses on issues of free speech and freedom of the press. Hume was a columnist for '' The Times'' for ten years from 1999, and was described as "Britain's only libertarian Ma ...

, an

American Studies American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinary field of scholarship that examines American literature, history, society, and culture. It traditionally incorporates literary criticism, historiography and critical theory. Sch ...

graduate from

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Unive ...

then aged 29, said: "Our readers are young, angry, thinking people." At its peak in the 1990s, it had a circulation of between 10,000 and 15,000.

Aims

''Living Marxisms introduction summarised its outlook as follows:

Views

Views expounded with regularity in ''LM'' included " fear culture", for example by questioning the then media coverage of AIDS as a predominantly homosexual disease in the West. Its critique covered media coverage in Africa and the developing world in the context of Western intervention, underdevelopment and poverty. It debated environmentalist claims that limiting

consumption Consumption may refer to: *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically * Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curre ...

was a

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy pa ...

view. ''LM'' writers criticized the media portrayal of the civil wars in Rwanda and

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

and disputed that either Serb or Hutu forces committed genocide during those conflicts. In 1993, ''LM'' published an exhibition titled "Genocide against the Serbs" which juxtaposed images of Serbs killed in World War II-era crimes with Serbian soldiers killed in battle during the Yugoslav Wars. In 1995, ''LM'' published an article by

Fiona Fox Fiona Bernadette Fox (born 12 November 1964) is a British writer and chief executive of the Science Media Centre. Career Fox became head of media at CAFOD in 1995. In December 2001 Fox was appointed the founding director of the Science M ...

arguing that: Historian

Marko Attila Hoare Marko Attila Hoare (born 1972) is a British historian of the former Yugoslavia who also writes about current affairs, especially Southeast Europe, including Turkey and the Caucasus. Biography Hoare is the son of the British translator Quintin ...

characterized their position as

genocide denial Genocide denial is the attempt to deny or minimize the scale and severity of an instance of genocide. Denial is an integral part of genocide and includes secret planning of genocide, propaganda while the genocide is going on, and destruction of ...

in relation to both the

Rwandan Rwandan or Rwandese may refer to: * Related to, from, or connected to Rwanda, a country in Africa * Banyarwanda, inhabitants of the country Rwanda and those of Rwandan ethnicity. * Kinyarwanda, the language of the Banyarwanda, sometimes known as ...

and

Bosnian genocide The Bosnian genocide ( bs, bosanski genocid) refers to either the Srebrenica massacre or the wider crimes against humanity and Ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian War, ethnic cleansing campaign throughout areas controlled by the Army of Republika S ...

s. It has been suggested by environmentalists such as

George Monbiot George Joshua Richard Monbiot ( ; born 27 January 1963) is a British writer known for his environmental and political activism. He writes a regular column for ''The Guardian'' and is the author of a number of books. Monbiot grew up in Oxford ...

and

Peter Melchett Peter Robert Henry Mond, 4th Baron Melchett (24 February 1948 – 29 August 2018), also known as Peter Melchett, was an English jurist and politician. He succeeded to the title of Baron Melchett in 1973. Background The son of the British Steel ...

that the group of writers associated with ''LM'' continue to constitute an ''LM'' network pursuing an ideologically motivated

anti-environmentalist Anti-environmentalism is a movement that favors loose environmental regulation in favor of economic benefits and opposes strict environmental regulation aimed at preserving nature and the planet. Anti-environmentalists seek to persuade the public ...

agenda under the guise of promoting

humanism Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "human ...

. Writers who used to write for ''Living Marxism'' reject this as a "

McCarthyite McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner. The term origin ...

conspiracy theory".

ITN vs. ''LM''

In February 1997, editor

published an article by German journalist Thomas Deichmann which claimed that

had misrepresented the Bosnian war in its coverage in 1992. The publishers of ''LM'', Informinc (LM) Ltd., were sued for

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defi ...

by ITN. The case initially caused international condemnation of ITN as one of ''LM''s critics, the journalist

, who wrote in ''Prospect'' magazine: However, Monbiot continued: The article "The picture that fooled the world" argued that ITN's footage in which an emaciated Bosnian Muslim man stood behind a barbed wire fence was designed to portray a Nazi-style extermination camp while Deichmann claimed: "It was not a prison, and certainly not a 'concentration camp', but a collection centre for refugees, many of whom went there seeking safety and could leave again if they wished". However, an examination of the substance of this case by a professor of cultural and political geography at Durham University argues that the key claims made by Deichmann and ''LM'' are "erroneous and flawed". The libel case went against ''LM'' and in March 2000 the magazine was forced to close. Reporters

Penny Marshall Carole Penny MarshallBorn Carole Penny Marshall in 1943, as per ''My Mother Was Nuts, a Memoir'', p. 10; . Copyright 2012 (October 15, 1943 – December 17, 2018) was an American actress, director and producer. She is known for her role as ...

and Ian Williams were each awarded £150,000 over the ''LM'' story and the magazine was ordered to pay £75,000 for libelling ITN in a February 1997 article. Looking back Hume commented in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

'': In contrast, Professor Campbell of Durham University summarised his study of the case as follows:

strange as existing British libel law is, it had an important and surprisingly beneficial effect in the case of ITN vs LM. The LM defendants and Thomas Deichmann were properly represented at the trial and were able to lay out all the details of their claim that the ITN reporters had "deliberately misrepresented" the situation at Trnopolje. Having charged 'deliberate misrepresentation', they needed to prove 'deliberate misrepresentation'. To this end, the LM defendants were able to cross-examine Penny Marshall and Ian Williams, as well as every member of the ITN crews who were at the camps, along with other witnesses. (That they didn't take up the opportunity to cross-examine the Bosnian doctor imprisoned at Trnopolje, who featured in the ITN stories and was called to testify on the conditions he and others suffered, was perhaps the moment any remaining shred of credibility for LM's allegations evaporated). They were able to show the ITN reports to the court, including the rushes from which the final TV stories were edited, and conduct a forensic examination of the visuals they alleged were deceitful. And all of this took place in front of a jury of twelve citizens who they needed to convince about the truthfulness of their allegations. They failed. The jury found unanimously against LM and awarded the maximum possible damages. So it was not ITN that bankrupted LM. It was LM's lies about the ITN reports that bankrupted themselves, morally and financially. Despite their failure, those who lied about the ITN reports have had no trouble obtaining regular access to the mainstream media in Britain, where they continue to make their case as though the 2000 court verdict simply didn't exist. Their freedom of speech has thus not been permanently infringed.

History

Aims

Views

ITN vs. ''LM''

See also

References

Further reading