We have been told that we live in an age of unparalleled freedom: technology has put previously unimaginable resources at our fingertips, and given us instant access to vast swathes of information. And yet despite these advancements in the democratisation of information, we have regressed to a culture of censorship in our age of freedom.

From the super-injuctions of the filthy rich, to the great firewall of China, we live in a world where you can write a book and not live to tell the tale.

In this talk, author, journalist, and political commentator Nick Cohen discusses the principles he outlines in his book, You Cant Read This Book: Censorship in an Age of Freedom. Nick discusses the effect censorship is having on free speech - citing examples from the controversy surrounding Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses, to the Danish Cartoon affair - and the dangerous implications in wide-reaching consequences this has in a time where money is increasingly powerful.

Nick Cohen writes for The Observer, The Spectator, The Guardian, and Standpoint magazine. He has written a number of books, including What’s Left? How the Left Lost it’s Way (2007), Waiting for the Etonians: Reports from the Sickbed of Liberal England (2009), and You Cant Read This Book: Censorship in an Age of Freedom (2012).

Related Links:
Nick Cohen
We Are All Journalists Now

A Festival of Ideas event in partnership with Watershed.

Posted on Mon 14 May 2012.

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