Editorial/Opinion
Viral Marketing
By h.b.
Jul 22, 2007 - 11:29 AM

It’s not often that this editorial agrees with the opinions of the Partido Popular spokesman Angel Acebes. But there is a first time for everything.

Acebes has said that the Attourney General, Cándido Conde-Pumpido, has ‘prejudiced freedom of speech’ by his decision to withdraw from sale this week’s edition of the satirical magazine El Jueves.

We are reminded about similar cases in Britain for the magazine Private Eye, which has found itself in court on several occasions.

Satirical humour is such that some people are bound to be offended on occasions. The difference here is that Conde-Pumpido considers that a crime has been committed in the form of slander against the Prince and Princess of Asturias.

His decision to withdraw the copies of the magazine from sale, by an order issued by Judge Juan del Olmo, has, by all accounts, been taken without any representations made to him from the Palace or elsewhere. He contends that the publication of the offensive cartoon is ‘clearly a criminal act’ and ‘an unnecessary vulgarity’.

Unfortunately for him there are two things he appears not to have considered. Firstly the Internet has changed the way and the speed at which news is published. Within minutes of his order other media had the cartoon and all the details on their webpages. It was only later that an order to close the El Jueves website was issued, and then that order was specific only to the magazine. Already practically all the main news webpages were carrying the story, many of them with the offending cartoon, or a link to it.
And secondly the magazine goes on sale on Wednesday, and the interest generated in this week’s edition ensured that it had sold out in practically all cases, before the police could act to physically remove any copies.