The German family ministry is pushing for the ban of children’s book How Do I get To God, Asked The Small Piglet.
The ministry has written to the federal department responsible for reviewing children’s literature, saying “the book ridicules three worldwide religions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism (…), this later being shown as particularly fearful and cruel”.
Ireland’s new media watchdog will itself be under severe scrutiny, writes Michael Foley
It was a long time coming, but after debates going back to the 1970s, Ireland has finally joined the rest of Europe and has established a press council, which opened for business in January.
The new press ombudsman, Professor John Horgan, and the 13-person press council opened their city centre premises in Dublin following a launch addressed by Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan. At the launch, the minister announced that privacy legislation, which has been approved by the cabinet, would be parked, “in order to allow the press council the opportunity to prove its effectiveness in defending the right to privacy from unwarranted intrusion by the media.”
He continued: “I don’t think I am breaching any state secrets when I tell you that not all my colleagues had boundless enthusiasm for this approach. I would not for a moment dismiss their reservations and, indeed, concern about media intrusion is not exclusive to those of us involved in politics.”