But the shadow of a libel case has hung over us

But the shadow of a libel case has hung over us.The libel trouble began with the first issue of LM (February 1997) in which we published an article that examined questions about ITN's award-winning 1992 coverage of a Bosnian-Serb camp and the way the world had interpreted the coverage. We were certain that there was a gap for a magazine that treated adults as grown-ups, seeking to create a new intellectual current that would ban nothing and question everything We were right. Living Marxism had been a small but creditable publication we had both written for, but which needed a re-vamp. If Gentlemen's Quarterly had become GQ then LM could be a new current affairs magazine, post-politics.

Along with Mick Hume, Living Marxism 's editor, Helene and I saw an opportunity to create a magazine that could reflect the new shift in politics where left and right were no longer relevant labels.This would be a magazine that would put its head above the parapet, and ask questions rather than collapsing into bland consensus. But I can tell you what it is like to be on the receiving end of a court action by a multi-million pound news corporation. It all started more than three years ago. I got involved with Helene Guldberg in forming a company to buy and relaunch Living Marxism , a magazine previously published by the Revolutionary Communist Party. On 28 February 2000, the first major media libel case of the new century will take place in the high court - ITN versus LM. British libel laws are widely recognised as a major deterrent to press freedom.

So what on earth is a major news organisation doing suing a small independent magazine such as LM ? Libel law means the possibility that the magazine will be bankrupted and silenced forever. It also means I cannot, before trial, give all the details of the story over which they are suing. So what on earth is a major news organisation doing suing a small independent magazine such as LM ? Libel law means the possibility that the magazine will be bankrupted and silenced forever. It also means I cannot, before trial, give all the details of the story over which they are suing. But I can tell you what it is like to be on the receiving end of a court action by a multi-million pound news corporation. British libel laws are widely recognised as a major deterrent to press freedom.