High Court backs critic

From Roger Pearson in The Press Gazette:

An Evening Standard theatre critic who did not like British composer Keith Burstein’s opera about suicide bombers, calling the tone “depressingly anti-American” and finding the notion that there was anything heroic about the bombers “a grievous insult” was entitled to give her honest opinion, London’s Court of Appeal ruled today.

In a milestone ruling which strengthens the legal position of newspaper reviewers and critics, Lord Justice Keene, sitting with Lord Justice Waller and Lord Justice Dyson, backed their rights to give “fair comment” in their reviews.