Statement: Reports the National Enquirer Is Trying to Curb Publication of Ronan Farrow Book

In response to reports that National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard is attempting to curb the publication and sale of Ronan Farrow’s upcoming book, Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators, by threatening its publisher with a libel suit and issuing threats to booksellers in the U.K., PEN America issued the following statement:

“Threatening a libel suit for a book that has not yet been released–and which Howard appears not to have read–is not only absurd but a reprehensible attempt at censorship. That this threat comes from a member of the media flies in the face of everything journalism should stand for–the open exchange of information and the right of the public to know and to make its own judgments. Booksellers should never become targets over the books they sell, and publishers should not have to brave the threat of legal action to publish a book. It seems clear that it is very much in the public’s interest to read and assess Farrow’s book for themselves; Howard would be wise to wait until it is published and then do the same.”