Eastweek loses indecency appeal
Eastweek magazine yesterday failed to overturn an 'indecent' classification on a recent cover story that featured a photo of a naked actress.
The Obscene Articles Tribunal ruled that the publisher used Rachel Lee Lai-chun's photograph as a way to show off the female body and attract more readers, Magistrate Selwyn Hason Au See-hin said in his judgment.
'The level of nudity in the photograph surpassed the level of morality accepted by reasonable members of the community,' he added.
Mr Au also found there was no honest intention in publishing the photograph.
The August 18 report in the magazine concerned Lee's alleged relationship with a married hairstylist. It included a photograph, lifted from the cover of an album of nude photographs of the actress.
Last month the tribunal gave an interim classification to the report of 'indecent' - or Class II under the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance.
The lawyer for East Week Publishing, Wong Lui, had argued that the photograph and text were not indecent. The picture was of artistic value because it came from the actress' book and parts of the picture had been digitally blurred.
But Mr Au did not agree. The digital blurring was very thin and readers could clearly see the shape and colour of the breasts, he said.
The photograph, which took up about a quarter of the page, purposely revealed the actress' breasts to create an erotic effect, he added.
