Defamation fear in magazine withdrawal

A DISPUTE has erupted between an arts magazine and the organisation recently set up to oversee culture and sport in Glasgow.

Copies of free magazine, Variant, have been withdrawn from the city’s Tramway Theatre, by Culture and Sport Glasgow, a charity and limited company which was set up last year to take over the running of culture and sport from the city council.

It says it fears possible defamation.

Variant publishes three times a year and 15,000 copies are distributed across Scotland and Ireland.

A spokesperson for Culture and Sport Glasgow said: “We can confirm that the publication has been removed as a result of inaccuracies, many of which are potentially defamatory.”

In a statement issued yesterday, the magazine raises the issue of free speech.