Hollywood and China could have a profitable new future together, but American directors might be surprised by the way Chinese fans can react to some good-natured pushback against the censors…

Evan Osnos on the growing relationship between Hollywood and China: http://nyr.kr/WWZHFR

(Source: newyorker.com)

In this week’s New Yorker Out Loud podcast, the magazine’s cartoon editor, Robert Mankoff, discusses the recent Nipplegate incident, in which a cartoon portraying Adam and Eve got the New Yorker temporarily banned from Facebook. Mankoff talks with Michael Agger and Mick Stevens, the cartoonist behind the offending cartoon, about the curious history of nipples in the magazine. Mankoff and Stevens also discuss the advantages of cartoon clichés like Adam and Eve, how cartoonists practice their art, and the evolution of the crash-test-dummy cartoon. Also, Peter Schjeldahl remembers Andy Warhol. Click-through to listen: http://nyr.kr/Rk0Iq0

It is the sometimes impossibly difficult political and moral work of Rushdie and the rest of us to go on defending freedom of expression even when the object at the center of things is as indefensibly offensive as “Innocence of Muslims” and its countless kin.

David Remnick on Salman Rushdie, “The Innocence of Muslims,” and freedom of expression: http://nyr.kr/O8zfHf

Photograph by Richard Avedon.

The Exciting Conclusion of Nipplegate: http://nyr.kr/QYCpYP

Soon after the filmmaker Orwa Nyrabia was abducted by the Syrian military, on August 23rd, filmmakers all over the world protested his detention. Martin Scorsese issued a statement calling for his release; that was followed by a campaign by more than a hundred international filmmakers to call attention to Nyrabia’s detention.

…Today, Nyrabia is free again.

Watch the video that filmmakers across the world created to call for Nyrabia’s  release, and click-through to read more from Lawrence Wright: http://nyr.kr/O1r1Au

The New Yorker is just one inappropriate cartoon away from getting banned from Facebook for life.  Cartoon editor Bob Mankoff expounds on the drawing’s offenses, and nudity in cartoons: http://nyr.kr/UFdwFw

Read Mankoff’s post, and then visit https://www.facebook.com/NewYorkerCartoons for more cartoons!

(Source: newyorker.com)

Nana Asfour on why the film “Beirut Hotel” was banned in Lebanon (it wasn’t because of the erotic scenes), and on Beirut’s efforts to reinstate the city’s “eminence as the cultural center of the Middle East”: http://nyr.kr/Ovkoky

(Source: newyorker.com)

“Still, the uproar has forced people to recognize once again the importance of the policies set by technological platforms—such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter. Supreme Court justices, presidents, prime ministers, and dictators for life will decide much of the future of free speech. But so will smart people with big glasses and purple shirts in Silicon Valley conference rooms. Free speech laws and policies change slowly. Companies can reset standards quickly. It’s useful for them to be reminded how much these issues matter as they balance business interests, reputation, and morals.”

-Nick Thompson writes about why Twitter isn’t evil: http://nyr.kr/zxugmR