Magazine protests censorship, puts nude child on cover

The Australian magazine Art Monthly featured a nude six-year-old on its July cover, reportedly to protest artistic censorship. The Sydney Sunday Telegraph reported that Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd did not support the decision.

"I have very deep, strong, personal views on this, which is that we should be on about maximizing the protection of children," Rudd said. "I don't think this is a step in the right direction at all."

Art Montly editor Maurice O'Riordan reportedly selected the cover shot to support artist Bill Henson, whose photographs of a nude 13-year-old were briefly displayed in a Sydney art gallery, prior to being seized in a police search.

O'Riordan said he hoped the July edition of his magazine would restore "dignity to the debate" of artistic representation of children.

"Maybe this is bold, but I don't see the need to give in to that sort of hysteria or the prospect of complaint," he said.

Melbourne photographer Polixeni Papapetrou took the cover photo of her daughter Olympia Nelson, currently age 11, back in 2003.

Nelson recently described the picture as "really, really nice," and denied suggestions that it constituted child abuse.

"I love the photo so much. I think that the picture my mum took of me had nothing to do with being abused, and I think nudity can be a part of art," she said.

Hetty Johnston, executive director of Bravehearts, an Australian organization that aims for a "movement for change" in how pedophilia is addressed in the court of law and the community, disagreed, calling the magazine photos "sexual exploitation of children."

Johnston added that the rights and protection of children should come before artistic merit.

"When those two things collide we have to err with the children; it has to be in the best interests of the children,'' she told the Nine Network. "I can't see in any circumstance where taking a photograph of a naked child is in the child's best interests. We need laws to make it clear; the laws are flaky and the laws aren't able to protect children."

Prime Minister Rudd threatened to pull the backing for the government-funded magazine if it refused to comply with new protocols regarding the depiction of children.

R. Kelly cleared on all child-porn charges

After less than a day of deliberations, R. Kelly was found not guilty of 14 counts of videotaping himself having sex with a minor.

Although it took more than six years for the case to reach the Chicago courtroom, it only took seven hours for the jurors to conclude there was enough reasonable doubt for the R&B singer to avoid serving four to 15 years behind bars. If he was found guilty, he would have had to register as an Illinois sex offender.

The case began in February 2002 after Chicago Sun-Times music critic Jim DeRogatis was sent a copy of the now-infamous videotape allegedly featuring Kelly engaging in sexual acts with an underaged girl. The tape was turned over to authorities, but the trial was delayed numerous times. It finally reached the courtroom last month.

One of the possible causes for the jurors skepticism was the mole on the back of the man in the video, which prosecuters used to identify Kelly. The 41-year-old singer's lawyers called on a forensic expert to prove the videotape may have been manipulated to purposely frame Kelly. They also suggested the poor quality of the video may have caused a shadow to look like a mole.

Several other people took the stand on behalf of the defense to call into question the credibility of the prosecuter's witnesses. One such woman was Lisa Van Allen, another woman in the video. After the verdict was read, Van Allen told the Chicago Sun-Times that she believed Kelly's "star power" swayed the jury.

"R. Kelly was found not guilty, because they had the best jury that Cook County could produce," Kelly's attorney, Sam Adam Jr. said outside the courtroom.

R. Kelly did not testify before the juror, nor did the now-23-year-old alleged victim, who refused to cooperate with the Cook County District Attorney's Office.