New York Times Breaks Potter Book Review Embargo

Posted on July 19, 2007

J.K. Rowling has lashed out at The New York Times and The Boston Globe for breaking the Harry Potter book embargo and running reviews of the book early. BBC News reports that Rowling says she is "staggered" the newspapers violated the embargo. She says this was in "omplete disregard of the wishes of literally millions of readers." It is a shocking violation. A retailer named Deep Discount has been sued by Scholastic for breaking the embargo and selling copies early.

The book's contents have been the subject of intense speculation The novel has also appeared on auction site eBay, while pictures of what appeared to be pages from the new book have appeared on the internet. Bloomsbury said it was "dismayed" to learn about the early sales. But internet spoilers had not come from the few copies sold ahead of the official publication, it insisted. The strict embargo was being "enforced unflinchingly and without exception" by publishers in 93 countries, the company added.
Rowling said the US newspaper reviews would particularly affect children "who wanted to reach Harry's final destination by themselves, in their own time".
"I am incredibly grateful to all those newspapers, booksellers and others who have chosen not to attempt to spoil Harry's last adventure for fans," she added.

Rowling also previously published the following message on her website. She wrote, "Let's all, please, ignore the misinformation popping up on the web and in the press. I'd like to ask everyone who calls themselves a Harry Potter fan to help preserve the secrecy of the plot for all those who are looking forward to reading the book at the same time on publication day. In a very short time you will know everything!"

The Washington Post took the high road and promised to abide by the embargo. Michiko Kakutani's review in the Times reveals important plot information and is spoilery, which is a bit of a shock. Michiko is a very bad girl who knows better than to break a book embargo when millions of children worldwide are holding their breath for Saturday's release. Sounds like she and the Times editors need a nice chat with some Dementors.