Salman Rushdie's op-ed today notes the power of the Word, citing scripture and classical works, as well as modern writings:
[F]iction does retain the occasional surprising ability to initiate social change. Here is the fugitive slave Eliza running from Simon Legree. Here is Wackford Squeers, savage head of Dotheboys Hall. Here is Oliver Twist asking for more. Here is a boy wizard with a lightning scar on his forehead, bringing books back into the lives of a generation that was forgetting how to read. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" changed attitudes toward slavery, and Charles Dickens' portraits of child poverty inspired legal reforms, and J.K. Rowling changed the culture of childhood, making millions of boys and girls look forward to 800-page novels, and improbably popularizing vibrating broomsticks and boarding schools.
The op-ed specifies that copyright remains with Rushdie. My own experience suggests that newspapers do not generally demand the copyright be transferred to them before publishing, but this affirmative statement assists Rushdie in the future when he republishes the work in an anthology. Future publishers will not have to worry that Rushdie actually gave away the copyright to the story.