The Guardian is gagged from reporting Parliamentary proceedings, or to put it in the paper’s own words: [l]egal obstacles, which cannot be identified, involve proceedings, which cannot be mentioned, on behalf of a client who must remain secret.
Now, just putting aside for a minute questions on freedom of speech, and the importance of holding to account our elected representatives for exactly what we are paying them to carry out on our behalf in the most strident of terms, don’t these people realise that the minute you put a block on one report in the information era a hundred other sources and blogs will quickly work to get to the bottom of exactly what has been withheld?
[Such as, for example, this one.
Ooh, and also, this one.]
And can’t they then figure out that the resulting furore and the speed with which links and campaigns can be spread via social networking will then bring the story to the attention of a heck of a lot more people than would have been likely to buy a particular copy of a particular paper on a particular day, or even forward a link to their friends?
I bet Alan Rusbridger knows that, and I hope he is sleeping soundly tonight and looking forward to his appeal.
Enjoy your “epic fail”, justice system.
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