The Battle of Trafigura

A memorable day for the British media

A good day for the British media. A good day for press freedom. A good day for the Guardian and, especially, its editor, Alan Rusbridger.

Briefly written, here’s what happened.

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I’ve little to add that hasn’t already been mentioned elsewhere, but here’s a thought.

Today we saw old and new media working together. Newspaper editors and journalists were interacting with bloggers and twitterers. There were articles, blogs and tweets – all repeating the same message over and over and over again.

There was an unfamiliar sense of unity. The idea that if the media worked as one it could defend a principle that it felt strongly enough about.

And after years of new and old media growling at each other from different corners of the same room, this was something new.

An important principle has been defended – and that is the most important point of all. But perhaps it is worth noting that some bridges might just have been built in doing so.

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image credit: Ricky David