By Tim Redmond
The Guardian of London just received a stunning gag order forbidding the paper from reporting on a Parliamentary debate.
Check this out:
Today’s published Commons order papers contain a question to be answered by a minister later this week. The Guardian is prevented from identifying the MP who has asked the question, what the question is, which minister might answer it, or where the question is to be found.
The Guardian is also forbidden from telling its readers why the paper is prevented – for the first time in memory – from reporting parliament. Legal obstacles, which cannot be identified, involve proceedings, which cannot be mentioned, on behalf of a client who must remain secret.
Whoa. The thing is, with today’s social networking and fast-moving media, I suspect somebody’s going to leak and post the info pretty quickly anyway. And I don’t think the UK authorities can prevent web sites in other countries from publishing it.
The outcome will be interesting not just for UK media law, but for the (lack of) success of gag orders in general. At least, I hope so.