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December 6, 2008

Where comment is (almost) free

By Grey Cardigan

I’ve taken the piss out of Professor Greenslade before for using his Guardian blog to witter on about press freedom in Outer Mongolia while subs are getting sacked in Scunthorpe. It seems I’m not the only one irritated by this extravagant pose.

On the day that Newsquest handed redundancy notices to 235 journalists at its Herald group of newspapers, the Prof was busy blathering on about a Phillipines radio DJ getting shot. Of the Glasgow crisis there was nary a word. This proved too much for some journos who launched a scathing attack in the blog’s comments section, suggesting that problems closer to home might be more worthy of the Prof’s attention.

Greenslade was finally stung into action late in the day, admitting that he wished he “had found the time, either yesterday or this morning, to comment on the extraordinary decision by Newsquest  … I am putting that right now.”

But wait, what’s this? The critical comments on the original story now appear to have vanished. Cock-up or conspiracy? You decide. But it all seems a bit odd for a website forever promising that “Comment Is Free”.

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