Peter Oborne’s resignation statement as chief political commentator of the Telegraph has touched a nerve for a whole number of reasons.
First, simply because of its rarity. Very few journalists are confident enough to speak out against their employers or to refuse to write stories that they don’t agree with. Richard Peppiatt’s resignation from the Daily Star on the basis of its sexist and anti-Muslim coverage was an extremely unusual case of a journalist publicly outing his bosses. Oborne’s resignation, as the blogger Guido Faukes sniped, was a ‘great career move’; in truth, the vast majority of journalists don’t have Oborne’s reputation and contacts and would find it even more difficult to find work elsewhere. Newsrooms may claim to be at the forefront of protecting free speech but they don’t seem to be that comfortable with internal dissent or outright criticism.
