U.K. Twitter Campaign Helps Curb Gag on Press

We read:

"A Twitter campaign that rippled through the U.K. Tuesday helped to induce an about-face on a legal injunction that was preventing the Guardian newspaper from reporting on a public parliamentary proceeding. Bloggers and Twitter users, led by Guardian Editor Alan Rusbridger, expressed indignation about a court injunction that called into question the British newspaper's right to report on a parliamentary debate.

The catalyst was an order filed against the Guardian on Sept. 11 by Carter-Ruck, the London-based law firm representing Trafigura Ltd., an oil-and-gas firm alleged to be responsible for dumping toxic waste in the Ivory Coast.

On Tuesday, Carter-Ruck agreed to change the stipulations of the injunction so that the Guardian could cover the parliamentary question without breaking the law, the newspaper said. "Thanks to Twitter/all tweeters for fantastic support over past 16 hours! Great victory for free speech," Mr. Rusbridger wrote on his Twitter feed. Words tied to the case were among the most mentioned on Twitter Tuesday.

On Sept. 23, Trafigura finalized a pretrial settlement that ended a class-action lawsuit in which 31,000 claimants in the Ivory Coast alleged that the oil-and-gas company was responsible the dumping of toxic waste by the firm it hired, Reuters reported. Trafigura denies any wrongdoing.

Source