MyT - Madness At The Telegraph

Sometimes I wonder about newspapers. Earlier, I posted about the Register's article concerning Dr Rita Pal, and the General Medical Council's attempts to silence her blogging activities via the blunt instrument of disciplinary proceedings.

Now, this matter is hardly a secret, particularly since the Reg covered it. In fact, a quick Google search for the article, "Doctor faces High Court battle with GMC over weblink" shows way in excess of 200 sites featuring the story, probably through the Register's RSS feed.

So why is it that, when Rita Pal posted a link to the story, with a brief description of same, to her My Telegraph blog, it was removed forthwith. And removed again, when she reposted it. And again, and again. As I type, the story is on it's twelfth consecutive reposting and removal, and I don't suppose that will be the last.

Clearly, someone at the Telegraph thinks that by refusing to publish a link, the story will go away - guess again, guys. Or could it be that their moderators are members of the medical profession, moonlighting as mods until they can find a job? For, as the Telegraph reports today, 10,000 docs could be out of work - maybe they fear a GMC investigation if they publish a link to a link to something the GMC doesn't like?

Whatever the reason, My Telegraph is now starting to look ridiculously partisan in refusing to accept a link to an entirely legitimate news item that was not accompanied by anything that could possibly breach MyT's terms and conditions. Come on, guys, wake up and smell the coffee - this is the internet, and you can't stop a story from spreading just by pulling it off a blog.

Billy Seggars.