If this story had turned out differently, Guido Fawkes would have been considered a pioneer of the new age of journalism this evening. However, the statement by Hague and the resignation of Myers has made Paul Staines look very much like the bad guy. The foreign ministers marriage and sexuality have been called into question and a man has resigned for no reason but should we really be blaming Guido?
One of the 'problems' with freedom of the press is that people spout lies, talk rubbish or, as in this case, cast aspersions. Guido's reputation could maybe be damaged if this was a stupid aspersion that has been cast but was it really that big a jump? If you think so then fine, but you're probably not the sort of person who has much respect for the type of reporting that comes out of order-order.com anyway and Hague himself has admitted that "in hindsight I should have given greater consideration to what might have been made of [sharing a hotel room with my driver]".
Before people once again start condemning Guido Fawkes they need to consider the wider principle. Would you rather live in a society where people were too scared to post this sort of thing? If Guido has truly misjudged this piece then he will suffer in terms of reputation; I doubt that this is the case though.
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