Newsnight in court apology to Trafigura

BBC 2's Newsnight is to broadcast an apology to oil company Trafigura tonight. You can read the BBC's statement in the High Court today here.
It says:"Following Trafigura's complaint over Newsnight's story, the BBC carried out a detailed further review of the available evidence and of Trafigura's detailed response in its Reply in these proceedings. The BBC accepts the conclusions reached by the experts in the personal injury action and reflected in the Reply. The BBC therefore acknowledges that the evidence does not establish that Trafigura's "slops" caused any deaths, miscarriages or serious or long-term injuries. Accordingly, the BBC has withdrawn those allegations and has agreed to broadcast an appropriate apology on Newsnight, to join in the making of this Statement in Open Court, and to publish the Statement on its website."

'BBC removes Trafigura video after legal threat'

BBC 2's Newsnight has apparently removed a video of its feature on the alleged dumping of toxic waste by Trafigura from its website after legal threats from the oil firm and Carter-Ruck, the New Statesman blog claims.
It says bloggers have attempted to evade the gag by posting a YouTube video of the feature and have attacked BBC executives for "caving in" to Carter-Ruck.
The Statesman says: "This latest development confirms the urgent need for the government to call time on London's status as the libel capital of the world."

Guardian publishes 'super-injunction'

The Guardian today publishes the 'super-injunction' which Trafigura and Carter-Ruck used to gag the paper and 'persons unknown' on September 11. It was granted in private by Mr. Justice Maddison. The Guardian said its purpose in publishing the document is to show how such gagging orders are constructed and shielded from the public.

You can see a pdf here.

Guardian ungagged: Minton Report published

The Guardian has published the Minton Report into toxic waste dumping in west Africa after lawyers Carter-Ruck, acting for oil traders Trafigura, finally abandoned attempts to keep it secret.
Carter-Ruck wrote a letter to the Guardian last night which said the newspaper should regard itself as "released forthwith" from any reporting restrictions.

An MP revealed the report's existence to parliament this week, after the Guardian was hit with a "super-injunction" banning all mention of it.

The Minton Report commissioned in 2006 from the London-based firm's scientific consultants, said that based on the "limited" information they had been given Trafigura's oil waste, dumped cheaply the month before in a city in Ivory Coast was potentially toxic, and "capable of causing severe human health effects".

The Guardian has a link to a copy of the Minton Report on its website: the Minton report (pdf)

Now Carter-Ruck tries to gag MPs

From today's Guardian: "Carter-Ruck has made a fresh move that could stop an MPs' debate next week by claiming a controversial injunction it has obtained is "sub judice".
"The move follows the revelation of the existence of a secret "super-injunction" obtained by the firm on behalf of the London-based oil traders Trafigura."

Twitter + Guardian = 'mass notoriety'

Alan Rusbridger in the Guardian today writes how the combination of old and new media was the formula that turned total obscurity for Trafigura into mass notoriety.

"It took one tweet on Monday evening as I left the office to light the virtual touchpaper. At five past nine I tapped: "Now Guardian prevented from reporting parliament for unreportable reasons. Did John Wilkes live in vain?" Twitter's detractors are used to sneering that nothing of value can be said in 140 characters. My 104 characters did just fine.
"By the time I got home, after stopping off for a meal with friends, the Twittersphere had gone into meltdown. Twitterers had sleuthed down Farrelly's question, published the relevant links and were now seriously on the case. By midday on Tuesday "Trafigura" was one of the most searched terms in Europe, helped along by re-tweets by Stephen Fry and his 830,000-odd followers.
"Many tweeters were just registering support or outrage. Others were beavering away to see if they could find suppressed information on the far reaches of the web. One or two legal experts uncovered the Parliamentary Papers Act 1840, wondering if that would help? Common #hashtags were quickly developed, making the material easily discoverable.
"By lunchtime – an hour before we were due in court – Trafigura threw in the towel. The textbook stuff – elaborate carrot, expensive stick – had been blown away by a newspaper together with the mass collaboration of total strangers on the web.

"Trafigura thought it was buying silence. A combination of old media – the Guardian – and new – Twitter – turned attempted obscurity into mass notoriety."

Guardian editorial slams super-injunctions

From today's Guardian editorial: "That media organisations were unable to report a parliamentary question was due to a so-called "super-injunction" obtained by the notorious law firm Carter-Ruck on behalf of Trafigura, a large London-based trading company.
A "super-injunction" is one which not only prevents any publication, but which is itself secret. Search in vain for the case in the court lists of the high court in London: it appears only as "RJW and SJW v The Guardian".
The editorial also says: "It is scandalous that a law firm acting on behalf of a wealthy trading company should have thought, for a moment, that it could gag media organisations from reporting parliamentary business.
"These are lawyers who seem to have lost sight of the fact that people risked their liberty and their lives to fight for the right to report what their elected representatives say and do. It is little wonder that some social media websites went into virtual meltdown yesterday at the arrogant effrontery involved.
"Trafigura is an unappetising company which purchases smooth PR (it was the official sponsor of the recent British Lions tour) with the same no-expense-spared approach as it has to buying silence. It has threatened to sue journalists in a number of European countries and is even now involved in another aggressive libel action against BBC2's Newsnight. It is rather shameful that British judges should have spared the company's blushes by handing down secret injunctions. But at least the principle for which John Wilkes fought and was imprisoned in the 1770s – the right to report parliament – has not been clouded."

Victory: Guardian gag is lifted

Guardian has won. It reports at lunchtime today: "The existence of a previously-secret injunction against the media by oil traders Trafigura can now be revealed.
"Within the last hour, Trafigura's lawyers Carter-Ruck, abandoned an attempt to prevent the Guardian from reporting proceedings in parliament which revealed its existence.
"Labour MP Paul Farrelly put down a question yesterday to the Justice Secretary, Jack Straw. It asked about the injunction obtained by "Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton Report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura".
The Guardian was due to appear at the High Court at 2pm to challenge Carter-Ruck's behaviour, when the firm dropped its claim that to report parliament would be a contempt of court.
Here is the full text of the question:
"To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by (i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and (ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura."