We love the FT, great paper, nice people. We especially like them when they pile gleefully into the 'this will be the internet election' meme. (About which we have made our feelings known.)
And if you want the real evidence that blogging culture has infiltrated even the most austere bastions of old media we can provide it courtesy of one of our deepest media deep throats. An email has been passed on to the Observer blog:
On behalf of the OMBC, we would like to inform you that the Financial Times will be suspended for six months from access to the OMBC site because of a breach of the embargo rule on one piece of information from the Global Development Finance report. The embargo on the GDF of April 6, 6.00am Washington time remains in effect, as the breach only related to one figure from the report, the global growth forecast for 2005.
The OMBC is the World Bank's media briefing service. It turns out that a story that went live on the FT site yesterday shot its embargo bolt a little bit. Date stamp seems to have changed since we last looked at it. Hmm.
It's one thing when Red Top editors spill the beans deposited with him in off-the-record briefings. But when the FT breaks the hallowed conventions of our trade ... well, it's anarchy out there. What we really love about this is that the breach is so fantastically square. The global growth forecast for 2005. Getting a rap on the knuckles for that is like getting caught shoplifting protractors from WH Smith.
Update from the blog free speech V free beer correspondent: You need a subscription to follow those FT links.
