The Cummings revelations were a triumph of journalism, in all its messy glory. But the UK government response marks the ascendency of anti-journalism, with the Trumpist jibes of “fake news” now followed by #scummedia trending on here. This is scary.

In Scotland anti-MSM hate has been mostly online, quarantined out of politics but an ever-present threat to democracy. In England, it’s now infected people close to No 10. This, after just a few short years of culture wars and an explosion of left & right alt-media grifting.

Every mistake and misjudgment the legacy media - in newsprint or broadcast - makes is now going to be weaponised against journalism by malign actors who are prepared to sacrifice a free press for their cause, their profit or their power.

Errors will be proof of bad faith, of a mask having slipped, revealing partisan bias. Journalists will be treated as belligerents, not observers, partisans or otherwise. And these new rules will apply even at a time of extreme stress for our traditional checks and balances.

Earlier today a respected and fair-minded reporter was called a whore on here after tweeting a picture of some ducklings. Why? She had covered the Salmond trial. There are malign actors actively trying to get reporters prosecuted over coverage.

There are authorities who police coverage of our courts, ensuring we have fair trials. Reporters can fall foul of such rules. But citizens attacking reporters en masse because bloggers - not the proper authorities - claim they are criminals? That’s a remarkable development.

We have lots of real problems in legacy and new media. However, Many of these problems are missed in all the noise and anger against the basic principles of reality-based journalism. We’re not perfect. But please reflect on what life would be like without stories like #cummings.

Rant ending now. I know journalists can sound self-important when we bang on about a free press. We reporters are not individually important. Neither are lawyers or nurses or cops. But like other trades, what we do matters, collectively.