The Brexit march has renewed my optimism in being a journalist

If there is one area where I can readily agree with Boris Johnson, it is the importance of optimism.

Not, of course, the blithe, baseless cheerfulness he tries to exude about a hard Brexit leading to Britain becoming the best place on the planet. But rather the principle of aspiring to it, and, for a natural pessimist like me, to recognise the cause for hope when it turns up.

So it is with our Final Say campaign, the Extinction Rebellion demos and the frankly astonishing way in which the usually somnolent British people are engaging in politics.

As a journalist, this has to give me great hope about the future of the trade and its value. The public have never wanted to know more and understand more and to protest more than they do today. Indeed Brexit fatigue is a welcome symptom of our over-indulgence in current affairs. Virtually every media, from book publishing to WhatsApp has done well out of the Brexit phenomenon, and also from Trump, concern about climate change, political extremism, nationalism, economic fears and heightened geopolitical tensions and yes, conflict, everywhere from the Middle East to Korea.

It sounds ghoulish to make such an observation in the context of journalism, yet it’s not meant to be callous – it is simply a fact that people have a renewed thirst and desire for information and opinion, and to enjoy unparalleled opportunities to express themselves – via Twitter and the rest. Hence people are taking to streets of Hong Kong or the keyboards of Bible Belt America to make their demands heard.

It is a frightening time to be a citizen of planet Earth, and for that reason a no less exhilarating and challenging one to be a journalist. Free speech, independent political institutions, representative democracy, fact and truth have never been so precious. Maybe more people are starting to understand what’s so long been taken for granted.

Yours,

Sean O’Grady

Associate editor