A great moment for women and for Guardian journalism | Saturday Edition from the Guardian
John Hollins
Why we wouldn’t back down to Noel Clarke’s legal threats
Katharine Viner, editor-in-chief Sometimes you just need to pull on the thread.
That’s how it started for two Guardian reporters in the spring of 2021, when they began to investigate claims about the behaviour of Noel Clarke, the prominent British actor and film-maker.
Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne spoke to many sources, including more than 20 women who shared their stories about working with Clarke. Their accusations covered all manner of misconduct: sexual harassment, unwanted touching and groping, sexually inappropriate behaviour, taking and sharing sexually explicit pictures and videos without consent, and bullying.
The allegations spanned a long period, from 2004 to 2019 and were the basis of a powerful series of Guardian articles and a podcast, which led to Clarke suing the Guardian.
The six-week trial took place in March and April, and the judgment came in yesterday. Mrs Justice Steyn ruled that what the Guardian published was true, and that publishing it was in the public interest.
The judge praised our reporters’ and editors’ exhaustive approach to covering the story and noted the “extensive efforts they made to investigate, test and corroborate the information they received, and not to publish allegations which they could not substantiate”.
It is an overwhelming victory for the women who spoke to us, for the Guardian, and for investigative journalism in Britain.
Almost every day over my decade as editor-in-chief of the Guardian I have had to take difficult decisions. In many ways, deciding to fight Noel Clarke’s defamation claim was not one of them. I believed from the start this was a case we needed to see through to the end – primarily, of course, for the women who had spoken to us for our original investigation, and those who then came to the court to give testimony.
I remember when I was first told about the investigation: what struck me was the sheer scale of it all.
In cases where there are claims of sexual misconduct, even post the #MeToo movement, it is rare to find women who are prepared to speak to journalists. When you’re talking about someone who is much more powerful than you are, and is a big name in the film and TV industry, it’s a huge risk. Yet every time I received an update from the investigations team, the numbers of women had risen. Within days, we had more than a dozen sources.
By the time we had published our first investigation we had heard credible first-hand allegations from 22 women, and our superb reporters had done extensive work on corroboration. By the time we published our last article, we had spoken to more than 100 sources.
At trial we were able to rely on testimony from 26 different people, some of whom had travelled to the high court from abroad. Haroon Siddique’s piece yesterday revealed the picture the witnesses were able to paint of Clarke in court.
The many women who came to give testimony in court did not flinch, despite the often intimidating tactics used to try to deter them both before and during the trial. I attended court most days and found it very moving that so many of the women came forward and spoke so powerfully and with such commitment about some of the worst times of their lives.
One of those witnesses, Gina Powell, a former employee of Clarke’s, was an important source in our reporting and a witness at the trial in March. Powell accused Clarke of sexually assaulting her and told the court that she was speaking up because she did not think he should be “around young women in the film industry”. Her decision to speak out, like that of all of our witnesses, was incredibly brave. In addition to calling her an impressive, honest, compelling witness who did not overstate or exaggerate any of the matters she addressed, Mrs Justice Steyn said of her: “Courage is not evinced by the absence of fear but by mastering it, and Ms Powell demonstrated admirable bravery and integrity.”
The Guardian stood by Gina and all these women, and the media as a whole will benefit from the bravery the women showed, thanks to a judgment that has fully vindicated their decision to come forward.
So this judgment is a victory for them.
It is also an important exoneration of the Guardian – our reporters, editors and lawyers. Investigative journalism is risky and expensive, and reporting that involves allegations of sexual misconduct is famously extremely challenging to publish.
There is the constant threat of litigation, which is unpleasant and time-consuming.
There is the toll that it takes on the witnesses, who may have already suffered abuse, and who can often, understandably, feel they cannot put themselves through the trauma of a gruelling court case.
That’s also something faced by our journalists. Six of us were cross-examined in the high court. One reporter was on the stand for three days. Another was the subject of extremely personalised questioning. Baseless allegations of a “conspiracy” were levelled. All performed superbly, standing up for journalism in the public interest, standing up for the Guardian.
And then there is the threat of ruinous costs.
At one point, and doubtless in an attempt to force us to settle the case on his terms before the trial, Noel Clarke tried to increase his damages claim to the eye-watering sum of £70m.
The Guardian is lucky to have the support of the Scott Trust behind us – our owners, who are committed to journalism in the public interest rather than pursuing commercial or political interests. They backed the journalism at every step of the way.
Few defamation cases make it to trial precisely because of the financial and reputational jeopardy. But this was a case where I felt the Guardian needed to take a stand and trust in the women, our journalism, and the court process.
It’s a good day for the Guardian, for media in the public interest, and for women.
The Guardian is an independent, investigative news organisation powered by its readers. If you don’t already, please consider supporting our journalism financially with a small one-off or monthly amount. It makes a huge difference to the work we’re able to commit to. Thank you.
My picks
David Smith was in Anchorage for Donald Trump’s extraordinary and bizarre summit with Vladimir Putin last Friday, and then in Washington DC three days later as European leaders and Volodmyr Zelenskyy attempted to put the US president back on track (above). Russia affairs correspondent Pjotr Sauer looked at the jubilant reaction in Moscow to the Alaska summit, as Trump apparently swallowed Putin’s demands, while giving a man wanted for war crimes a red carpet welcome. Dan Sabbagh and photographer Julia Kochetova visited a frontline drone unit in Ukraine, where the reality of the war felt a long way from the diplomatic negotiating table. Today in Focus asked what price ordinary Ukrainians would have to pay for peace and, in a pointed column, Sidney Blumenthal wrote that “there is no ‘Trump doctrine’ in foreign policy. Just chaos.”
Chief Middle East correspondent Emma Graham-Harrison, in a joint investigation with Israel-based magazines +972 and Local Call, revealed how figures from a classified Israeli military intelligence database indicate five out of six Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza have been civilians, an extreme rate of slaughter rarely matched in recent decades of warfare. Inside Gaza the Red Cross and UN warned of a looming catastrophe if Israeli forces go ahead with a full-scale operation to occupy Gaza City, where Palestinian civilians were declared on Friday to be living in famine. Set against this, in opinion, Haaretz editor Aluf Benn lamented what he sees as a growing sense of complacency in Israel. In Australia, after the Guardian’s Sarah Basford Canales asked the Australian government if it planned to cancel a speaking tour by a far-right Israeli politician, the government’s decision to block Simcha Rothman from the country, sparked an extraordinary diplomatic dispute.
Even as the heatwave eases in Europe, wildfires are still burning in parts of Spain, where they have destroyed 382,000 hectares of land and killed four people. The prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, was clear this week in linking the blazes with the climate emergency. With their country on the frontline of the crisis, Sam Jones wrote, growing numbers of Spaniards are calling for politicians to stop bickering over how to respond to the fires and engage in a “a fundamental rethink of land use” to prevent them from happening in the first place. After the death of a street cleaner in Barcelona, John Harris wrote a fascinating column about the future of outdoor work in the age of extreme heat.
As part of an ongoing effort to track New Zealand’s rollback of Māori rights, Eva Corlett took a deep dive into why the rightwing coalition government is stripping Māori words from school books.
A hotel in Essex, just outside London, has been at the centre of violent far-right protests for weeks. On Tuesday, a judge ruled that the asylum seekers being accommodated there should be moved out. Rajeev Syal and Kevin Rawlinson covered the decision, with Rajeev’s analysis setting out its far-reaching implications for the UK government’s asylum policy. Matthew Weaver and Diane Taylor spoke to petrified asylum seekers staying in hotels, who described the abuse they’ve received from locals. Columnist Zoe Williams wrote that far-right anger over asylum hotels is destroying the very idea of refuge in the UK. Robyn Vinter reported on the extraordinary story of a family who say their lives have been ruined after British far-right activist Tommy Robinson shared a video of a Black grandfather and his brother playing in the park with their white granddaughters.
Our global technology editor Dan Milmo has led the way with his reporting on the turmoil inside the UK’s leading AI institute. His investigation into complaints about poor governance and culture inside the Alan Turing Institute is well worth a read. Sumaiya Motara and Saranka Maheswaran, participants in this year’s Guardian positive action scheme, corralled an interesting panel of fellow gen Zers to ask whether their AI-led future will be good or bad.
A big few months of sport isn’t over: after the footballing success of England’s Lionesses the Women’s Rugby World Cup started last night, and hosts England are favourites to lift this trophy too. Their captain, Zoe Aldcroft, told Donald McRae the tournament “could change women’s rugby forever”, while Sarah Rendell shone a light on Brazil, who are making their first appearance at a women’s or men’s Rugby World Cup. As the US Open began with a new mixed doubles format, Tumaini Carayol secured an interview with Emma Raducanu as she prepared to return to the scene of her stunning US Open victory in 2021. And, with the new Premier League season under way, Andy Hunter and Christopher Thomond visited the area around Everton’s new home in Liverpool for a special report on the impact of the new stadium ahead of its first proper match on Sunday.
Paul McCartney was on delightful form as he revealed how the world’s most audacious avant garde composers influenced the Beatles and tracks from I am the Walrus to Tomorrow Never Knows. He recalled the plastic bag full of tape loops he used to carry – and also politely checked if our interviewer, Elizabeth Alker, had heard of “his friend John”.
Psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz’s reflections on what his patients taught him about desire was a fascinating piece and I also enjoyed Rhiannon Lucy Coslett’s look at the growing trend for 90s-style parenting, embracing landlines, video nights and extended periods of boredom (as well as the one father who built a replica Blockbuster video store in his house to entertain his two kids.)
One more thing … I loved Elif Shafak’s novel There are Rivers in the Sky – magical and moving summer reading.
Today’s top features
‘If I felt Zuckerberg and Sandberg were monsters, I wouldn’t have worked at Meta’: Nick Clegg on tech bros, AI and Starmer’s half measures ‘These are Ukrainian lands’: people in Donetsk pour scorn on Putin’s territorial demands My life in Gaza: ‘Do you know the series Squid Game?’
Your Saturday starts here
Come to this | Football Weekly live
Max Rushden and Barry Glendenning return to the stage for the first live edition of our long-running and much-loved football podcast for nearly two years. You can attend in person in London (though tickets are selling out fast) or watch on live stream by buying tickets here.
Cook this | Sabrina Ghayour’s lamb koftas with smoky aubergine salad
Koftas are always crowd-pleasing for kids and adults alike, and the harissa yoghurt and burnt orange really complement the spice. Both are perfect as a main meal or as part of a bigger feast for sharing.
Watch this | Have men really stopped reading? The devil’s in the data
Is it really true that men, and especially young men, have stopped reading books? Guardian Australia’s data editor Nick Evershed investigated whether the stats back that reading.
And finally …
The Guardian’s crosswords and Wordiply are here to keep you entertained throughout the weekend.
-->
But – if you can afford to do so – here are three good reasons why you might consider becoming a Guardian supporter today:
