Generally you simply want to tug on the thread.
That’s the way it began for 2 Guardian reporters within the spring of 2021, after they started to analyze claims concerning the behaviour of Noel Clarke, the outstanding British actor and filmmaker.
Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne spoke to many sources, together with greater than 20 girls who shared their tales about working with Clarke. Their accusations lined all method of misconduct: sexual harassment, undesirable touching and groping, sexually inappropriate behaviour, taking and sharing sexually express photos and movies with out consent, and bullying.
The allegations spanned a protracted interval, from 2004 to 2019 and had been the idea of a robust collection of Guardian articles and a podcast, which led to Clarke suing the Guardian.
The six-week trial occurred within the excessive court docket in March and April, and the judgment got here in right this moment. Mrs Justice Steyn dominated that what the Guardian printed was true, and that publishing it was within the public curiosity.
The choose praised our reporters’ and editors’ exhaustive method to protecting the story and famous 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’s an amazing victory for the ladies who spoke to us, for the Guardian, and for investigative journalism in Britain.
Nearly day-after-day over my decade as editor-in-chief of the Guardian I’ve needed to take troublesome choices. In some ways, deciding to struggle Noel Clarke’s defamation declare was not one in all them. I believed from the beginning this was a case we would have liked to see by way of to the tip – primarily, in fact, for the ladies who had spoken to us for our authentic investigation, and those that then got here to the court docket to provide testimony.
I keep in mind after I was first instructed concerning the investigation: what struck me was the sheer scale of all of it.
In instances the place there are claims of sexual misconduct, even publish the #MeToo motion, it’s uncommon to search out girls who’re ready to talk to journalists. Whenever you’re speaking about somebody who’s rather more highly effective than you’re, and is a giant title within the movie and TV trade, it’s an enormous danger. But each time I obtained an replace from the investigations crew, the numbers of ladies had risen. Inside days, we had greater than a dozen sources.
By the point we had printed our first investigation we had heard credible first-hand allegations from 22 girls, and our very good reporters had accomplished intensive work on corroboration. By the point we printed our final article, we had spoken to greater than 100 sources.
At trial we had been in a position to depend on testimony from 26 totally different individuals, a few of whom had travelled to the excessive court docket from overseas.
The various girls who got here to provide testimony in court docket didn’t flinch, regardless of the usually intimidating ways used to attempt to deter them each earlier than and in the course of the trial. I attended court docket most days and located it very transferring that so most of the girls got here ahead and spoke so powerfully and with such dedication about a number of the worst instances of their lives. As the good British author, actor and director Michaela Coel wrote about our sources: “Speaking about these incidents takes a lot of strength because some call them ‘grey areas’. They are, however, far from grey. These behaviours are unprofessional, violent, and can destroy a person’s perception of themselves, their places in the world, and their career irreparably.”
A type of witnesses, Gina Powell, a former worker of Clarke’s, was an necessary supply in our reporting and a witness on the trial in March. Powell accused Clarke of sexually assaulting her and instructed the court docket that she was talking up as a result of she didn’t suppose he must be “around young women in the film industry”. Her resolution to talk out, like that of all of our witnesses, was extremely courageous. Along with calling her a formidable, trustworthy, compelling witness who didn’t overstate or exaggerate any of the issues she addressed, Mrs Justice Steyn stated 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 girls, and the media as an entire will profit from the bravery the ladies confirmed, because of a judgment that has absolutely vindicated their resolution to return ahead.
So this judgment is a victory for them.
It’s also an necessary exoneration of the Guardian – our reporters, editors and attorneys. Investigative journalism is dangerous and costly, and reporting that includes allegations of sexual misconduct is famously extraordinarily difficult to publish.
There may be the fixed risk of litigation, which is disagreeable and time-consuming. There may be the toll that it takes on the witnesses, who might have already suffered abuse, and who can usually, understandably, really feel they can not put themselves by way of the trauma of a gruelling court docket case.
That’s additionally one thing confronted by our journalists. Six of us had been cross-examined within the excessive court docket. One reporter was on the stand for 3 days. One other was the topic of extraordinarily personalised questioning. Baseless allegations of a “conspiracy” had been levelled. All carried out fantastically, standing up for journalism within the public curiosity, standing up for the Guardian.
After which there’s the specter of ruinous prices. At one level, and probably in an try to power us to settle the case on his phrases earlier than the trial, Noel Clarke tried to extend his damages declare to the eye-watering sum of £70m.
The Guardian is fortunate to have the help of the Scott Belief behind us – our homeowners, who’re dedicated to journalism within the public curiosity moderately than pursuing business or political pursuits. They backed the journalism each step of the best way.
Few defamation instances make it to trial exactly due to the monetary and reputational jeopardy. However this was a case the place I felt the Guardian wanted to take a stand and belief within the girls, our journalism and the court docket course of.
It’s a superb day for the Guardian, for media within the public curiosity, and for girls.
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