05 Sued and spied on


Tim Dawson reports on a webinar which examined the threats to investigative journalists and writers telling their stories and exposing wrongdoing.


journalists and it is hard to shut him up. Te former Observer and Panorama reporter knows them all. He’s been spied on, sued in multiple jurisdictions, physically threatened, and faced falsified personal accusations – and that is just by Sir David Barclay. Aſter decades of atempts to gag him, however, Sweeney describes the environment for investigation as deteriorating. “It is worse today than it has ever been,” he says. “Treats online are way more intense, Britain’s courts are a favoured destination to atack journalists, and politicians have failed pathetically to do anything.” Carole Cadwalladr (pictured) – Pulitzer prize finalist – agrees. “Te way journalists are targeted online is not understood by news organisations. Investigative journalists are the first to be atacked and silenced… it will be fashion and interiors writers next.” Both were speaking at a webinar,


A


convened by Te Media Society to consider the threats to investigative journalism. Gill Phillips, director


sk John Sweeney about the devices of the rich and thin skinned to thwart investigative


of editorial legal services at Te Guardian, James Ball, global editor at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, and NUJ general secretary, Michelle Stanistreet, joined them. It was the NUJ’s survey of the industry that liſted the lid on the scale of the threats faced by journalists. Michelle described a reporter forced to flee her home, a photographer whose house was atacked, death threats issued to the entire staff of a newspaper in Northern Ireland, and threats from sovereign states intent on closing down London-based media. “Tese start as personal messages but are also aimed at chilling the wider journalistic community,” she said. Legal challenges to journalism


have evolved significantly in recent years, says Gill Phillips. “Privacy and data protection are now advanced as the main routes for complaint, with deformation relegated to the third or fourth line of atack”. Asked what would improve the situation, the panel had some novel ideas. Gill Phillips called for anti-SLAPP


(strategic lawsuit against public participation) laws to stop journalists being threatened by expensive lawsuits. She described legislation


being considered in Europe and already enacted in Canada and South Africa. It allows vexatious legal challenges intended to frustrate journalists to be thrown out at an early stage. Te NUJ has signed a leter in support of journalist and author Catherine Belton. She is fighting defamation lawsuits, including from Russian businessman Roman Abramovich and the Russian state energy company Rosneſt in relation to her book Putin’s People. James Ball suggested that simple changes to the journalistic exemptions to data protections laws would save many journalists from “immensely silly” challenges. Dealing with online harassment


is arguably the most pressing issue, however. “Tese new technologies are created by white men in San Francisco who are never on the end of the harms they cause,” said Carole Cadwalladr. She described social media “swarms”, co-ordinated via messaging groups and oſten legitimised by other journalists. “I don’t know of any news organisation that is good at dealing with this, and young women entering journalism have no idea of the bear pit they are joining”. Michelle castigated employers for their response: “It is a cultural issue that has been normalised – no one should have to accept harassment as a part of their work.”


CAMPAIGN


Steven May / Alamy Stock Photo


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