The actor null Clark has lost his liel
claim against the Guardian newspaper. He
was suing the Guardian over articles and
a podcast, including one which claimed
20 women had complained about his
conduct. He was suspended from BAFTA and
dropped from various productions in
light of the allegations. Arts
entertainment correspondent Katy Spencer
is here with us now. What more can he
tell us?
>> Uh he has lost his high court liel case
is the the the big thing that we now
know. He'd been seeking 70 million
pounds in damages. Um this all emerged
after in in 21 uh just a few weeks after
he was given BAFTA's outstanding
contribution to cinema. Uh these claims
emerged. The Guardian published its
first article claiming that there were
uh various um allegations of of women
that had approached them claiming that
he um had behaved badly, claims of
sexual misconduct. Um he basically after
that uh BAFTA canceled his membership.
He was unable to work again because of
these claims. the the Guardian went on
to publish a further uh eight more
pieces uh delving into the story itself.
Um in 2022, the police had actually said
that there would be no criminal
investigation over this and I think that
in part prompted then uh null cl to to
decide to take the guardian to court.
Throughout this he has denied any
wrongdoing in the case itself. When he
went to court, he spoke about believing
that um he felt that yes, he could
behave badly at times, but a lot of what
went on in his mind was uh banter and
had been sort of uh misinterpreted by
the the women that had had made claims
against him. But the judge has found
that actually the guardian was right to
publish on the grounds of um truth and
of uh this being in the public interest.
uh they've if you look at the judgment
which we are at the moment they say the
judge says the first article there are
strong grounds to believe that the
claimant is a serial abuser of woman
women and that he has over 15 years used
his power to prey on and harass and
sometimes bully female colleagues. Of
the second article it says again there
are strong grounds to believe that null
Clark has engaged in sexual harassment
and the bullying of women. The third
article it says again strong grounds to
believe that the claimant has engaged in
verbal abuse, bullying, sexual
harassment. Um and it goes on the all of
the articles that the guardian put out
the judge has found uh in that there are
grounds of them to to justify publishing
those allegations that there strong
grounds that he was involved in uh
groping, harassment, bullying, all of
the things that the Guardian went ahead
and published. null. Clark on his part,
he claimed that he was uh made a scope
scapegoat. He he in his argument through
his lawyers, he spoke about the fact
that uh these claims had come off the
back of the me too movement and that he
felt that it was the industry zealously
trying to correct himself and that he
was a victim of really the time that
these uh allegations were published. But
the judge clearly finding that the
Guardian was right to go ahead and uh
publish the articles as they did. We're
just hearing from Katherine Viner,
editor and chief of Guarding News and
Media. Uh we welcome the decision of the
high court today in a judgment handed
down by Mrs. Justice Stein in the case
of Clark versus Guarding News and Media.
The judge ruled in extremely clear
language that the Guardian's reporting
was substantially true and our belief
that the reporting was in the public
interest was undoubtedly reasonable.
This judgment is a deserved victory for
those women who suffered because of the
behavior of null. Clark. Going to court
is difficult and stressful. Yet more
than 20 women agreed to testify in the
high court, refusing to be bullied or
intimidated. This is a landmark judgment
for Guardian journalism and for
investigative journalism in Britain.
Important to fight this case, deeply
researched by some of our best reporters
who work diligently and responsibly.
Judgment is clear. The investigation was
thorough and fair, a template for public
interest journalism. I hope today will
give encouragement to other women in
similar situations who have been too
fearful to raise their voices for fear
of consequences. That's Katherine Viner,
editor-inchief of Guarding News.
>> And I've just had through an official
statement from null Clark. Uh his
response is that today's result is
disappointing. For almost 5 years, I
have fought against a powerful media
outlet and its extensive legal teams
over inaccurate and damaging reporting.
You should say the judge disagrees on
that. they found in the Guardian favor.
Um, these stories started via anonymous
emails portraying me as a monster to
attract attention and outrage. The goal
was to damage my career and they
succeeded. I have never claimed to be
perfect, but I'm not the person
described in these articles. Overnight,
I lost everything. The media outlet
didn't just ruin my life, they ripped
through my families. Also, the decision
today does not change the fact that
inaccuracies were published. uh while
they may have won in court, they have
lost the trust that journalism depends
on. Well, I I would say that perhaps the
opposite is the case in that the the
judge in this case has uh actually found
that there was a public interest and
that these uh the claims that were made
in these articles were were
substantially on the grounds of truth.
They they appear to be true
>> and the the Guardian understandably it
is their main and leading story on their
website at the moment and and they note
that they relied on testimony from
almost 30 people and as was also noted
by Katherine Ber there in that statement
18 to 20 of whom gave accounts in court.
>> Yeah. And we should say actually they
the women that were uh taken to uh took
to the stand and that came to uh speak
on the guardian's behalf when this case
went to court. They were they were given
a real sort of grilling by the lawyers
acting for null clar. They were accused
of being sort of flirts and liars. Um
and it did take a lot of um bravery
really for them to publicly stand up
there and detail some of the accounts
that they um that they had of the
interactions that they had with null.
clock.