A British Reporter Had a Big #MeToo Scoop. Her Editor Killed It.

May 30, 2023 3:45 AM

Nick Cohen, a former columnist at The Guardian, was accused of sexual misconduct for years, but little happened. An investigation by The Financial Times was spiked, meaning the whole story has only just come out now (NYT, Archive.is). "The British news media is smaller and cozier than its American counterpart, with journalists often coming from the same elite schools. Stringent libel laws present another hurdle. And in a traditional newsroom culture of drinking and gender imbalances, many stories of misconduct go untold, or face a fight."
posted by adrianhon (16 comments total)

This story has been not so much rumoured as all but openly known. It has been spiked way more than once.
posted by jaduncan at 5:33 AM on May 30, 2023 [7 favorites]

I just read this, so it's great to see this show up here. Within the NY Times article, they link to one of Madison Marriage's past pieces about infiltrating a men-only charity evening where the main draw for the evening is being able to grope and harass the young hostesses; it is a wild read.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:59 AM on May 30, 2023 [5 favorites]

Nick Cohen writes opinion pieces for left wing (Observer) and right wing (Spectator) papers. That means he is just part of the UK journalism club, born of elite universities, where it doesn't matter really what you say but how you say it. Anyone recall Boris Johnson having multiple columns ready for and against Brexit? That's typical of the hypocrisy of British journalism. It is just one large members club that protects its own.
posted by vacapinta at 6:29 AM on May 30, 2023 [13 favorites]

Reflects poorly on all of them but them keeping Cohen on at the Guardian while simultaneously running all those Moira Donegan articles is something else. Cohen spinning it as an attack by Putin's transsexual army is unsurprising but also the height of narcissism.
posted by kingdead at 6:37 AM on May 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

I'm not totally sure I understand Private Eye's position in all this. They knew about the story but didn't pursue because Cohen had worked with them in the past? Like that's their publicly stated reason? Are they citing professional courtesy or conflict of interest? The former doesn't wash as a reason I'd lead with in public, and the latter seems solvable with a disclosure statement.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 7:17 AM on May 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

I liked Alan Rusbridger but I have lost so much respect for the Guardian over the past few years and have pretty much written it off. Unfortunately the BBC isn't in a great place either right now. I just go to Reuters and the AP for my news now, and to very local news sites for what's happening in Wales.
posted by Rhedyn at 7:20 AM on May 30, 2023 [5 favorites]

> I'm not totally sure I understand Private Eye's position in all this.

Private Eye is best understood as an establishment institution designed to keep other elements of the establishment in line - via occasional disclosures when certain parties fall out of favour. (Same as the rest of the UK press in that regard). If you haven't made enough establishment enemies, you're safe from being reported on anywhere.

Most of what happens in UK politics and reported in the press is basically different factions of the establishment fighting it out amongst themselves. Any real challenge from normal folk and they circle the wagons against us.
posted by iivix at 7:26 AM on May 30, 2023 [11 favorites]

In a phone interview, Mr. Cohen said he did not have the “faintest idea” about Ms. Siegle’s accusation and questioned why she had waited so long to report it. He said the conversation with the copy editor was “joking” among friends. He blamed their accusations on a campaign by his critics, including advocates for Russia and for transgender rights.

Naturally.
posted by BungaDunga at 7:57 AM on May 30, 2023 [5 favorites]

Private Eye is best understood as an establishment institution designed to keep other elements of the establishment in line - via occasional disclosures when certain parties fall out of favour. (Same as the rest of the UK press in that regard). If you haven't made enough establishment enemies, you're safe from being reported on anywhere.


This is some kneejerk cynicism.....I can't speak for now it was genuinely subversive back in the day. The number of people - and systems - it indicted, that led to (some of) their downfall is astonishing. And MUCH more than the mainstream press.

e.g.
In 1972, the home secretary Reginald Maudling was forced to resign over his links with a millionaire property developer, John Poulson, who was involved in a corruption scandal in North-East England. The eye broke that story.

Did Maudling make enemies or was he just corrupt? Same for contaminated blood, lockerbie, post office trials etc. etc.

I'm open to suggestion that it was the loyal opposition, but it was GENUINE opposition, not just a pet.
posted by lalochezia at 8:28 AM on May 30, 2023 [4 favorites]

....and I should add: that's not to say that Private Eye isn't some boy's club! And that they didn't protect/coverup for other journalists - including bad ones!

Just that they weren't part of the lickspittle Establishment as a WHOLE.
posted by lalochezia at 8:47 AM on May 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

He blamed their accusations on a campaign by his critics, including advocates for Russia and for transgender rights.

Peak Grauniad.
posted by Dysk at 10:18 AM on May 30, 2023 [7 favorites]

Just that they weren't part of the lickspittle Establishment as a WHOLE.

I think it's entirely possible for them to be the part of the establishment that keeps the very worst excesses of the rest in check. Like, they can hang Maudling out to dry and still be establishment. It's just civil war, rather than across social borders.
posted by Dysk at 10:24 AM on May 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

In fact the difficulty is more that stories are not so much formally spiked, it's that there's an unstated but powerful norm that journalists don't generally attack each other or publications in any serious way and that's so intense that it's just generally understood that one does not do that without formal spiking.
posted by jaduncan at 10:45 AM on May 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

When having been caught out being a raging asshole for 20+ years one might do better saying absolutely nothing than saying "I assume it's stuff I was doing when I was drunk," but then assholes gonna asshole right on through to the end.
posted by riverlife at 11:01 AM on May 30, 2023 [3 favorites]

I pay money for both the Guardian and the Financial Times ... in the hope it funds transparent and reputable high-quality journalism. Shame on them, some multiple of the shame I feel by association, for f__k's sake.
posted by k3ninho at 12:48 PM on May 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

The British Journalist by Humbert Wolfe

You cannot hope
to bribe or twist,
thank God! the
British journalist.

But, seeing what
the man will do
unbribed, there's
no occasion to.

(from about a century ago)
posted by thatwhichfalls at 2:44 PM on May 31, 2023 [6 favorites]