UK’s top editors call for standalone anti-SLAPP bill.
“Signatories to the letter include the editors of The Sun, The Guardian, the FT and Private Eye. More than 60 editors, reporters and lawyers representing many of the UK’s most influential publishers have signed a letter calling for the Government to promise a standalone anti-SLAPP bill in November’s King’s Speech.”
I was silenced by Harvey Weinstein – must change the law protecting predators
Powerful men cover up their crimes against women with non-disclosure agreements, writes Zelda Perkins – the former assistant to disgraced film producer Weinstein. If broadcasters are serious about making Russell Brand their MeToo moment, they must take action to ban NDAs
ZELDA PERKINS INTERVIEW: Fearless woman determined to fight the Harvey Weinsteins of the world--
“After more celebrity sex abuse claims, the jailed film mogul’s former PA tells Jonathan Ames of the need to stop the silencing of alleged victims. It is six years since Zelda Perkins exploded a bomb at the heart of Hollywood as she broke a gagging order imposed by one of the film industry’s most powerful men. Her revelations in 2017 triggered a glut of allegations that ultimately led to one of the most spectacular falls from grace in the film industry as Harvey Weinstein — the mogul behind a string of productions including Pulp Fiction, The English Patient and Scream — was jailed for sexual assault and rape…Three years ago she founded a campaign group, Can’t Buy My Silence, and earlier this week was at a conference in Buckinghamshire to promote her mission of forcing legal reform around the use of non-disclosure agreements.
Survivor of Celtic Boys Club beast says ‘non-disclosure agreements or gagging orders are not an option’—"A SURVIVOR of Boys Club beast Jim Torbett has vowed to see Celtic in court - despite the club seeking to settle victims’ legal claims behind closed doors. Brave Gordon Woods spoke out after it emerged Parkhead chiefs were seeking private talks with lawyers acting for former footie starlets abused by Torbett, 76, and Frank Cairney, 88. …Gordon, 69, said: ‘It has always been my aim to face Celtic F.C. in a Court of Law and for them to be proven accountable for the decades of suffering inflicted on victims.’ Gordon, who waited over 50 years for justice says Celtic’s potential out-of-court settlement bid is ‘a major U-turn’ — but won’t silence him. He was targeted by paedophile Celtic Boys Club founder Jim Torbett in 1967 and has told of his ‘long, arduous and painful’ fight as Parkhead chiefs moved to start negotiations with survivors.”
Dame Maria Miller MP fears NDAs may have been used to silence people
Dame Maria Miller MP has raised concerns over whether non-disclosure agreements are stopping people speaking out about criminal allegations.
Russell Brand and why the allegations took so long to surface
“Publishing stories like this in England and Wales is fraught with risk – for media groups and accusers… “People often think that we have a law that protects free speech here. We don’t. We have a law that protects reputation,” says Caroline Kean, a partner at Wiggin who represented the journalist Catherine Belton when she was sued by multiple Russian billionaires. “Getting stories out like this may sound easy to people who watch a lot of crime dramas, but it’s actually incredibly difficult.In England and Wales, the subjects of unwanted stories can sue for libel if they believe their reputation has been damaged. The responsibility is on the party taken to court, not the subject of the allegations, to prove the story is “substantially true” on the balance of probabilities, while other defences include that the story was in the public interest, or an honestly held opinion backed up by facts. Developments in privacy laws in the last 25 years have made it more difficult to publish, according to experts.
