Index on Censorship weekly news round-up
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Friday, 26 May 2023
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Carole Cadwalladr speaks at TED2019 in Vancouver. Photo: Marla Aufmuth/TED
The need for more action on SLAPPs was demonstrated in the most alarming fashion last week when the Court of Appeal cost order ([link removed]) was announced in the SLAPP action aimed at investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr by Leave.EU funder Arron Banks. While Cadwalladr won the original defamation case and Banks’ appeal won on only one of the three grounds, Cadwalladr looks set to owe Banks over half a million pounds. The amount Cadwalladr owes relates not to damages, but to costs. Let that sink in. This is the cost of mounting a defence. This is one of the reasons so many actions never make it to court - the cost is enough to make any defence of public interest journalism impossible. This is the British legal system at its worst.
Never has a resource for those facing SLAPPs in the UK been more necessary.
It’s against this backdrop that on Wednesday Index launched the UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition ([link removed]) website. The website aims to be a vital resource that will serve as a repository for everything related to SLAPPs, including case studies of SLAPPs, a library and practical advice for those targeted with SLAPPs. The website seeks to shine a light on the tactics used by SLAPP claimants and showcase a number of SLAPP cases, such as those directed at Catherine Belton, Tom Burgis, Realtid and many more. It will also highlight the ways out of this mess, from the Model Anti-SLAPP law to highlighting how targets of SLAPPs can complain to the Solicitors Regulation Authority and report their cases to the Council of Europe.
Last July, the UK government made all the right noises to end SLAPPs, pledging to bring forward anti-SLAPP measures in response to Russia’s heinous and unlawful invasion of Ukraine. But since then we have heard very little. We are now on our fourth justice minister (counting Dominic Raab’s two doomed stints) since this pledge was announced but we are no closer to a bill. All eyes are on the latest minister, Alex Chalk KC MP, but the early signs are not positive. On 16 May ([link removed]) , when questioned by Rob Butler MP, the new chair of the APPG on media freedom, Chalk acknowledged that “SLAPPs do represent an abuse of the legal system”, but when pressed for more detail he warned against speed to guard against “unintended consequences that we do not want”.
Careful consideration should not mean silence, delay and inaction. We have the Model Anti-SLAPP law ([link removed]) , which was drafted by the coalition, with media, lawyers, academics and civil society uniting behind the model law ([link removed]) . The government has everything it needs and so it is time to turn its words into actions.
Perhaps then Cadwalladr will be the last person who must endure such treatment for reporting in the public interest.
Nik Williams
Policy and campaigns officer
** A night for Afghanistan | 15 June, Oxford
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Afghanistan is many things to many people. It's an ancient and beautiful land of rugged mountains and dazzling poppy fields, a place of literature and music. Its people are known to be welcoming, its food delicious, and its history - once an important stop on the Silk Road - is rich. But it's also a place of conflict, a place caught in so many cycles of violence over the decades that many people know it simply through the prism of war. Beautiful and battered - these sides exist together, and it is with both of them in mind that Index and the International Campaign for Afghanistan’s Musicians are co-hosting an evening in honour of Afghanistan. The evening, which will take place in Oxford, will see a panel discussion on the plight of journalists from Afghanistan, followed by a concert featuring new compositions by Afghan composers living in exile. This will be an unforgettable night to raise awareness around a very important cause. Click here
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** From the archive
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** I wrote a play then lost my home, my husband and my trust
Meltem Arıkan
Winter 2021
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Dissident playwright Meltem Arıkan's 2011 play Mi Minör was blamed for the 2013 Gezi Park protests that convulsed Istanbul. As Turkey heads to the polls again this weekend, Arıkan's words ([link removed]) are a powerful testimony of life for those who have not toed the line under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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