QB-2022-001397 - [2025] EWHC 2193 (KB)

Mr Lewis was the principal editor responsible for supervising Ms Osborne and Ms Kale, and the main liaison for the senior editors (Ms Viner and Mr Gibson) and the Guardian’s Editorial Legal Team. He had been working for the Guardian since October 2005 (including a five-month secondment to the Washington Post after he was awarded the Stern Fellowship). Mr Lewis was a reporter before he moved into editing, and he has been the recipient of a wealth of prizes in both capacities, most notably for investigative journalism. Mr Lewis was appointed Head of Investigations in January 2020. Ms Viner said that,

“Owen and Paul are both very experienced and we have a well-established way of working together and maintaining accountability in our investigations.”

Together with Mr Gibson, Mr Lewis decided to hire two freelance journalists:

“who had experience working on investigations involving sexual misconduct in the workplace: Ms Osborne and Ms Kale. I had worked with Ms Osborne before on similar investigations and had always found her work to be excellent. I had not worked with Ms Kale, but I was an admirer of her work and knew of her reputation as one of the most talented journalists who writes for the Guardian.”

Mr Lewis explained that they engaged two journalists to work together “to ensure we had the resources required to proceed thoroughly but at pace” on what he sensed could be a “complex and fast-moving investigation”.

Mr Gibson observed that:

“The allocation of appropriate reporters to investigations into potential sexual misconduct is extremely important and it was essential to assign journalists with suitable skill, experience, and sensitivity. Accounting for the subject matter, I agreed with Paul’s assignment of Lucy Osborne and Sirin Kale to investigate. I was aware that each of those reporters had previous experience in investigating and reporting on sensitive matters of sexual harassment, and abuse of power.”

Ms Osborne was inexplicably accused in cross-examination of being “tainted” by dint of her “history of investigating sexual abuse allegations”. Her earlier work included investigating the sexual misconduct allegations against Harvey Weinstein, while working for BBC Panorama as an assistant producer and producer, and working as a freelancer for the Guardian on long-running investigations into abuse connected to the fashion industry (for which she won the award for Best Investigation at the Freelance Journalism Awards in 2023). No explanation was ever forthcoming as to how such experience “tainted” her. It did not: her earlier work enhanced her ability to partake in this investigation.

It is readily apparent that none of the reporters and editors involved had any interest in publishing any allegation that they did not believe to be true, or sufficiently verified and corroborated to be fit and ready for publication. On the contrary, as Ms Osborne put it, doing so would have put her “reputation on the line”. The Guardian’s choice of experienced personnel to work on this investigation and publication cannot sensibly be criticised.