The publisher of Britain’s leading left-wing newspaper The Guardian and its sister publication Observer has issued an apology amid claims that it covered up sexual harassment allegations against a prominent columnist.
The Guardian News & Media (GNM) has said that all future accusations of sexual assault will be handled by independent and external third parties “rather than by GNM senior managers” after the publisher was accused of covering up allegations from Lucy Seigle that she was harassed by former Observer columnist Nick Cohen, who left the paper last year.
When he resigned from his post last November, the Observer claimed that Cohen’s departure was on “health grounds” and went on to celebrate the left-wing writer’s “brilliant” journalism.
However, on Monday, current BBC reporter and former Observer columnist Lucy Seigle revealed that she had received an apology from the Guardian News & Media group’s chief executive Anna Bateson and Guardian editor-in-chief Kath Viner.
“We want to apologise for your experience of sexual harassment by an Observer member of staff, and for the way your complaint was handled,” they wrote.
“We know you feel very badly let down by GNM and that you have not felt confident in speaking to the company in the past about what happened to you.”
As reported in the NYT, I have received an apology from Kath Viner, editor in chief and Anna Bateson, chief executive of Guardian News & Media. I am hugely relieved to get this because frankly I was struggling with the whole thing and acknowledgement makes a big difference.
— lucy siegle (@lucysiegle) June 12, 2023
Explaining her reasoning for publishing the apology, she said on social media: “I’ve always thought that sunlight is the best disinfectant and I think the apology should be acknowledged publicly, as I have aired the many failings which has caused me huge anxiety,” adding: “And finally I can breathe properly.”
Seigle, who first raised complaints with management against Cohen in 2018, had alleged that he had grabbed her butt in a sexual manner in 2001.
Last month, the New York Times claimed that Cohen had sexually harassed at least seven women, including Seigle, during his time at the left-wing weekend paper. One of the women claimed that he had also sent her explicit pictures.
Seigle told the paper that she had reported Cohen’s behaviour to then Guardian managing editor Jan Thompson, whom she claimed dismissed the allegations and talked about the supposed abuse suffered by Cohen for his left-wing political views. The Times went on to report that the story of Cohen’s behaviour was also covered up by fellow globalist publication, the Financial Times which allegedly sat on the story.
Following the publication of the allegations, Cohen told The Telegraph: “On doctors’ advice I took sick leave from The Observer in the summer of 2022. I resigned on health grounds later in the year.”
“I am afraid to say that in the early 2000s, I was an alcoholic. After three years of trying, I went clean in 2016. Today, I look back on my addicted life with deep shame and enormous regret.”