Jewish Chronicle to pay damages over anti-Semitism libel
Liverpool Labour activist Audrey White.
Asa Winstanley, Media Watch, Electronic Intifida, 21 February 2020:
The Jewish Chronicle on Thursday apologized to a Labour activist for libeling her over “anti-Semitism.”
The UK newspaper admitted on its website it had published “allegations about Mrs Audrey White” which were “untrue.”
It said it had agreed to pay White a sum in damages plus her legal costs.
White on Friday told The Electronic Intifada that it was “a concrete victory for Riverside” – the Liverpool Labour Party group to which she belongs – “and every one of us under attack and vilified by this newspaper.”
Asked to comment on the amount of damages, she would only say it was a substantial sum.
A series of articles by the paper’s reporter Lee Harpin last year had put White at “the center of bullying claims against Jewish MP Dame Louise Ellman” – then the member of Parliament for the Liverpool Riverside constituency.
Ellman is still the chairperson of Israeli embassy front group Labour Friends of Israel, despite quitting as a Labour MP in October.
The libel settlement comes after a UK press regulator in December ruled that the paper’s four articles about White had been “significantly misleading” and that the paper had engaged in “unacceptable” obstruction of their investigation.
As part of the settlement, White said, the paper had agreed to delete all four articles from their website. They had all been removed as of Friday morning.