What Douglas Murray’s court win means for press freedom

<p><em>The Spectator</em>&nbsp;and Douglas Murray have comprehensively won a defamation case brought by Mohammed Hegab.</p><br><p>Hegab, a YouTuber who posts under the name Mohammed Hijab, claimed that an article about the Leicester riots, written by Douglas Murray and published by&nbsp;<em>The Spectator</em>in September 2022, caused serious harm to his reputation and led to a loss of earnings. However, the judge found that the article did not cause serious harm to Hijab<strong>,</strong> that what was published was substantially true,&nbsp;and that Hijab had ‘lied on significant issues’ in court and had given evidence that ‘overall, is worthless’. What does this case mean for the future of press freedom?</p><br><p>On today’s podcast, Michael Simmons discusses the case with Alex Wilson,<em>&nbsp;The Spectator’</em>s lawyer, and Max Jeffery, who attended court on behalf of the magazine.</p><br><p>Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Megan McElroy.</p><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>.</p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>