Nick Cohen

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Tessa K
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Nick Cohen

Post by Tessa K » Wed May 31, 2023 12:08 pm

The NYT has an article on Nick Cohen being outed as a sexual harrasser.

When I ran Skeptics, Cohen was known as a groper or 'handsy' as it was often described. We would warn other women but no one ever complained to me or my co-host so we didn't act and he never touched me.

The Guardian cover-up is a disgrace.

Story here (the link isn't the NYT as it limits free access but if you can access it, the story's not hard to find):

https://www.thenational.scot/news/23557 ... ent-probe/

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Re: Nick Cohen

Post by Woodchopper » Wed May 31, 2023 1:15 pm

From the NYT

Seems like the story is more about the UK media being a club which protects its own. Just so long as they are men, and won't protect women from them.
Inside the Financial Times newsroom this winter, one of its star investigative reporters, Madison Marriage, had a potentially explosive scoop involving another newspaper.

A prominent left-wing columnist, Nick Cohen, had resigned from Guardian News & Media, and Ms. Marriage had evidence that his departure followed years of unwanted sexual advances and groping of female journalists.

[...]

But her investigation on Mr. Cohen, which she hoped would begin a broader look at sexual misconduct in the British news media, was never published. The Financial Times’ editor, Roula Khalaf, killed it, according to interviews with a dozen Financial Times journalists.

[...]

It was not spiked because of reporting problems. Two women were willing to speak openly, and Ms. Marriage had supporting documentation on others. Rather, Ms. Khalaf said that Mr. Cohen did not have a big enough business profile to make him an “F.T. story,” colleagues said.

Mr. Cohen’s departure and the death of Ms. Marriage’s article offer a window into the British news media’s complicated relationship with the #MeToo movement. Leading American newsrooms — Fox News, CNN, NBC, The New York Times and others — have confronted misconduct allegations. British journalism has seen no such reckoning.

For Lucy Siegle, the death of the Financial Times article hit especially hard. In 2018, she had reported Mr. Cohen to The Guardian for groping her in the newsroom, but nothing had happened. Now it seemed the whole industry was protecting itself.

[...]

In July 2016, for example, The Daily Mail reported that a court had granted a domestic violence restraining order against a former Financial Times executive, Ben Hughes. The article vanished from the internet without explanation.

Then, in 2019, The Sun reported that a former Guardian executive, David Pemsel, had sent messages to a former employee, pestering her for a sexual relationship. After he complained, the newspaper apologized and, though it did not say the article was inaccurate, deleted it.

[...]

Seven women told The New York Times that Mr. Cohen had groped them or made other unwanted sexual advances over nearly two decades. Four insisted on anonymity, fearing professional repercussions. In each case, The Times reviewed documents or otherwise corroborated their accounts.

Ms. Siegle recounted Mr. Cohen grabbing her bottom in the newsroom around 2001. Five other women described similar encounters at pubs from 2008 to 2015. One said Mr. Cohen had pressed his erection against her thigh and kissed her uninvited when they met to discuss her career. A seventh said Mr. Cohen had repeatedly offered to send her explicit photographs in 2018 while she worked as an unpaid copy editor for him.

Mr. Cohen’s reputation was widely known in the newsroom, according to 10 former colleagues, both male and female. One former colleague said she and other female journalists had used a different entrance to a pub to avoid being groped by him. Another woman said she had avoided the bar downstairs from the

[...]

Guardian News & Media did investigate Mr. Cohen, but only after Ms. Siegle wrote on Twitter in 2021 about her experience.

Even then, it was a story that few in the British news media wanted to tell. The Guardian signed a confidentiality agreement with Mr. Cohen. The Financial Times spiked its story. Even the investigative magazine Private Eye did not cover his departure. When a reader emailed asking why, the editor replied: “Coverage of Nick Cohen’s departure from The Observer is obviously more problematic for The Eye than the others that you mention due to the fact that he used to write a freelance column for the magazine.”

Mr. Cohen’s departure got a mention only in The Press Gazette, a media trade website.

[...]

Many of the women and their colleagues were especially disappointed in The Guardian because of its extensive #MeToo reporting. One week before Ms. Siegle’s complaint in 2018, it solicited tips about workplace sexual harassment.

[...]

Jean Hannah Edelstein, an assistant at The Observer from 2007 to 2009, said Mr. Cohen was not alone in his behavior. She recalled her editor hitting her with a sex whip as she walked by. Over one boozy lunch, she said, the same editor offered to help her career and suggested that she pose naked to promote her book.

[...]

In December 2022, the Financial Times editor, Ms. Khalaf, emailed the newsroom about the coming year’s priorities. Among them were Ms. Marriage’s investigations into abuses of power.

Publicly, the newspaper had declared “no topic or scandal off limits.” Privately, there were limits.

Ms. Marriage had already begun investigating Mr. Cohen and sexual misconduct across the British news media, but Ms. Khalaf shackled the investigation, telling Ms. Marriage not to contact any new sources, according to two colleagues with whom Ms. Marriage spoke. Her team had already interviewed five of Mr. Cohen’s accusers.

In February, Ms. Khalaf said she would not run the investigation as a news article, several journalists recalled, and suggested that Ms. Marriage file it as an opinion piece. She did, but it still did not run.

[...]

A half-dozen Financial Times journalists said they saw it as part of a wider reluctance to expose bad behavior within its industry.

The Financial Times, like others, has wrestled with gender issues. In June 2020, 56 female staff members wrote to Ms. Khalaf about a “bro culture” that excluded women from decision-making.

Ms. Khalaf was sympathetic, one employee said. Since becoming the newspaper’s first female editor in 2020, she has increased the number of women in senior positions.

A native of Lebanon, Ms. Khalaf is not a British media insider. Colleagues described her as a cautious editor, and some said the Cohen article had fallen victim to an institutional conflict between the newspaper’s investigative aspirations and its conservative, business roots.

Days after Ms. Marriage’s article was dropped, the newspaper ran an investigation into sexual harassment claims against a former TikTok manager. The next month, it ran 23 articles about sexual misconduct accusations inside Britain’s business lobbying group.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/30/worl ... riage.html

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Re: Nick Cohen

Post by Tessa K » Wed May 31, 2023 1:53 pm

@Woodchopper - Cohen isn't well known enough for the article to focus on him rather than the media cover-up but that shouldn't obscure the fact that he did it.

One of his excuses was being drunk. Yeah, right.

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Re: Nick Cohen

Post by Herainestold » Wed May 31, 2023 3:04 pm

Is he facing any charges?
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Re: Nick Cohen

Post by Fishnut » Wed May 31, 2023 5:29 pm

Tessa K wrote:
Wed May 31, 2023 1:53 pm
@Woodchopper - Cohen isn't well known enough for the article to focus on him rather than the media cover-up but that shouldn't obscure the fact that he did it.

One of his excuses was being drunk. Yeah, right.
The takeaway I had from the NYT article (archived version here) is that Cohen may not be well-known but that hasn't stopped British publications from going to press about allegations about other poorly-known sexual predators, so what is different about Cohen? The obvious answer is that the British press protects its own.
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Re: Nick Cohen

Post by Tessa K » Wed May 31, 2023 5:38 pm

Fishnut wrote:
Wed May 31, 2023 5:29 pm
Tessa K wrote:
Wed May 31, 2023 1:53 pm
@Woodchopper - Cohen isn't well known enough for the article to focus on him rather than the media cover-up but that shouldn't obscure the fact that he did it.

One of his excuses was being drunk. Yeah, right.
The takeaway I had from the NYT article (archived version here) is that Cohen may not be well-known but that hasn't stopped British publications from going to press about allegations about other poorly-known sexual predators, so what is different about Cohen? The obvious answer is that the British press protects its own.
True. I guess because he was around the Skeptics scene quite a lot it's the other part of the story most relevant to me.

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Re: Nick Cohen

Post by Woodchopper » Wed May 31, 2023 6:25 pm

Tessa K wrote:
Wed May 31, 2023 1:53 pm
@Woodchopper - Cohen isn't well known enough for the article to focus on him rather than the media cover-up but that shouldn't obscure the fact that he did it.

One of his excuses was being drunk. Yeah, right.
Seems clear that he did it.

But imho the wider culture is more important. It’s probably inevitable that some creeps will try to get away with what they can. How much damage they do depends upon whether they are protected and reports swept under the carpet, or whether action is taken.

If the women accusing him had been taken seriously he might have felt compelled to keep his hands to himself for what seems like decades.

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Re: Nick Cohen

Post by Fishnut » Wed May 31, 2023 6:53 pm

Tessa K wrote:
Wed May 31, 2023 5:38 pm
Fishnut wrote:
Wed May 31, 2023 5:29 pm
Tessa K wrote:
Wed May 31, 2023 1:53 pm
@Woodchopper - Cohen isn't well known enough for the article to focus on him rather than the media cover-up but that shouldn't obscure the fact that he did it.

One of his excuses was being drunk. Yeah, right.
The takeaway I had from the NYT article (archived version here) is that Cohen may not be well-known but that hasn't stopped British publications from going to press about allegations about other poorly-known sexual predators, so what is different about Cohen? The obvious answer is that the British press protects its own.
True. I guess because he was around the Skeptics scene quite a lot it's the other part of the story most relevant to me.
The rest of the story is important and we see case after case of people being protected until they either manage to hurt the wrong person or they stop being valuable enough to continue protecting. I've been seeing rumours about Cohen for years and when he left the Observer one of his victims was on Twitter explaining the real reason for their parting. It really was an open secret but no-one in a position to stop him did anything. And it's clear from the NYT article that Cohen really wasn't alone in his pest-like behaviour.
Jean Hannah Edelstein, an assistant at The Observer from 2007 to 2009, said Mr. Cohen was not alone in his behavior. She recalled her editor hitting her with a sex whip as she walked by. Over one boozy lunch, she said, the same editor offered to help her career and suggested that she pose naked to promote her book.
If anything, article goes broad enough in its context which is that people will happily protect abusers if it benefits them. Just in the last couple of weeks we've had Philip Schofield leave Good Morning after reports that he groomed a young boy, got him a job when he turned 18 and then started a relationship with him. Schofield was a good money earner for ITV but started losing the public (I don't think the queue-jumping at the queen's lying in state helped) and all of a sudden he went from someone to be protected at all costs to someone who needed to be dropped like a hot stone.

MeToo has failed in its ambition of seeing abusers held accountable and face consequences for their actions. While abusers stay profitable, people with power look away. Until those who support abusers (whether tacitly or actively) also face consequences nothing's going to change.
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Re: Nick Cohen

Post by shpalman » Thu Jun 01, 2023 7:35 am

The Guardian obviously considers Jack Nicholls to be well-known enough.
As well as working for Formula E, Nicholls has covered every Formula One race since 2016 for BBC Radio 5 Live. This commentary has regularly featured in Drive to Survive, which has introduced Formula One to a new, younger audience and made Nicholls’s voice recognisable to millions of people around the world, which is why he's important enough to mention, not like some columnist who used to work for the Observer, I mean, who even still reads that.
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Re: Nick Cohen

Post by Stephanie » Thu Jun 01, 2023 6:40 pm

Interesting article in the CJR that has resurfaced on Twitter

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/sexual-har ... onduct.php
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Re: Nick Cohen

Post by Grumble » Thu Jun 01, 2023 10:13 pm

I think I might start the next meeting in which I’m asked for a “culture of care” moment by talking about my company’s sexual harassment policy. I don’t know what it is, other than you should report it. I shall find out first then talk about it.
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Re: Nick Cohen

Post by El Pollo Diablo » Fri Jun 02, 2023 8:06 am

Grumble wrote:
Thu Jun 01, 2023 10:13 pm
I think I might start the next meeting in which I’m asked for a “culture of care” moment by talking about my company’s sexual harassment policy. I don’t know what it is, other than you should report it. I shall find out first then talk about it.
This is a good shout. We're meant to have "values" moments at the start of our meetings. I might do a little presentation on what the policy says.
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Re: Nick Cohen

Post by Tessa K » Fri Jun 02, 2023 9:36 am

El Pollo Diablo wrote:
Fri Jun 02, 2023 8:06 am
Grumble wrote:
Thu Jun 01, 2023 10:13 pm
I think I might start the next meeting in which I’m asked for a “culture of care” moment by talking about my company’s sexual harassment policy. I don’t know what it is, other than you should report it. I shall find out first then talk about it.
This is a good shout. We're meant to have "values" moments at the start of our meetings. I might do a little presentation on what the policy says.
The problem is often not with the policy but with its implementation. Victims don't report because they think
- they won't be believed
- nothing will happen
- the abuser will be reprimanded but the victim will still have to work with them, especially if the abuser is senior to them
- it will have a negative impact on their career.

This is especially the case where women are in a minority in the workplace or the victim is in a junior position.

So yes, do bring up the company policy but also discuss how complaints are dealt with.

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Re: Nick Cohen

Post by Grumble » Fri Jun 02, 2023 9:50 am

Tessa K wrote:
Fri Jun 02, 2023 9:36 am
El Pollo Diablo wrote:
Fri Jun 02, 2023 8:06 am
Grumble wrote:
Thu Jun 01, 2023 10:13 pm
I think I might start the next meeting in which I’m asked for a “culture of care” moment by talking about my company’s sexual harassment policy. I don’t know what it is, other than you should report it. I shall find out first then talk about it.
This is a good shout. We're meant to have "values" moments at the start of our meetings. I might do a little presentation on what the policy says.
The problem is often not with the policy but with its implementation. Victims don't report because they think
- they won't be believed
- nothing will happen
- the abuser will be reprimanded but the victim will still have to work with them, especially if the abuser is senior to them
- it will have a negative impact on their career.

This is especially the case where women are in a minority in the workplace or the victim is in a junior position.

So yes, do bring up the company policy but also discuss how complaints are dealt with.
Absolutely it’s about culture really. Just had a look at our policies and they are good, as are the FAQs around them. But I will talk about Nick Cohen and my own experience of hearing a complaint.
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Re: Nick Cohen

Post by Bewildered » Sat Jun 03, 2023 7:58 am

Wasn’t there a thing about Nick cohen before?

Maybe it was just some comment by someone famous (skepchic?) about him grouping her?

I just have some memory about a thread on him and sexual harassment before. Possibly in the old place.

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Re: Nick Cohen

Post by Brightonian » Sat Jun 03, 2023 9:27 am

Bewildered wrote:
Sat Jun 03, 2023 7:58 am
Wasn’t there a thing about Nick cohen before?

Maybe it was just some comment by someone famous (skepchic?) about him grouping her?

I just have some memory about a thread on him and sexual harassment before. Possibly in the old place.
I recall there was a mention in the old place of a "well-known skeptic" (or similar wording) who'd been said to have been misbehaving, but no name was given. This was maybe 14-15 years ago.

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Re: Nick Cohen

Post by Tessa K » Sat Jun 03, 2023 11:07 am

Brightonian wrote:
Sat Jun 03, 2023 9:27 am
Bewildered wrote:
Sat Jun 03, 2023 7:58 am
Wasn’t there a thing about Nick cohen before?

Maybe it was just some comment by someone famous (skepchic?) about him grouping her?

I just have some memory about a thread on him and sexual harassment before. Possibly in the old place.
I recall there was a mention in the old place of a "well-known skeptic" (or similar wording) who'd been said to have been misbehaving, but no name was given. This was maybe 14-15 years ago.
There was another one who shall not be named, it may have been him. Or both of them.

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Re: Nick Cohen

Post by Stephanie » Sat Jun 03, 2023 3:21 pm

Bewildered wrote:
Sat Jun 03, 2023 7:58 am
Wasn’t there a thing about Nick cohen before?

Maybe it was just some comment by someone famous (skepchic?) about him grouping her?

I just have some memory about a thread on him and sexual harassment before. Possibly in the old place.
yes, Skepchick did tweet about him groping her (early tweet from 2010 mentions it) and she has also talked since the other allegations came out
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Re: Nick Cohen

Post by Fishnut » Sat Jun 03, 2023 6:13 pm

Stephanie wrote:
Sat Jun 03, 2023 3:21 pm
Bewildered wrote:
Sat Jun 03, 2023 7:58 am
Wasn’t there a thing about Nick cohen before?

Maybe it was just some comment by someone famous (skepchic?) about him grouping her?

I just have some memory about a thread on him and sexual harassment before. Possibly in the old place.
yes, Skepchick did tweet about him groping her (early tweet from 2010 mentions it) and she has also talked since the other allegations came out
She's also quoted in the NYT article,
Rebecca Watson, a writer and commentator, said Mr. Cohen had grabbed her bottom at a book party in 2009. Her now-former husband said he had witnessed it but did not confront Mr. Cohen because he did not want to cause a scene.

“To sexually assault a stranger at a book launch, to be one of the more prominent people there, and to just assume there will be no comeuppance,” Ms. Watson said.
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