Whistleblowers call out Channel 4 News over ‘gagging orders’
Whistleblowers Gretchen Carlson and Zelda Perkins are among dozens of high-profile women calling on Channel 4 News to free all former staff from “gagging orders” amid mounting concern over the programme’s alleged use of confidentiality agreements to silence staff in equal pay, discrimination, harassment and victimisation cases.
MPs say they have seen at least seven gagging orders relating to women working in the Channel 4 newsroom, with at least two appearing to have been issued late last year.
Carlson, the former Fox Newsanchor who successfully sued her ex-boss, Roger Ailes, for sexual harassment and Perkins, who broke her non-disclosure agreement relating to Harvey Weinstein, are among those demanding Channel 4 News rescinds confidentiality agreements that they claim have been used to silence women.
They want the public service broadcaster to “earn its reputation as an inclusive and progressive workplace” and follow the example of NBC News in the US, which has released all former employees who signed nondisclosure agreements over sexual harassment claims.
“We think the same needs to happen in Britain, too. Gagging orders are the opposite of journalism. Journalism uncovers the truth, gagging orders hide it,” said an open letter backed by 30 prominent campaigners and which includes cross-party MP support.
Among the signatories are Carrie Gracie, who became a figurehead for BBC women when she resigned as China editor in 2018 over pay inequalities and prominent BBC journalist Samira Ahmed.
Perkins’s decision to break the NDAs that the now convicted rapist Weinstein forced her to sign prompted wide debate over the misuse of gagging orders. She said this weekend: “Their use has to stop.” She added: “When used wrongly, they become
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