View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Publishers
  2. Magazines
October 26, 2011

Morrissey: NME editing of quotes made me sound racist

By PA Mediapoint

Singer Morrissey’s libel action over an article about his attitude to immigration can go ahead, the High Court ruled today.

The former Smiths frontman is suing the NME over a November 2007 interview and has claimed journalists on the weekly magazine deliberately tried to characterise him as a racist.

Publisher IPC Media Limited’s counsel, Catrin Evans, had asked Mr Justice Tugendhat to “strike out” the action as an abuse of process, saying it was “not a genuine bid for vindication”.

Morrissey’s lawyers have said that continued lack of assistance from his former manager, Merck Mercuriadis, with whom he parted company in May 2008, was principally to blame for delay in progressing the claim, as he was a crucial witness and supplier of documents.

The 52-year-old star was not in court to hear that his case can proceed to trial – which is unlikely to take place before next summer.

The singer is claiming damages over an item headlined “Morrissey Big Mouth strikes again”, which included a quote of him saying: “The gates of England are flooded. The country’s been thrown away”.

He says that it meant that, despite his protestations to the contrary, he was a racist who insisted on espousing shockingly extremist right wing views.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

His case is that the editing of the words complained of from the full transcript of the interviews was deliberately distorted to create maximum publicity and promote the “Love Music Hate Racism” campaign.

NME argues that the words constituted fair comment on a matter of public interest in that they were expressions of opinion – that Morrissey’s views smacked of a “naive hypocrisy” and mostly sounded “as raving as those of a rogue Tory MP”.

After the ruling, an NME spokesperson said: “NME recently sought to strike out Morrissey’s claim on grounds of a lengthy delay. After almost four years, we are glad that the matter will now proceed to trial and we will finally get the opportunity to bring this matter to a close.”

The judge said that, on the papers before him, it was not possible for him to disbelieve Morrissey’s explanation as to why he did not pursue the action after May 2008.

“His explanation is credible. I cannot infer that he ceased to have an intention to progress the action to trial, or that he has been abusing the process of the court by failing to progress it to trial.

“He ought, of course, to have progressed the action, but to strike out the action would be a disproportionate sanction for this breach of the CPR (Civil Procedure Rules).”

He added: “The imputation complained of in this action is a very serious one, the extent of publication was very wide.

“Mr Morrissey remains a prominent figure in the world of music, and NME is a magazine which enjoys an important place in that world.”

The judge accepted there would be some prejudice to the defence because of the difficulty in remembering details of the events in question after four years.

“But the question I have to decide is whether it is now no longer possible for there to be a fair trial of the action. In my judgment that point has not been reached. The delay is not as great as that.”

Topics in this article :

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network