Clementine Ford

Clementine Ford is an Australian feminist writer, broadcaster and public speaker. She is known for her outspoken views on gender equality and sexism. Ms. Ford was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1981. She studied English and gender studies at the University of Adelaide. After graduating, she worked as a journalist for several years, writing a regular column for Daily Life.

In 2016 Ms. Ford was the subject of a controversial interview on the ABC's The Drum program. During the interview, she was challenged by journalist, Sharri Markson, about her views on gender equality.

In 2019 Ms. Ford resigned from her role as a columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age after she was "disciplined" about a Twitter post she made about then-Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, calling him a "f***ing disgrace."

Defamation Case against Nine Entertainment

In 2021 Ms. Ford was interviewed for Nine Entertainment Co's newspapers' Spectrum section about the release of her new book, How We Love. The ensuing article was published on both The Herald and The Age's websites on January of 2022, but was shortly removed. Tory Maguire, the Executive Editor, explained that:

“Clementine Ford spent years making vile and personal attacks on the journalists and editors of the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age after the mastheads stopped publishing her column...I had knocked back a pitch for an interview with her but there was a breakdown in communication and it was commissioned and published in error. I have pulled it from Spectrum and taken it down out of respect for my team."

Ms. Ford claimed that Mr. Maguire's comments carried with them defamatory imputations, including that she had “spent years making vile and personal attacks on the journalists and editors,” had “behaved vengefully and abusively towards” them and also had a “personal vendetta” against her former colleagues after leaving the newspapers. A defamation case ensued, with Ms. Ford claiming that Mr. Maguire's comments attacked her professionalism, would impact sales of her book and could lead to her "reputation for championing women's rights" coming to harm.

In 2022 the defamation case was settled, with Ms. Ford being paid $39,000 by Mr. Maguire and the newspapers (an amount agreed upon by both parties), and the court ordering Ms. Ford's legal fees also to be paid. Ms. Ford's legal team included prominent defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou and Rebekah Giles.

Sources & Further Reading

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-31/clementine-ford-quits-nine-newspaper-column/10766308

https://www.theguardian.com/media/video/2016/sep/30/clementine-ford-sharri-markson-the-drum-video

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/apr/05/clementine-ford-settles-defamation-suit-with-sydney-morning-herald-and-age

https://www.bandt.com.au/nine-settles-defamation-case-with-former-columnist-clementine-ford/

https://turramurralawyers.com.au/2022/04/05/clementine-ford-wins-defamation-suit-against-sydney-morning-herald-and-age/

https://www.smh.com.au/national/clementine-ford-launches-defamation-suit-against-executive-editor-of-herald-and-age-20220310-p5a3e2.html

https://www.smh.com.au/national/clementine-ford-settles-defamation-suit-against-herald-and-age-executive-editor-20220404-p5aarm.html

https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/courts-law/new-turn-in-clementine-ford-defamation-case-against-nine-entertainment/news-story/f73912742f120e1e7a795d9bdf9b7e25

https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/media/humiliated-clementine-ford-launches-defamation-suit-against-the-age-smh-and-tory-maguire/news-story/33fdcd365f9b3c0159c925287c2a22c4

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/feb/01/clementine-ford-quits-smh-and-age-after-warning-over-twitter-post

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/jan/28/it-took-three-years-but-the-smh-finally-got-its-revenge-on-clementine-ford-kind-of