Sarah McLaughlin

“The press has rights, and so do their critics. And so people who don't like what these outlets have been writing, they can unsubscribe,”

Sarah McLaughlin · said 2026-08-20 · reported 2026-08-21

Sarah McLaughlin noted that critics can exercise free speech by unsubscribing or challenging media outlets.

“The UK already does censor quite a lot of speech. So, you know, there's a certain point where people might say, ‘OK, well, we already censor this. What more could we be censoring to stop this from happening again?’ And I think that's really the wrong lesson to learn from this,”

Sarah McLaughlin · said 2026-08-20 · reported 2026-08-21

Sarah McLaughlin warned against expanding speech censorship in the UK in response to Jason Arday's death.

“I don't see how that would work at all, if I'm being honest. But also imagine what kind of tool that could be for bad actors who want to silence their critics, who want to silence people talking about bad conduct or even crimes. And so I think people just need to remember that there are ways that we can approach this. There are ways we can challenge coverage that we think is wrong, but giving the government power to censor speech, to censure the press. It won't fix this, but it will just create more problems.”

Sarah McLaughlin · said 2026-08-20 · reported 2026-08-21

Sarah McLaughlin warned that state powers to censor press coverage would create more problems and be abused.

“And there's a few different avenues this is coming from,”

Sarah McLaughlin · said 2026-08-20 · reported 2026-08-21

Sarah McLaughlin noted the different sources pushing for censorship in the UK after Jason Arday's death.

“There are some activist groups and nonprofits who are pushing for a government inquiry into the press and into what kind of process media outlets engaged in that led them to producing all this coverage about him and about the allegations, about plagiarism and other things about his life. But it's also been picked up by a number of politicians who have signed on to petitions about media inquiries.”

Sarah McLaughlin · said 2026-08-20 · reported 2026-08-21

Sarah McLaughlin described efforts by activist groups, nonprofits, and politicians seeking media inquiries.

“They can challenge them. If they don't like what media commentators have been saying or writing about Arday, I think they can point it out and say, 'You're wrong, you're being cruel.' That's their right. But I do not think people have thought through what it would look [like] to get the kind of censorship they're asking for.”

Sarah McLaughlin · said 2026-08-20 · reported 2026-08-21

Sarah McLaughlin argued that people should criticize media coverage rather than seek censorship.