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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of former 2GB broadcaster Alan Jones’ indecent assault and sexual touching trial in the historic Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney.
Today, The Sydney Morning Herald ’s chief investigative reporter, Kate McClymont, returns to the witness box for a second day of evidence.
Jones, 85, is standing trial on 19 counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual touching without consent against five male complainants between 2003 and 2020. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denies the alleged physical acts occurred.
All five complainants have now given evidence in court. McClymont was called to give evidence by the Crown because she spoke to three of the complainants, dubbed “C”, “A” and “H” to protect their identities, when she was investigating allegations against the former broadcaster.
The Herald published a series of reports by McClymont about Jones in late 2023 and early 2024. Her reporting triggered a police investigation and McClymont gave a statement to police in June 2024.
Jones was arrested in November that year. During cross-examination on Tuesday by Jones’ barrister, Gabrielle Bashir, SC, McClymont was asked if there was a “profit motive” for newspaper articles.
“The story has to sell papers, doesn’t it?” Bashir asked.
“That’s not my problem, no,” McClymont replied.
“Stories are published to increase the readership of print papers [and] to get clicks online,” Bashir said. “No,” McClymont replied.
Bashir pressed that higher readership numbers encourage advertisers to invest in the newspaper.
“As a general proposition, yes, but that is not my role,” McClymont said.
McClymont said she did not know what impact her reporting on Jones had on readership figures or subscriptions. She agreed that Jones is a very public figure in NSW.
Read more from McClymont’s first day of evidence here .
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) or the Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491.
Kate McClymont has returned to the witness box and is being asked about a conversation she had with the mother of complainant “A” in December 2023.
Jones’ barrister, Gabrielle Bashir, SC, plays a clip from the recorded conversation. The court has heard the mother gave McClymont an account of the allegation, including that police were involved.
“This would be an absolute nail in the coffin that police were involved,” McClymont said to the mother in the call. “That’s just brilliant. Oh, I’m breathless.”
“You meant the nail in the coffin of Alan Jones,” Bashir asked McClymont on Wednesday.
If you are just catching up now, here is what The Sydney Morning Herald ’s chief investigative reporter said in her evidence on Tuesday in Alan Jones’ indecent assault and sexual touching trial.
Kate McClymont is returning to the NSW Local Court witness box at 11.30am (AEDT).
Kate McClymont, The Sydney Morning Herald’ s chief investigative reporter, is giving evidence about her interactions with three of the five men who would later become complainants in Alan Jones’ indecent assault and sexual touching trial.
Each of the five complainants has given evidence. Prosecutors withdrew the sole charge relating to a sixth complainant during the trial , and a number of other charges were dropped before the trial started.
The court has heard that McClymont spoke to the three men, now known as complainants “C”, “A” and “H”, between late 2023 and early 2024 when she was researching allegations against Jones.
The Herald published a series of articles by McClymont about Jones starting in December 2023. NSW Police set up Strike Force Bonnefin in response to the Herald ’s reporting and Jones was arrested in November 2024.
McClymont gave evidence on Tuesday about her interview with “C” in September 2023, and is expected to be asked today about her interactions with “A” and “H”. These are the men’s allegations.
McClymont is the fourth high-profile media figure to give evidence in the trial, following Jones’ former 2GB colleagues Ray Hadley and Jason Morrison, and Herald columnist Peter FitzSimons.
Jones’ barrister, Gabrielle Bashir, SC, is expected to submit at the end of the trial that one complainant, dubbed “C”, made allegations against Jones in 2019 against the backdrop of professional rivalry between Hadley and Jones.
The evidence given by Hadley, Morrison and FitzSimons was relatively narrow: they were questioned about their interactions with “C” in 2019.
The court has heard that McClymont did not speak to “C” until four years later, in 2023, and his allegations against Jones were included in an anonymised form in an article published by the Herald in December that year.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of former 2GB broadcaster Alan Jones’ indecent assault and sexual touching trial in the historic Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney.
Today, The Sydney Morning Herald ’s chief investigative reporter, Kate McClymont, returns to the witness box for a second day of evidence.
Jones, 85, is standing trial on 19 counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual touching without consent against five male complainants between 2003 and 2020. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denies the alleged physical acts occurred.
