Jones trial: Reporter says victims got no perks

Kate McClymont testified in Sydney on Tuesday that the men who spoke to her about Alan Jones received no special treatment from the media.

The chief investigative reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald told the Downing Centre local court that she interviewed three alleged victims and kept their accounts separate from one another. McClymont stated that the men gained no advantage from her or the news organization for sharing their experiences.

McClymont’s 2023 articles triggered a police response and prompted additional men to come forward with claims. Her reporting covered allegations that Jones groped or touched them without consent. The New South Wales Police formed Strike Force Bonnefin after the December 2023 publication of her investigation. Jones, 85, now faces 21 charges of indecent assault and sexual touching involving five men.

Defense counsel Gabrielle Bashir SC questioned McClymont on the motives behind the reporting. Bashir asked if the special investigations under McClymont’s name sold newspapers. McClymont replied that readership and advertising metrics were irrelevant to her work as a journalist. Bashir also presented call logs and emails from 2017 involving McClymont and columnist Peter FitzSimons. In one message to a colleague, McClymont wrote, “We have another one,” after speaking to a man identified as complainant C.

Bashir argued that McClymont and FitzSimons were “looking for a story” driven by rivalry with Ray Hadley, Jones’s rival on 2GB radio. McClymont countered that FitzSimons had been working on the matter since October 2017 and called it a “long-running matter.”

The court heard that McClymont did not initially share her interview notes or recordings with police because the material was confidential or unavailable. A subpoena for the documents was issued in 2026. McClymont also confirmed she sought comment from Jones and his legal team via text and email before publishing her articles. She is supported in court by Sydney Morning Herald editor Jordan Baker and deputy editor Nick Ralston.

Jones’s radio career ended abruptly in 2020 after on-air incidents caused the station to lose advertisers. He was arrested in late 2024 at his city apartment after a “long, thorough, protracted” investigation. At that point, he had been retired from his breakfast show for four years. The trial continues before Judge Glenn Walsh.