Josh Haining
Josh Haining, former student journalist at Nouse
During his undergraduate degree, Josh Haining was the administrative director of Nouse, the student newspaper for the University of York. In this role, he received a number of tips regarding one of the prominent nightclub promoters operating in York.
To cater for the large student population in the city, there are two popular nightclubs run by two promoters. The promoter YorkParties runs Club Salvation, while YorPartyNetwork (YPN) is behind Ziggy’s. Both are subject to increased attention by the student body through social media platforms such as Instagram, as well as media reporting from outlets including Nouse. At the same time, there is a popular and influential instagram account called @imjustyork_, which allows for anonymous confessions, memes and public responses to be shared and then further published through the private student-only account. The account itself is pseudonymous and the identity of the platform’s founder and admins are not known.
In early 2025, this account hosted content related to Club Salvation, including hosting anonymous reports questioning the conduct of the club’s bouncers and allegations of drink spiking reported by pseudonymous attendees of the club. The tips Josh received, related to unsubstantiated allegations that Jack George Wilson, the founder of YPN had founded the @Imjustyork_ instagram account and had established members of University of York societies as paid admins. To try and substantiate these claims, on 18 March 2025, Josh contacted YPN, asking a number of questions to ascertain whether Mr Wilson had “any involvement in running the imjustyork account” and whether any society members were paid admins of the account. Josh gave YPN 48 hours within which to respond.
On the following day, 19 March, Josh received an email from John Reynolds, the Legal Affairs Representative for YorPartyNetwork. Instead of answering the questions included in the Right of Reply, Reynolds confirmed that “Mr Wilson has no connection whatsoever to the ‘imjustyork’ account.” He went beyond the denial to state that the central assertion was “categorically false and without any factual basis.” Mr Reynolds also claimed that they are “defamatory and, if published, would cause serious reputational harm to Mr Wilson and his business, YorPartyNetwork (YPN).” The letter demanded that Josh disclose the identity of his sources, while also asserting a conflict of interest between the YorkSU (University of York Student Union) and YPN’s competing promoter, which “appears to be driving these false allegations.” However, the YorkSU had no knowledge of Josh’s journalistic inquiry to YPN and does not control what Nouse decides to investigate or write about.
In the letter, Mr Reynolds published extensive excerpts from the YorkSU Media Charter, while also highlighting the financial implications of Josh’s proposed reporting. For instance, Mr Reynolds outlined his client’s intention to file defamation claims, an injunction, while seeking special and aggravated damages against Josh individually. He also wrote that the action would create “a permanent public court record of the defamation judgment that would be discoverable by future employers through standard background checks”. He also confirmed that Wilson would pursue “personal financial damages that could result in County Court Judgments (CCJs) against you that would remain on your credit record for six years”, while “[s]eeking costs orders that could place you in significant personal debt before you graduate.”
Josh told the Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM)’s SLAPP Training platform that “It was quite surprising, it was worrying, mostly because at that moment, you think the Student Union (publisher of Nouse) is going to be angry at you for asking questions or bringing the threat of legal action onto the Student Union.”
As well as the implications for Josh as an individual, the letter contained a number of threats to the YorkSU, including a judicial review of its governance processes as it relates to conflict of interest, reporting the Students’ Union to the Charity Commission and the Office of Students, as well as Mr Wilson pursuing “significant financial damages that would require disclosure in YorkSU’s annual financial statements and charity reporting.” The letter required a response in 24 hours. It went on to state: “failure to respond appropriately will leave us with no alternative but to consider all available legal remedies to protect Mr Wilson’s reputation and business interests.” Josh responded to YPN stating “[w]e have no plans to publish anything on YPN, your owner or the ownership of imjustyork.” There has been no subsequent response from YPN.
Josh, however, wrote about the legal threat in a piece for Nouse and documented the support he received from the Student Union.
YorkSU Activities Officer Kaitlyn Beattie-Zarb wrote:
“It was incredibly worrying to see one of our exceptional student media groups being threatened for their reporting. The freedom of press is a cornerstone of UK democracy, and should apply equally to those students who represent the future of the media industry as it does to big name professional publications. This legal power play feels disproportionate and counter productive, and seems to be an attempt to scare supposedly ‘less experienced’ and vulnerable student journalists into dropping unfavourable stories. As the publisher, and biggest supporter, of our student journalists, we intend to continue supporting student media to navigate the world of media law, and will uphold our commitments to nurturing a strong, free and well-trained student media cohort.”