Scottish newspaper The National bites back at JK Rowling’s claims it is ‘anti-woman’
The newspaper branded Rowling as "a billionaire trying to control media output to fit her own worldview"
By Gary Grimes
Laura Webster, Editor of Scottish newspaper The National, has published a searing take down of JK Rowling after the Harry Potter author labelled the publication as “anti-woman” on social media.
Earlier this week, Rowling reshared an article by the newspaper on X which referred to Sex Matters as “an anti-trans campaign group”, following news that the group was considering legal action against the Scottish government for “failing to implement the recent Supreme Court judgement on biological sex in equalities law.”
In her response, Rowling wrote: “For Women Scotland is a feminist campaigning group. You appear to be an anti-woman newspaper.”
In an article which ran on the paper’s front page responding to Rowling’s claims, Webster wrote: “Myself and the reporters on staff at The National would have once been horrified to learn that JK Rowling had described us as ‘anti-woman’. Today, it reads simply as another Twitter insult dispensed without any grounding in reality.”
The editor goes on to point out that both the paper’s Editor and Assistant Editor are women, and its staff of reporters is made up of more women than men. The piece also refers to the paper’s involvement in a mentorship scheme for women of colour in Scotland, its coverage of women’s issues in Gaza, and a special International Women’s Day edition it published last year in which all of its content was written and edited by women.
“Rowling has chosen to respond to language she did not like (due to its perceived sympathy towards trans people) by launching an intellectually lazy attack on a newspaper, primarily staffed by women, with a strong track record on reporting on feminist issues,” Webster goes on to write.
JK Rowling called The National an anti-woman paper.
— Steph Brawn (@BrawnJourno) June 19, 2025
Our team is more women than men. We released an edition written entirely by women for IWD, for which I compiled a sports section, entirely written by women, with a focus on women’s sport.
Do your homework and read this 👇🏻 https://t.co/j09bdCISXk
“It is also not for JK Rowling to determine what all women think or feel. Nobody, no matter how wealthy or influential, can speak for all of us.
“Thankfully, arguments like Rowling’s will not convince many people who are not already deep down the anti-trans rabbit hole,” the editor declared. “But her attempts to control our language are not welcome and should be called out by those who claim to value free speech.”
Webster concluded: “At The National we deal in truth, and will not be cowed by a billionaire trying to control media output to fit her own worldview.”
Earlier this week, Rowling’s one-time friend Stephen Fry referred to her as a “lost cause” who has “been radicalised.”