Media mogul Lachlan Murdoch‘s suing of media company Crikey’s publisher Private Media has catapulted defamation laws back into the spotlight. So what exactly does a defamation lawsuit entail?
What are the defamation laws in Australia?
From July 2021, a number of changes to defamation laws have come into effect across Australia, with the exception of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Since the changes are so new, many recent defamation trials have not been subject to the amendments, which Michael Douglas, senior lecturer at the University of Western Australia Law School says will act as a test case for the new provisions.
One of the new requirements for those alleging defamation is that proof of serious or impending serious harm. So, for the purposes of the Crikey v Murdoch case, the question will be asked: has Lachlan Murdoch suffered serious harm because of the Crikey piece?
An amendment of the Australian defamation laws defence implemented last year is the question of if the matter is of public interest, with the defence best suited for protecting investigative journalists.
What was the catalyst?
On June 29 2022, Crikey published an article titled “Trump is a confirmed unhinged traitor. And Murdoch is his unindicted co-conspirator”. Lachlan Murdoch, the CEO of Fox demanded an apology, threatening legal action if the publisher of Crikey, Private Media did not publicly apologise. Crikey’s response to the threat was a full-page ad in the New York Times inviting Murdoch to sue the publication.
To this, Murdoch, co-chair of News Corp did not take kindly, swiftly launching a defamation suit against Crikey’s Australian publisher Private Media.
What Crikey and Murdoch have to say
When viewing the article on Crikey’s website, the reader is met with this message before the piece starts: “This article was first published on June 29 but taken down the next day after a legal threat from Lachlan Murdoch. We have chosen to republish it as part of a series about this legal threat and about how media power works in Australia. For the series introduction go here, and for the full series go here.”
Murdoch – mostly speaking through his lawyers – stated to Crikey in the statement of claim that: “…the Article was defamatory of Murdoch and carried the following defamatory imputations… Murdoch illegally conspired with Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 presidential election, Murdoch illegally conspired with Donald Trump to incite a mob with murderous intent…”
Crikey’s lawyers responded to these claims by stating that the article “does not mention Lachlan Murdoch at all…any such imputation relies on a thoroughly strained and contorted interpretation of the words of the article”.
What to expect
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that a jury trial may be ordered by the Federal Court, as this case could have “community standards” that bear upon the issue of if the statement by crikey was indeed defamatory.
Crikey is yet to file a defence and is expected to rely on the new public interest defence brought into effect in July 2021.
The parties will appear in court later this year.