Fox–Dominion Trial
Rupert Murdoch to take stand in Fox-Dominion trial as early as Monday
Fox Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch is expected to be called to the witness stand in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation suit against his company as soon as Monday, according to people familiar with the matter, reports Bloomberg’s Jef Feeley.
Jury selection in the case is set to begin Thursday in Delaware, with opening arguments set for Monday. Murdoch would be the second witness called, the people said, meaning he would likely testify on Monday or Tuesday.
US judge hits Fox News with sanction for withholding defamation case evidence
The judge overseeing the $1.6 billion ($2.4 billion) defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News said on Wednesday he was imposing a sanction on the network and very likely would investigate whether Fox’s legal team withheld evidence, the New York Times reported, writes Ismail Shakil for Bloomberg and Reuters.
Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis issued the sanction after Dominion’s lawyers revealed instances in which Fox’s attorneys did not turn over evidence in a timely manner, the Times reported.
This evidence included recordings made by a former Fox employee of Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer for former president Donald Trump, saying before pre-taped Fox appearances that he did not have any evidence to back up the false allegations of election-rigging by Dominion in the 2020 race that are at the heart of the lawsuit.
Judge ‘not happy’ after Fox News reveals Rupert Murdoch is a company officer
A judge said Fox News had a “credibility problem” as it prepares for a $US1.6 billion ($2.4 billion) defamation trial after the company disclosed for the first time in nearly two years of litigation that Rupert Murdoch was an officer of the company, reports AP’s Tom Hals.
On Monday, Fox News and its parent company Fox Corp head to trial over Fox’s coverage of false election-rigging claims. Murdoch, chairman of Fox Corp, is expected to testify.
Dominion Voting Systems alleges Fox damaged its business by Fox knowingly and repeatedly airing false claims that Dominion machines were used to flip the 2020 US presidential election against former president Donald Trump, a Republican, and in favour of Democrat Joe Biden, who won.
Fox News had disclaimed that Murdoch was a company officer, which shaped how Dominion litigated the case, according to Nelson. As a Fox News officer, Murdoch would probably have been subject to more probing discovery by Dominion.
“It is very troubling, but this is where we are,” Dominion lawyer Justin Nelson said, adding that Dominion only learnt of Murdoch’s role on Sunday and got its first document with Murdoch’s title of Fox News executive chairman on Tuesday morning.
Lachlan Murdoch ‘culpable’ for US Capitol riots, Crikey claims
Private Media, the publisher of Crikey, has stepped up its legal battle with Lachlan Murdoch, claiming the Fox Corp boss is “morally and ethically culpable” for the January 6, 2021, US riots, while denying that it published Murdoch-related articles in a scheme to make money, reports Nine Publishing’s Sam Buckingham-Jones.
In a new defence statement filed with the Federal Court on Tuesday, Private Media introduced a vast swath of texts and emails unearthed in the impending trial between voting machine company Dominion and Fox.
Dominion has sued Fox for $US1.6 billion ($2.4 billion) for reporting allegations about its machines and software that were false after the 2020 US election. That trial begins on April 17 in a Delaware court.
Running parallel to the Dominion case is Murdoch’s defamation case against Private Media, which is currently due to go to trial in October. Murdoch claims he was defamed by a Crikey article written by political editor Bernard Keane on June 29 last year that linked the media mogul’s family to the January 6 attacks.
Business of Media
Elon Musk says BBC’s ‘government-funded media’ Twitter tag will be changed
Elon Musk, Twitter’s billionaire owner, has said the social media platform will change the BBC’s label of “government-funded media” after the broadcaster objected, reports The Guardian’s Joanna Partridge.
The Tesla chief executive made the announcement during a wide-ranging interview with the corporation in which he said that his pain level from running the site had been “extremely high” but that the business was now “roughly breaking even”.
The BBC contacted the company last week after the description was added to its main Twitter account. Musk said he had the “utmost respect” for the organisation, adding: “We want [the tag] as truthful and accurate as possible. We’re adjusting the label to [the BBC being] publicly funded. We’ll try to be accurate.”
Eddie McGuire emotionally defends Shane Warne memorial costs
Eddie McGuire has become emotional while defending the spending of $1.6 million of taxpayer money on Shane Warne’s star-studded state memorial service, reports 3AW.
Documents obtained by The Age under freedom of information show the memorial was almost triple the cost of the second most expensive service – the farewell for four police officers killed on the Eastern Freeway — and Eddie McGuire’s production company, JAM TV, received over $1 million to stage and produce the event.
Speaking to Tony Jones, filling in for Neil Mitchell, McGuire said the show was produced “on the smell of an oily rag”.
[Listen to the interview here]
Global Press Freedom Group calls for Russia to release WSJ’s Evan Gershkovich
A global coalition of democratic countries that champions press freedom has condemned Russia’s arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and called on Moscow to immediately release him from custody, reports The Wall Street Journal’s Paul Vieira.
The executive arm of the Media Freedom Coalition, a partnership of 51 countries from six continents, said in a statement released Wednesday that Russia is using its authority to intimidate and harass journalists for their critical reporting in the country.
“The detention of journalists under the guise of espionage charges is troubling and undermines the basic principles of democracy and rule of law,” the statement said. “It is imperative that journalists are able to work independently and without fear of spurious charges being brought against them.”
The Federal Security Service, Russia’s main intelligence and security agency, detained Gershkovich in the eastern city of Yekaterinburg on March 29 while he was on a reporting assignment and has charged him with espionage—an accusation that both the Journal and U.S. government vehemently deny.
Today show host Karl Stefanovic receives caution from police
Television host Karl Stefanovic has been cautioned by police eight months after he was involved in an alleged incident at a Brisbane charity event, reports The Australian’s Sophie Elsworth.
The 48-year-old was hosting an inaugural Mercedes-Benz fundraiser, A Night For Melanoma, on August 20 last year when a male waiter claimed he was assaulted by Stefanovic.
Queensland police confirmed that Stefanovic had been given an “adult caution” in relation to the alleged assault and the case was now closed.
News Brands
Regional journalist jobs go in News Corp restructure
More than 100 of News Corp’s regional journalists and editors were invited to an unscheduled video call on Tuesday afternoon and told some of their jobs may be at risk under a cost-cutting drive, reports Nine Publishing’s Sam Buckingham-Jones.
After a pilot in NSW merging The Daily Telegraph with the state’s NewsLocal community news team, journalists in areas such as Cairns, Canberra, Blacktown and Geelong have been told their roles could go. News Corp declined to comment.
Sources at the media giant, who were not authorised to speak publicly, said reporters received an invitation on Tuesday morning to a meeting at 1.30pm. At the meeting hosted by John McGourty, the company’s national community masthead editor, staff were told that if their job was at risk, they would receive an email before 3pm.
Over the course of the call, McGourty was repeatedly asked how many roles would go. Attendees said he did not answer clearly. He talked about cost reduction and the potential to merge mastheads – though he also added that these were only proposals.
Media regulator hits back at ABC after its ‘dismissive response’ to criticism about Fox News series
The media regulator has condemned the ABC for its “dismissive response” to problems found with its two-part Four Corners series on Fox News including that it breached accuracy and fair and honest dealing requirements, reports The Australian’s Sophie Elsworth.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority’s chair Nerida O’Loughlin wrote to ABC managing director David Anderson on January 20 and outlined serious concerns she had with the public broadcaster’s response to the outcome of the year-long investigation.
ACMA investigated episodes, hosted by Sarah Ferguson, that falsely portrayed the Murdoch-controlled Fox News’s coverage of former US president Donald Trump’s role in the 2020 US election and the riots that took place at the US Capitol on January 6.
In a question on notice at Senate estimates in February, Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson requested information regarding the correspondence between the ABC and ACMA, following the release of the investigation’s findings and the ABC’s criticism of the report.
Newly published documents showed O’Loughlin wrote to Anderson voicing her concerns with the public broadcaster’s response and called for an urgent meeting with Anderson and the ABC’s ombudsman, Fiona Cameron.
Publishing
Dozens of independent newspapers launched during Covid in Australia. What happened next?
Michael Waite is a good talker. Friendly, knowledgable and enthusiastic, he’s the kind of guy who can turn a yes-or-no question into an entertaining, minutes-long response with more twists and turns than his remarkable journey to be that rarest of beasts – a 21st-century founder of a printed newspaper, reports The Guardian’s Dwayne Grant.
Which is why it says so much that one of the few times he is lost for words is when asked how it feels to have not only launched that paper in rural South Australia at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic but to still be standing almost three years and more than 100 editions later.
“I’m stumbling with my words because I just really can’t believe it’s gone this way,” Waite says of the against-the-odds success of the Naracoorte News, the weekly paper that went from idea to print in 20 days under the guardianship of a man with no prior experience in the world of newspapers.
“If I had known how much work it was going to take, I probably wouldn’t do it again,” he laughs. “But watching this thing play out and actually succeed has been amazing.”
Waite is not alone in doing the seemingly impossible by launching a printed newspaper at a time when the newspaper game has never been more dire.
Sports Media
Disney Australia MD Kylie Watson-Wheeler emerges as surprise AFL CEO contender
Western Bulldogs president and Disney Australia managing director Kylie Watson-Wheeler has emerged a late contender for the AFL CEO position, report Nine Publishing’s Peter Ryan and Jake Niall.
After originally indicating she would not apply for the position that Gillon McLachlan announced he was leaving this time last year, three well-placed AFL industry sources suggest the Bulldogs president might still be in contention.
The AFL has been tight-lipped during the drawn-out process after recently interviewing internal candidates Andrew Dillon and Travis Auld as well as Richmond CEO Brendon Gale. Two senior football sources, who asked not to be named to discuss the confidential process, said none of those candidates had been told they were out of the race for the job.
Watson-Wheeler has not returned calls from The Age. She was set to appear at the VAFA season launch in Melbourne on Wednesday night but pulled out with attendees notified of her change of plans on social media on Wednesday afternoon.