Crikey‘s bold advertisement goading Lachlan Murdoch to sue the publication has worked, and now Murdoch has launched defamation proceedings against Crikey.
So has Crikey just won or lost? Well, that remains to be seen in a court of law, but they definitely have won the title of being a publication that has guts.
So how did we get here? Why is a humble independent publication taking on the powers of Murdoch? Particularly in these times when defamation cases in Australia are not falling in favour of media publications. Rebel Wilson’s win against Bauer Media to Geoffrey Rush’s success in his suit against The Daily Telegraph has shown that the courts are not siding with the media.
Well, on January 6, Crikey covered the insurrection in the US.
It was a political piece by political editor Bernard Keane, and made allegations against the Murdoch family and its Fox News commentators, about their involvement in the riots at Washington’s Capitol. The Murdoch family denies the claims Crikey denies.
Since that article was published, Lachlan Murdoch has repeatedly threatened legal action and claimed the article was defamatory. Crikey responded but not with the fear you’d expect when a billion-dollar Murdoch is involved. Instead, it took out ads in The Canberra Times in Australia and The New York Times and published an open letter on Crikey telling Murdoch to hurry up and sue the publication.
It has caused a huge stir on social media.
One of the Murdoch complaints re: @crikey_news is, the “sensational language used”.
This should be laughed out of court.— Rhys Muldoon (@rhysam) August 23, 2022
The view that Fox News' airing of stolen election conspiracies led to the Capitol riots is widely held. Lachlan Murdoch suing only Crikey for a thoughtful analysis piece not even about him is the most flagrant bullying.
— James Robertson (@jamesrob) August 24, 2022
This defamation case of Murdoch v Crikey is of huge significance to Australia. I doubt the @AlboMP Gov has the guts to have a Royal Commission into the Murdoch media which is sorely needed. This case is the de facto inquiry. I’ll happily contribute to Crikey’s legal costs.
— Charles Harvey (@CJHarvey56) August 24, 2022
Crikey even went as far as to publish all legal letters it had received on Murdoch’s behalf and wrote, “We are publishing all the legal demands and accusations from your lawyer, and the replies from our lawyers, in full, so people can judge your allegations for themselves.
“We want to defend those allegations in court. You have made it clear in your lawyer’s letters you intend to take court action to resolve this alleged defamation.
“We await your writ so that we can test this important issue of freedom of public interest journalism in a courtroom.”
Murdoch has responded by calling Crikey‘s bluff and filing a Statement of Claim against the publication in the Federal Court.
Crikey once again didn’t back down and responded to Murdoch’s legal action with a statement via its website. “Crikey stands by its story, and we look forward to defending our independent public interest journalism in court against the considerable resources of Lachlan Murdoch.
“We are determined to fight for the integrity and importance of diverse independent media in Australian democracy.
“We welcome Lachlan Murdoch’s writ and Crikey’s Lachlan Murdoch Letters series this week reveals how media power works in this country. We believe that coverage of the events of January 6 at the US Capitol, and the role of Fox News in those events, is absolutely legitimate.”
While Crikey has yet to make any announcement, it would be reasonable to assume they might start a go-fund-me page off the back of all this press. With Murdoch’s considerable financial resources, Crikey will need both guts and money to take on Murdoch in a court of law.
