Another week, another high-profile defamation case in the Federal Court.
Yesterday began the legal proceedings between sports broadcaster Erin Molan and the Daily Mail Australia, with the former suing for defamation over one article and two tweets which she says portrayed her as a “racist” and “arrogant white woman of privilege”.
Speaking on 2GB’s Continuous Call Team in May 2020, Molan said “hooka looka mooka hooka fooka” after a co-host mentioned practicing the pronunciation of players’ names.
Molan claims the comment referred to a story about broadcasters Ray Warren and Chris Warren confusing the pronunciation of NRL players’ names.
The Daily Mail then published a story about Molan’s comments which claimed she “refused to apologise … for her jibe on live radio”.
This is the story which Molan says defamed her as a “racist”.
Molan apologised on the Continuous Call Team that same day.
According to Molan, she was contacted by a Daily Mail journalist asking if she was going to apologise just half an hour before the story was published.
The story caused a significant stir on social media, with former NRL player John Hopoate posting: “It was an inside joke between colleagues so it’s OK. Just like when I accidentally trip this RACIST B*TCH over and she falls and scrapes her RACIST mouth on the ground.”
Molan’s lawyer, Kieran Smark SC accused the publication of having taken an “innocuous” comment made by Molan and “manufactured” it into a story.
“So far as there was a butt of the joke, it was the Warrens, Smark said.
“It was lighthearted humour at their expense … their good faith but not completely adequate attempts to get on top of some tricky players’ names.”
According to The Australian, a Daily Mail reporter emailed editor Barclay Crawford about comments critical of Molan from University of Auckland academic Jemaima Tiatia-Seath, co-head of the School of Māori Studies and Pacific Studies.
Crawford allegedly forwarded the comments to another journalist and said “Let’s rip into this sheila”.
“Having provoked this outrage, they now harvest it, and turn it into their content,” Smark said.
The Daily Mail has filed a truth defence.
