It’s just a matter of days before the Fairfax jumps into bed with Nine, and it seems the publisher will be taking some defamation baggage with it.
The NSW Supreme Court yesterday awarded West Indies cricket star Chris Gayle $300,000 in damages over articles published by Fairfax Media which claimed he exposed his genitals to female massage therapist Leanne Russell while he was in Sydney for the 2015 Cricket World Cup.
The articles were published in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times in January 2016.
Gayle had already been deemed the winner of the defamation case in October last year, with Fairfax slamming the trial as misleading and “prejudiced” at the time.
And the publisher hasn’t changed its tune since, with a Fairfax spokesperson telling B&T that the publisher remains concerned with the conduct of the trial.
“The jury was misled in a way that prejudiced Fairfax, and Fairfax did not get a fair trial,” the spokesperson said.
“The damages award merely confirms the appalling burden of defamation laws in this country. Fairfax is immediately bringing an appeal.”
