News Corp Refuses To Act For Columnist Miranda Devine In Quaden Bayles Defamation Case
It appears News Corp is backing away from its controversial columnist Miranda Devine after it refused to be served court papers in her defamation case with young Indigenous boy, Quaden Bayles.
As reported on B&T earlier this month, Quaden and his mother Yarraka is suing Devine (pictured below) in the Federal Court after the News’ correspondent tweeted that viral footage of the highly distressed youngster was a “scam” to make money.
Back in February a video shot by his mother attracted global attention after it showed Quaden – who has achondroplasia dwarfism – highly distressed from schoolyard bullying and ended with the nine-year-old saying “he wanted to die right now”.
Devine, who is currently on secondment to News’ The New York Post, retweeted a post that said Quaden was an “Australian actor whose mom … posted a fake sobbing video of him” and “the MSM (mainstream media) and Hollywood fell for it and got him $300K+ in donations”.
Above her retweet, Devine wrote: “That’s really rotten if this was a scam. Hurts genuine bullying victims. Over to @dailytelegraph.”
Devine published the tweets on her own personal Twitter account and it’s unclear how and if News Corp will be implicated in the case. Devine later tweeted she was “wholly sympathetic to Quaden” and there had been a “disinformation campaign about my Quaden Bayles tweets”.
In her lawsuit, Yarraka Bayles names News Corp subsidiary Nationwide News, the publisher of The Daily Telegraph, as a defendant. Bayles’ lawyers inferring Devine’s employer is also responsible for its employees’ tweets.
On Friday, News’ lawyers told the Federal Court Devine’s tweets were “private” and unrelated to material it published.
It added that the Bayles’ lawyers would need to serve Devine the papers in New York, as it would not accept them here as it was not authorised to accept service on the columnist’s behalf.
Devine has yet to file a defence or acknowledge the claim despite Bayles’ legal team saying they had sent Devine the papers via two email addresses – a hotmail and a work email address.
In a judgement yesterday determining preliminary issues, Justice Katzmann said the Bayles had a prima facie case (in that it’s true until proven otherwise) against Devine.
But Justice Katzmann knocked back an attempt to have the court rule it was not practicable to serve US-based Devine personally – a bureaucratic process that can take months.
Court documents also revealed that Quaden has been diagnosed with critical respiratory failure and is currently in the care of the Paediatric Palliative Care Unit at Queensland Children’s Hospital.
The court also heard that Quaden and his mother had received death threats following a “false and malicious internet conspiracy” and, because of it, he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety, the lawyer said.
Latest News
The OG Wiggles Are Guest Programming Iconic Music Show rage
It’s been a big news week for Wiggles fans (40 and 4-year-olds alike) with the announcement that the four originals will be reuniting for a reunion tour. That’s right: Greg Page (Yellow), Murray Cook (Red), Jeff Fatt (Purple) and Anthony Field (Blue, fan favourite of mums worldwide) have lined up seven adults-only shows next year. […]
German Finance Reporter Hilariously Trolled By Cheeky Son During Live Cross
A typically dull finance report has gone viral after it was wonderfully gatecrashed by an overly exuberant child. Bloomberg News was conducting a live cross with Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, who was attempting to inform viewers about the current state of the German financial industry following recent elections […]
Sydney Symphony Orchestra Appoints Apparent As Media Agency Of Record
Coinciding with the launch of its new season, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra has appointed Apparent as their media agency of record. The full service independent will manage all media strategy, planning and buying for the Sydney Symphony following an agency review. The appointment comes as Simone Young makes her debut as the Sydney Symphony’s new […]
Smart Accelerates CTV Growth Ambitions Via Publica Partnership
Independent ad tech platform Smart has announced a new partnership with connected TV (CTV) ad platform Publica to accelerate its growth ambitions. The integration is a major step in Smart’s commitment to building a scaled, vertically-integrated TV advertising platform for media buyers and sellers following its recent acquisition of global premium CTV demand-side platform (DSP) […]
TV News Network Forced To Apologise & Call In The Police After Playing Porn Instead Of Weather Report
A news channel in Washington State has been forced to apologise and call in the police after viewers were subjected to 13-seconds of pornography instead of the evening weather report. Local station KREM accidentally broadcast the explicit clip during a weather report that aired at 6.30pm last Sunday evening. News co-anchor Cody Proctor was discussing […]
The Hallway Extends Work With Streamotion, Creating Name And Brand Identity For News Streaming Service Flash
Following the successful launch of entertainment streaming service BINGE, independent full-service agency The Hallway has further extended its partnership with Streamotion, developing the name and brand identity for Foxtel’s Group’s news streaming service, Flash. Flash is a first of its kind dedicated live news streaming service, featuring more than 20 local and global live news […]
ID Collective Snares Sportsgirl Account
B&T's editor is a huge Sportsgirl fan. Which is rather strange, because he's not particularly sporty.
Good Weekend Celebrates The World Reopening With Special ’52 Weekends Away’ Edition
It has been one long year in which ‘armchair travelling’ has taken on a whole new meaning. But as we ease out of captivity, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age’s Good Weekend will declare the era of the mini-break has begun, with its annual 52 Weekends Away edition this Saturday, October 23. After nearly […]
Edge Creates First Local Campaign For Nevro, “I Am Not My Pain”
Independent creative agency Edge has launched Nevro’s first local campaign, “I am not my pain”. Nevro is a medical technology company offering innovative solutions to chronic pain. Their HFX therapy has been available in Australia since 2011 and is a form of spinal cord stimulation (SCS), where an electrical device is implanted surgically near the […]
Dishing The Dirt On 10’s Upfronts With Beverley McGarvey & Rod Prosser
There was a slew of announcements at 10 ViacomCBS’s Upfronts on Wednesday, so B&T sat down with executive vice president and chief content officer Beverley McGarvey, and chief sales officer Rod Prosser to get the lowdown. The announcements focused heavily on new content across 10, 10Play and Paramount+, as well as new offerings for advertisers. […]
“We’ve Got Massive Goals”: Meet The Foundation Working To Support NSW’s Most Vulnerable Women
In 2020, Jessica Brown took a risk – a risk made even bigger by the impending COVID-19 pandemic – when she quit her job and founded The Warrior Woman foundation. Now, more than a year since Brown started, The Warrior Woman Foundation is looking to grow – and the service it does is essential. The […]
Seven Appoints Tara Carlon As Executive Producer – Digital/Sport
Tara Carlon now left with few excuses in the office footy tipping comp after being named Seven's EP of digital/sport.
Apparent Tunes Up With Sydney Symphony Orchestra After Being Appointed Media Agency Of Record
Coinciding with the launch of its new season, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra has appointed Apparent as their media agency of record. The full service independent will manage all media strategy, planning and buying for the Sydney Symphony following an agency review. The appointment comes as Simone Young makes her debut as the Sydney Symphony’s new […]
Bundaberg & Leos Enlist Comic Becky Lucas To Celebrate The Pubs Reopening
B&T is definitely celebrating the pubs reopening, and that's despite spending most of lockdown pissed.
Burberry Dazzles In Spectacular Spot As Models Literally Take To The Air
Burberry once again chasing the Millennials in spunky new work. Begrudgingly holding on to that whole beige/check thing.
IPG Unveils “Remarkable” 15% Q3 Growth
With COVID behind it and no gigantic meteors on the horizon, Interpublic predicting healthy growth into 2022.
Why Facebook’s Metaverse Will Transform Marketing As We Know It
Metaverse all set to usurp cookieless as the most overused word in the media and marketing industries.
NGINX Launch Parodic “Investigative Reporter” Campaign Via The Misfits Media
The latest NGINX campaign is live as The Misfits Media Company, and NGINX creates parodic ‘investigative reporter’ content with Dan Ilic on the streets of Sydney. The Misfits recently partnered with the APAC marketing team at NGINX to take an investigative deep dive into the world of mobile apps as the good, bad and (even) […]
Pinterest Announces New Tools, Features and Experiences For Users
Pinterest has introduced a new suite of creator and Pinner products and experiences globally, as the platform continues to evolve to become home for the next generation of creators. At its second annual Pinterest Creators Festival, featuring Megan Thee Stallion and Storm Reid. Pinterest creators Kerin Rose Gold, Wendy’s World, Henri Purnell, Carolina Gelen and […]
Digitas Creates Its Own Flavour With Data Driven Beer
Agency Digitas ANZ has developed its own unique brew of beer, galvanizing the team to channel its expertise in data, technology, digital media and creative. The brainchild of senior creative at Digitas, Nick Duron – Digitas’ ‘Unicorn Punch’ comes in alcoholic and non-alcoholic varieties and was created as a means of making Australian and New […]
Afterpay’s New Study Shows How Ys And Z Aussies Are Feeling About Post-Lockdown Life
Afterpay the latest brand to unveil post-lockdown research. Here's hoping we don't get another vax virulent mutation.
Research By Hootsuite And We Are Social Reveals Social Media Usage Has Increased To More Than Half A Billion
New data from Hootsuite and We Are Social reveals that as of June, social media user numbers have jumped by 13 per cent since the same time last year, with the latest data showing an increase of more than half a billion users in just 12 months. The Digital 2021: July Global Statshot report revealed key findings […]
Come From Away Reopens In Sydney!
Producers Rodney Rigby and Junkyard Dog Productions have announced that the worldwide smash hit, Tony and Olivier award-winning musical COME FROM AWAY, has reopened at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney. The pandemic led to all theatre shows closing curtains in Sydney, however, with vaccinations rates soaring and restrictions easing, the theatre is back and Sydney […]
Guardian Australia Launches Revealing Climate Change Podcast, Australia V The Climate
Former PMs, high-ranking politicians and climate experts blow the whistle on how Australia became an international climate change pariah in the new Guardian Australia podcast series, Australia v the climate. Guardian Australia will release a special investigative podcast series ahead of the Cop26 global climate summit, scrutinising Australia’s role in the climate crisis over more […]
Canesten Australia Launches University Of Down Under (#UdoU) Featuring Abbie Chatfield To Teach Aussies About Intimate Health
The new online interactive video course uses ‘never before seen in Australia’ technology to empower and break taboos for Gen Z women, who wish conversations about thrush were more acceptable.
LG SIGNATURE Makes Moves In Partnership With Sydney Dance Company
Do you explode into interpretative dance when opening the fridge? This LG-Sydney Dance Company promo is just the ticket.
Brisbane Brand Agency Type + Pixel Appoints New Creative Lead Eddie Coghlan
Digital-first brand agency Type + Pixel has appointed Eddie Coghlan to the role of Art Director.
Delicious Unveils Expansion Plans As The Brand Celebrates 20 Years!
Delicious celebrates two decades as it contemplates a very dangerous sixth tier to December's vanilla sponge cover.
Facebook Plans To Rename, Rebrand & Focus On Becoming A Metaverse
Zuckerberg set to unveil big changes to his little baby. Also confirms he'd rather be stinking rich than go into space.
Enero’s Q1 Revenues Soar 22.6%
B&T's unsure if Enero boasts Champagne clients on its books, but the corks should be popping on these bubbly numbers.
