Judge fumes as Private Media proposes new defence against Murdoch
In an interlocutory hearing of its defamation case against New Corp’s chairman Lachlan Murdoch, Crikey’s owner Private Media has looked to connect its defence and an ongoing lawsuit against Fox News in the US.
According to ABC, The Federal Court heard on Tuesday that Private Media had asked to update its defence for the fourth time. This was in response to amended claims from Murdoch’s team last December, which sought to expand the scope of the case.
The request comes after new materials were revealed in a US$1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News from Dominion Voting Systems, where Fox News’ claims about Dominion and the role it played in allowing voter fraud in influencing the 2020 presidential election were brought forward for defamation.
Private Media’s defence attorney, Michael Hodge KC, told the court that those materials went to the “heart of Lachlan Murdoch’s reputation”, including internal correspondence within the Murdoch family and with Fox News executives.
“The applicant could have stopped Fox News channel from promoting the lie,” he said.
The case’s judge, Justice Michael Wigney, said he was considering sending the parties back to mediation, after hearing that allowing the new defence could push the October trial date further. The hearing was originally set for trial in March, but was pushed back to October after Murdoch sought to add Private Media chairman Eric Beecher and CEO Will Hayward to the case.
Other respondents of the case include Crikey’s political journalist, Bernard Keane, and Peter Fray, who was the managing editor of Private Media and editor-in-chief for Crikey, but was made redundant recently.
“There does seem to be a hint that this case is being driven more by, and I say this with the greatest respect, ego and hubris and ideology than anything else,” he said.
Private Media was given until 11 April to address outstanding issues raise against its proposed defence.
This article has been updated since publishing.
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Darcy Song was a reporter at Mumbrella, covering media owners, adtech and social platforms. She left in October 2023.
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Seems like the Murdoch’s may be influencing the judges decision. The recent events in the USA whereby Rupert Murdoch stated under oath, unequivocally, that the Murdoch Media made a commercial choice to continue telling outright lies to their audience in order to make more money. The sad part about this, is that Murdoch’s Audience love being lied to. Sounds insane, but it’s the only rational explanation. Cheers from Michael. Australia.
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