Malcolm Turnbull slams ‘hypocritical’ Lachlan Murdoch as he files defamation suit on Crikey
Lachlan Murdoch, co-chairman of News Corp and executive chairman of Fox Corp has filed a defamation suit against independent news website Crikey, which has been called ‘hypocritical’ by former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull this morning.
The former Coalition PM appeared on the ABC’s RN Breakfast show this morning with Patricia Karvelas to speak about Scott Morrison and the past week’s revelations, however towards the end of the interview, Karvelas switched the focus to the ongoing feud between Crikey and Murdoch, son of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch.
Turnbull stated he is “very surprised” by a decision from Murdoch to push ahead with legal proceedings in the Federal Court, adding “very few people have defamed more people than the Murdochs over the years through their media organisations”.
Lachlan Murdoch speaking at Mumbrella360 in 2014
“They’re always bleating about freedom of speech, and how the defamation laws are too harsh and how they stifle free speech, but here we have this tiny little newsletter in Australia, Crikey […] but the reality is the role of Fox News, which of course belongs to Rupert Murdoch, in the whole January 6 attempted coup by Donald Trump is a matter of enormous public interest.”
“The reality is, the big lie that fuelled that coup, namely that Trump had won the 2020 election and Biden had stolen it, that big lie was propagated, and amplified and promoted by Fox News.”
Turnbull continued: “January 6 could not have happened without the toxic influence of Fox News. Rupert Murdoch has done more damage to American democracy than any other individual alive today, and he has done it through Fox News.”
Crikey, which is owned by independent publisher Private Media earlier this week published “The Lachlan Murdoch Letters” on its website, in a “bring it on” style approach to the media executive. This included a series of legal correspondence between Crikey and Murdoch’s legal representation, alongside a number of further analysis and opinion pieces from Private Media chairman, Eric Beecher, editor-in-chief Peter Fray, CEO Will Hayward, and political editor Bernard Keane.
Eric Beecher: ‘We didn’t start this senseless altercation with Lachlan Murdoch’
The legal spat stems from an article Keane penned in late June this year, titled ‘Trump is a confirmed unhinged traitor. And Murdoch is his unindicted co-conspirator’ in which the Murdoch name was mentioned twice, once in the headline and once at the bottom of the piece. Lachlan Murdoch is not mentioned specifically.
Murdoch’s representatives claimed that the article was “unwarranted attack on my client, without any notice and in complete disregard to the facts” and was additionally “ malicious and aggravates the harm to my client”.
Chaiman Eric Beecher wrote on Monday: “We are publishing these letters because we believe they expose the normally concealed world of Australian media power, in its most bullying form.”
Yesterday, Murdoch filed a claim against Private Media in the NSW registry of the Federal Court, with both Fray and Keane listed as the respondents.
Mumbrella does not endorse any of the claims made by Turnbull, Crikey or Murdoch in this case.
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Calum Jaspan was news editor at Mumbrella, based in Melbourne. He was also the producer and host of the Mumbrellacast. He left Mumbrella in May 2023.
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Well said Malcolm.
Hard to disagree with anything Crikey said. But Murdoch figures Australian defamation laws will work in his favour.
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If Turnbull is so concerned about the David v Goliath nature of this action he can dust off his legal hat and act for Crikey
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Kettle, meet pot. I wonder if News Corp is signed up to the Global Alliance for Responsible Media? Hypocrites. Mind you, no clients of any stature refusing to spend with them. Plenty of shame to go around.
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