A small independent news website in Australia is taking on the Murdoch empire, buying a full-page ad in the New York Times inviting Lachlan Murdoch to sue them over an alleged defamation.
In dispute is an apparent opinion piece, and associated social media posts, published by Crikey.com.au in June headlined: “Trump is a confirmed unhinged traitor. And Murdoch is his unindicted co-conspirator” – analysing the 6 January insurrection by supporters of defeated presidential candidate Donald Trump. In legal letters published by Crikey, lawyers for Lachlan Murdoch argue the publications contain “scandalous allegations of criminal conduct and conspiracy” and carry a number of “highly defamatory and false imputations about him”.
Written by Crikey’s politics editor, Bernard Keane, the 29 June piece mentions the Murdoch name twice: in the headline and in the closing paragraphs.
The article is largely concerned with the evidence of former White House staffer Cassidy Hutchison to the US house select committee on the January 6 attack. Hutchison did not mention Murdoch in her testimony.
Having discussed Trump’s continued peddling of the “big lie” that he won the 2020 US presidential election – he lost 306 electoral college votes to 232, and the popular ballot by 7m votes – Keane argues “the world’s most powerful media company” continues “to peddle the lie of the stolen election and play down the insurrection Trump created”.
Keane argued former US president Richard Nixon was infamously the “unindicted co-conspirator” in the Watergate scandal and drew an analogy that “the Murdochs and their slew of poisonous Fox News commentators are the unindicted co-conspirators” in the events of 6 January.
The piece does not name Lachlan Murdoch individually.
In the letters sent to Crikey, and published by the independent news site Monday afternoon, lawyers for Lachlan Murdoch, patriarch Rupert’s eldest son and chief executive of Fox Corporation, argued he was personally identifiable by the article and he was defamed. They allege the publication of the article was “malicious” and “manifestly indefensible”.
“The imputations are false and are calculated to harm Mr Murdoch, both personally and professionally, and should not have been published,” an initial notice of concern said.
Among 14 imputations the article is alleged to carry are: “Mr Murdoch: illegally conspired with Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 presidential election result; … illegally conspired with Donald Trump to incite a mob with murderous intent to march on the Capitol; … was a co-conspirator in a plot with Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 election result which costs people their lives; has conspired with Donald Trump to commit the offence of treason against the United States of America to overturn the 2020 election outcome; … should be indicted with the…
Read More:Crikey: small independent news website challenges Lachlan Murdoch to sue it
