This article is part of a series about a legal threat sent to Crikey by Lachlan Murdoch, over an article Crikey published about the January 6 riots in the US. For the series introduction go here, and for the full series go here.
Dear Lachlan,
As you know, nearly two months ago Crikey published a piece of commentary about the sorry state of US politics, and the January 6 insurrection, that mentioned the Murdoch family name twice.
You responded through your lawyer with a series of letters in which you accused us of defaming you personally in that story.
Crikey is an independent Australian news website, launched in 2000, covering politics, media and public issues. We at Crikey strongly support freedom of opinion and public interest journalism. We are concerned that Australia’s defamation laws are too restrictive.
Today in Crikey, we are publishing all the legal demands and accusations from your lawyer, and the replies from our lawyers, in full, so people can judge your allegations for themselves.
We want to defend those allegations in court. You have made it clear in your lawyer’s letters you intend to take court action to resolve this alleged defamation.
We await your writ so that we can test this important issue of freedom of public interest journalism in a courtroom.
Yours sincerely,
Eric Beecher
Chairman, Private Media
Peter Fray
Managing Editor, Private Media
Editor-in-Chief, Crikey
