Posted on Aug 22, 2022
Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch threatened Aussie news site 'Crikey.' It's fighting back
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https://www.npr.org/2022/08/22/ [login to see] /fox-news-lachlan-murdoch-australia-crikey-capitol-insurrection-jan-6
Fox Corp CEO and Executive Chairman Lachlan Murdoch — already busy fighting two multi-billion dollar defamation lawsuits aimed at Fox News here in the U.S. — has threatened a news organization in his family's home country of Australia with legal action.
The threat stems from commentaries accusing him of being responsible for rhetoric on the network that helped fuel the Jan. 6, 2021, siege of the U.S. Capitol.
Now the Aussie political news site Crikey has a message: Bring it on.
"Lachlan Murdoch appears desperate to disassociate himself from the actions of Fox in inciting the January 6th insurrection," Crikey's editor-in-chief, Peter Fray tells NPR from Sydney. "And he's taking quite extraordinary steps to shut down public debate in this country."
Fray says his news site was not literally saying Murdoch personally incited people to violence that day. But, Fray says, "the buck has to stop somewhere."
So, in full-page ads set to appear today in The New York Times and the Canberra Times in the Australian capital city, Fray and Eric Beecher, the chairman of Crikey's parent company, Private Media, proclaim they welcomed Murdoch's threat of a lawsuit.
Fox Corp CEO and Executive Chairman Lachlan Murdoch — already busy fighting two multi-billion dollar defamation lawsuits aimed at Fox News here in the U.S. — has threatened a news organization in his family's home country of Australia with legal action.
The threat stems from commentaries accusing him of being responsible for rhetoric on the network that helped fuel the Jan. 6, 2021, siege of the U.S. Capitol.
Now the Aussie political news site Crikey has a message: Bring it on.
"Lachlan Murdoch appears desperate to disassociate himself from the actions of Fox in inciting the January 6th insurrection," Crikey's editor-in-chief, Peter Fray tells NPR from Sydney. "And he's taking quite extraordinary steps to shut down public debate in this country."
Fray says his news site was not literally saying Murdoch personally incited people to violence that day. But, Fray says, "the buck has to stop somewhere."
So, in full-page ads set to appear today in The New York Times and the Canberra Times in the Australian capital city, Fray and Eric Beecher, the chairman of Crikey's parent company, Private Media, proclaim they welcomed Murdoch's threat of a lawsuit.
Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch threatened Aussie news site 'Crikey.' It's fighting back
Posted from npr.org
Australia
Fox News Channel
Lawsuit
Posted >1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."The Crikey column that started the spat
The latest clash between the Murdochs and the Australian press hinges on a June 29th column by Crikey's politics editor, Bernard Keane, inspired by the revelations of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection.
Keane made two references to a Murdoch, though it's not clear whether the initial one pointed at Lachlan or Rupert.
The headline of the column, unmistakably a work of political commentary, calls Trump a "a confirmed unhinged traitor" and goes on to say "Murdoch is his unindicted co-conspirator."
The column's final line reaches a grand rhetorical crescendo to make a case for the Murdochs' moral culpability: "the Murdochs and their slew of poisonous Fox News commentators are the unindicted co-conspirators of this continuing crisis."
Churchill, the attorney for Fox and Murdoch, argues that connecting the Murdochs to such violent acts is unfair, inaccurate and ultimately defamatory.
Fox's attorneys have taken the first steps toward filing such a lawsuit against Crikey. In Australia, such cases are much easier to win than in the U.S.
"We're unwilling to be bullied by Lachlan Murdoch any more," Crikey's Fray tells NPR. "We thought it was important to make a stand for free speech and for independent journalism — something Lachlan Murdoch, his father Rupert, and his grandfather, too, have stood up for over the years."
..."The Crikey column that started the spat
The latest clash between the Murdochs and the Australian press hinges on a June 29th column by Crikey's politics editor, Bernard Keane, inspired by the revelations of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection.
Keane made two references to a Murdoch, though it's not clear whether the initial one pointed at Lachlan or Rupert.
The headline of the column, unmistakably a work of political commentary, calls Trump a "a confirmed unhinged traitor" and goes on to say "Murdoch is his unindicted co-conspirator."
The column's final line reaches a grand rhetorical crescendo to make a case for the Murdochs' moral culpability: "the Murdochs and their slew of poisonous Fox News commentators are the unindicted co-conspirators of this continuing crisis."
Churchill, the attorney for Fox and Murdoch, argues that connecting the Murdochs to such violent acts is unfair, inaccurate and ultimately defamatory.
Fox's attorneys have taken the first steps toward filing such a lawsuit against Crikey. In Australia, such cases are much easier to win than in the U.S.
"We're unwilling to be bullied by Lachlan Murdoch any more," Crikey's Fray tells NPR. "We thought it was important to make a stand for free speech and for independent journalism — something Lachlan Murdoch, his father Rupert, and his grandfather, too, have stood up for over the years."
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