Lachlan Murdoch Sues Australian Outlet That Called Family ‘Unindicted Co-Conspirators’ In January 6

Topline

Lachlan Murdoch, son of News Corp. head Rupert Murdoch, filed a defamation action against an Australian online outlet Tuesday, after it accused the Murdochs of being “unindicted co-conspirators” in the January 6 attack on the Capitol building, as the Murdochs themselves come under legal scrutiny for false claims Fox News made about election fraud.

Lachlan Murdoch, co-chairman of 21st Century Fox, at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July … [+] 13, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.

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Key Facts

Murdoch filed a statement of claim for defamation in Australia’s Commonwealth Courtsagainst Private Media, the publisher of online outlet Crikey, and its leadership, court records show.

The filing comes in response to an article published June 29 highlighting testimony about former President Donald Trump to the House January 6 Committee, which is headlined, “Trump is a confirmed unhinged traitor. And Murdoch is his unindicted co-conspirator.”

“The Murdochs and their slew of poisonous Fox News commentators are the unindicted co-conspirators of this continuing crisis,” the article states, and Lachlan Murdoch’s attorneys sent Crikey a letter threatening they would take defamation action over the article and social media posts promoting it.

While Crikey initially removed the article, it then republished it, along with the outlet’s full correspondence with Murdoch’s legal team, and the publication took out advertisements in the New York Times and Canberra Times with an open letter that encouraged Murdoch to sue.

Murdoch accused Crikey in court documents of defaming him by suggesting he “was a co-conspirator in a plot with Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 election result which costs people their lives,” which allegedly harmed him through “the allegations of criminality” in Crikey’s piece and the “sensational language used,” the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Peter Fray, Crikey’s editor-in-chief, said in a statement Tuesday the outlet “stands by its story” and “look[s] forward to defending our independent public interest journalism in court against the considerable resources of Lachlan Murdoch.”

Fox News has not yet responded to a request for comment.

What To Watch For

The Herald notes the defamation case could be the first high-profile test of new defamation laws in Australia, which more heavily protect speech that’s in the public interest and requires plaintiffs to prove they’ve suffered serious harm from the alleged defamatory speech. There’s a cap of $443,000 Australian dollars for non-economic damages in defamation cases, but Crikey could have to pay more than that to Murdoch if it’s found to have engaged in “improper or unjustifiable conduct,” the Herald notes.

Crucial Quote

Crikey’s claims about Murdoch in its piece and in social media posts are “false and are calculated to harm Mr. Murdoch, both personally and professionally, and should not have been published,” Murdoch’s attorney John Churchill wrote in a June 30 letter to Crikey, which the outlet has made public.

Chief Critic

“We didn’t start this senseless altercation with Lachlan Murdoch. We may not be as big, rich, powerful or important as him, but we have one common interest: we’re a news company that believes in publishing, not suppressing, public interest journalism,” Crikey said in its open letter daring Murdoch to sue the outlet. “That’s why we’re looking forward to meeting Lachlan Murdoch in court, as he has foreshadowed, to test the defamation laws he and his editors constantly complain about.”

Key Background

Murdoch’s lawsuit comes as he and father Rupert are being sued for defamation by Dominion Voting Systems, after Fox News spread false election fraud claims involving the company’s voting machines after the 2020 election. Dominion and rival Smartmatic are also suing Fox News directly in court, but Dominion has filed a separate $1.6 billion defamation case against parent company Fox Corporation over the Murdochs’ behavior specifically, alleging the executives “exerted direct control over Fox News’ programming decisions” and are thus responsible for its allegedly defamatory claims. While Fox News and the Murdochs have opposed the allegations and maintained any statements made on the air are protected by the First Amendment, cases against both Fox News and the Fox Corporation have been allowed to move forward in court. While the Murdochs are best known in the U.S. for owning Fox News and other publications, News Corporation also owns many major media networks and publications in Australia, and has previously railed against the country’s defamation laws in court and urged for them to be changed.