Lachlan Murdoch has paid more than $1.3 million in legal costs to Private Media, the publisher of Crikey, after dropping defamation action against the independent Australian media company.
Murdoch originally sued Crikey’s politics editor Bernard Keane and former editor-in-chief Peter Fray over an opinion piece published last year linking the Murdoch family to the January 6th attacks on the US Capitol.
The Crikey opinion piece in question, titled Trump is a confirmed unhinged traitor. And Murdoch is his unindicted co-conspirator, was initially taken down on June 29 of last year, but was restored on August 15.
In February, a court ruled that Murdoch could expand his defamation claim to include Eric Beecher, chairman, publisher and co-founder of Private Media, and Will Hayward, CEO of Private Media.
On Tuesday, the publication reported that the Fox News CEO agreed to cover Private Media’s costs of $1.3 million in full which was more than the $1.1 million asked for, with the condition the independent Australian media company donate all $588,735 secured from supporters of its GoFundMe defence fund to the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom (AJF).
Hayward was more than happy to pass on the funds donated by Crikey’s supporters as part of the condition set by Murdoch. Hayward said: “This money was raised from the goodwill of people across Australia who believe in the importance of free speech. These funds will now go to support the alliance and its team as they champion that cause across the world.”
The Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom’s executive director Peter Greste said the funds of the donation will go to good use.
“We will put the funds to good use, to promote greater press freedom, which is essential to a healthy democracy. This includes campaigning for a media freedom act, supported by a voluntary membership that will recognise quality journalism,” Greste said.
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Top image: Lachlan Murdoch