Crikey’s cash plea after strategy exposed

A day after Crikey’s secret money-making strategy to incite a defamation writ from Lachlan Murdoch was exposed, the online news outlet has renewed its plea for donations.

Crikey editor-in-chief Peter Fray. Picture: Hollie Adams

A day after Crikey’s secret money-making strategy to incite a defamation writ from Lachlan Murdoch was exposed, the online news outlet has renewed its plea for donations to help fund its court battle with the News Corp chair.

Mr Murdoch launched defamation action in August over a Crikey article claiming the Murdochs were “co-conspirators” during the January 6 riots spearheaded by supporters of former US president Donald Trump.

The article, written by journalist Bernard Keane, was first published on June 29, then removed one day later after Mr Murdoch sent a legal warning. On Monday, the Federal Court heard allegations that prior to re-posting the article on August 15, Crikey had devised a “pre-planned and prepared public relations campaign” that relied on Mr Murdoch launching defamation proceedings against it.

The court heard fresh details of how Crikey had allegedly ­engaged the services of public ­relations firm Populares to engineer the deliberate strategy that would incite Mr Murdoch to sue – a tactic which the online news outlet hoped would drive more subscriptions and sell more ­merchandise.

Mr Murdoch’s barrister, Sue Chrysanthou SC, told the court that Crikey had received $1m from new subscribers and donations after the lawsuit was launched.

She also said Crikey’s PR campaign undermined its claims to a public interest defence. “It kills the public interest defence: how can a person with a straight face claim a public interest journalism defence in these circumstances for an article that wasn’t even … newsworthy?” she said.

On Tuesday, the news website again called on its readers to “support our defence fund”, having launched a similar fundraising driver last year.

“We’ve been open all along about the principles we’re standing up for. We feel just as strongly about those principles and about free speech as we did when this started. We look forward to defending our actions in court.

“But we do need your support to keep fighting this battle. With the court date now shifted to ­October, we expect our legal costs to escalate significantly.”

Lawyers for Private Media, the company that owns Crikey, deny that Populares’ advice was “somehow guiding” Crikey and Private Media’s actions.

The defamation trial is scheduled to begin on October 9.

News Corp is the publisher of The Australian.