(RepublicanInformer.com)- Crikey, an independent Australian news site, just sent an open letter to Lachlan Murdoch, the CEO of Fox Corp., after they accused Crikey of slander. Lawyers for Lachlan Murdoch say that an opinion piece in July in the independent publication unfairly linked Fox News and the Murdoch family to what happened on January 6.
Editor-in-Chief Peter Fray wrote that on June 29, they published an article that “dared to mention” the word ‘Murdoch’ in relation to Trump, Fox News, and the Capitol riot on January 6th. Lachlan Murdoch has threatened to sue them because he claims the piece defamed him.
Crikey’s opinion piece about the relationship between Fox News and Donald Trump and the media outlet’s role in aiding a supposed attempted coup just days after the explosive testimony of former senior White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson. This prompted Lachlan Murdoch to threaten the independent news outlet.
The statement “Trump is a verified deranged traitor” appears throughout the article. And Murdoch is an unindicted co-conspirator. “If Trump ends up in the dock for a number of crimes committed while president, as he should be, not all of his co-conspirators will be there with him,” novelist and politics editor Bernard Keane wrote.
This doesn’t sound like a mere “mention of the word Murdoch” in relation to Trump.
Richard Nixon and Donald Trump have been compared, but Keane refuted this claim by stating that Nixon “didn’t have the support of the world’s most powerful media company, which continues — even in the face of mountains of evidence of Trump’s treachery and crimes — to peddle the lie of the stolen election and play down the insurrection Trump created.”
On behalf of Lachlan Murdoch, John Churchill wrote to Fray and Keane the day after the article appeared, claiming that Crikey’s publication of the article and related social media posts on Facebook and Twitter were “indefensible” and that “The imputations are false and are calculated to harm Mr. Murdoch, both personally and professionally, and should don’t have been published.”
Churchill not only asked that the piece be taken down immediately but also wrote his supervisor a letter of apology.
Crikey and its editors doubled down:
For decades the Murdochs have asserted a commitment to “free speech” and the importance of disagreeing voices in the media sphere. However, attempting to silence a dissenting voice contradicts the claims that the Fox News empire was built on a commitment to the “fair and balanced.” Apparently, that Murdoch privilege is reserved for gaslighting and right-wing propaganda – those spreading truth need not apply.
“Trump is a verified deranged traitor” and “Murdoch is an unindicted co-conspirator.”
That sounds like slander because Trump’s treason has not been “verified.” Therefore, Murdoch cannot be a co-conspirator.
