A discussion of contemporary issues in media ethics, with olives and a twist. Made with only the freshest ingredients, shaken, stirred and poured over ice. I should also mention that I do like the odd, occasional martini. Bombay Sapphire gin and Lillet, dry and plenty of salty olives. Welcome to this cocktail of journalism and alcohol. A fine combination!

Tuesday, 10 July 2007

An intersting defamation case from Australia

'Pervert's mates' win $480,000 from newspaper - National - smh.com.au

An interesting defamation case from Australia.

IN A startling twist to the story of the disgraced public prosecutor Patrick Power, 16 of his influential colleagues and friends have won $480,000 from The Daily Telegraph in settlement of a defamation action.

They were among a group of august legal and business identities, family and friends who wrote references for Power in the course of his criminal prosecution on charges of possessing child pornography.

One of them - the Nudie juice founder Tim Pethick - is married to an executive at News Limited, the paper's publisher.

"Pervert and his 59 mates," read the Telegraph's headline on the day that it reported the names of Power's referees.

A follow-up story in The Sunday Telegraph named a full list of 84 referees, picturing some with the caption "Named and Shamed". The newspapers' website also published a series of readers' comments that were central to the threatened defamation action.

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