Lachlan Murdoch, who is the world’s best-known online stalker of women and children, sues news publisher Crikey for defamation

By Shane Dowling on August 27, 2022 • ( 11 Comments )

Lachlan Murdoch, billionaire Fox News and News Corp owner, is one of the most morally and ethically bankrupt business person the world has ever seen and he is currently trying to hide some of his crimes by suing the relatively small Australian news publisher Crikey.

I doubt Lachlan Murdoch was going to sue Crikey, but I suspect the game-changer was a full-page ad that Crikey ran in The New York Times calling on Lachlan to back up his threats to sue by filing and serving his defamation claim.

CNN reported:

Two months ago, Australian media site Crikey called “Murdoch” an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol. Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch’s lawyers have been battling Crikey ever since.

On Monday, Crikey published an open letter and took out a full-page ad in the New York Times, challenging Murdoch to sue the company. Tuesday, Murdoch did just that. (Click here to read more)

To understand why Lachlan Murdoch is suing Crikey you need to know who and what he is, how he operates and how it ties in with his current legal troubles in the US.

While Murdoch’s lawyers had been battling Crikey since the 29th of June when the article was published, I doubt they were going to sue but once The New York Times ad was published that likely changed things as that ad could potentially be used by the 2 US companies suing Murdoch and his companies for a total of over $4 billion.

The reason being is that the 2 US defamation cases against the Murdochs and their companies at least in part turns on proving that the Murdochs were personally involved in pushing various lies about Donald Trump and the 2020 US Presidential election being rigged. (Click here to read more)

If Lachlan’s defamation case against Crikey goes to a hearing it could end up being the Murdoch Royal Commission many people have been calling for as a half-decent barrister would go to town on Lachlan Murdoch on the witness stand. Crikey would possibly subpoena Rupert Murdoch to give evidence as well if Rupert wasn’t called as a witness for Lachlan.

The Crikey lawsuit

Lachlan Murdoch suing Crikey comes down to the last paragraph in one article which was published on the 29th of June 2022 which is:

“If Trump ends up in the dock for a variety of crimes committed as president, as he should be, not all his co-conspirators will be there with him. Nixon was famously the ‘unindicted co-conspirator’ in Watergate. The Murdochs and their slew of poisonous Fox News commentators are the unindicted co-conspirators of this continuing crisis.” (Click here to read the article on the statement of claim which starts at page 36)

The whole matter is frivolous to say the least and Murdoch could fire back with his media assets which are 1000 times more powerful if he wanted to. But as I said it is not about Crikey it is about the 2 US defamation cases that could be very damaging and costly for Lachlan and Rupert Murdoch.

The below video gives an overview of this article and some further information:

Lachlan the online stalker

This part might seem off-topic from the Crikey lawsuit but isn’t as it shows how all the News Corp journalists fall into line and push Murdoch’s lies when required and that is a key part in relation to the allegations that all the Fox journalists (propagandists) fell into line pushing Trump lies about the election being rigged.

What makes Lachlan Murdoch such a sick person is that he uses journalists employed by his companies as a dog pack to relentlessly attack anyone and everyone that he thinks is a threat to his business interests and this includes attacking women like former Australian of the Year Grace Tame and children like climate activist Greta Thunberg.

One of Lachlan Murdoch’s highest profile attack dogs is Andrew Bolt and below you can see he doesn’t hold back in attacking Grace Tame in January this year:

Andrew Bolt doesn’t miss Grace Tame, and he doesn’t hide why he is attacking her. He is attacking her because she embarrassed Scott Morrison who has handed more than $100 million to Murdoch’s News Corp via jobkeeper, rural media grants and the infamous $40 million to Fox Sports for more coverage of women’s sports.

Andrew Bolt’s attack on Grace Tame was not isolated as Lachlan Murdoch has had his whole dog pack attacking Grace Tame ever since she started criticising Scott Morrison. News Corp’s Peter Van Onselen also obeyed Lachlan Murdoch’s orders to attack Grace Tame in the media and he was backed up by another News Corp propagandist in Samantha Maiden. (Click here to read more)

And of course, all of the Sky News dog pack attack Grace Tame on the orders of Lachlan Murdoch. This is the type of issue that could be tested during the Crikey defamation case if it goes to hearing which makes it so dangerous for Lachlan Murdoch as it goes to whether journalists and commentators take orders from Lachlan Murdoch to push certain stories and to attack certain people.

If Crikey’s lawyers can prove that Lachlan Murdoch has given orders to staff, directly or indirectly, to attack Grace Tame it would go a long way to helping Crikey prove that the Murdoch’s gave orders for their Fox staff to push the stolen election lie in the US if Crikey decide to use the truth defence.

Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson and Lachlan Murdoch

US defamation lawsuits

Lachlan and Rupert Murdoch and their companies Fox News and Fox Corp are being sued by 2 voting technology companies Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic for defamation over false vote-rigging allegations. It was reported in June 2022 in relation to Dominion’s lawsuit:

In June, Dominion Voting Systems, which provided voting machines to 28 states, was given the go-ahead to sue Fox Corp, the parent company of Fox News, in a case that could draw Rupert Murdoch and his son, Lachlan, into the spotlight.

In the $1.6bn lawsuit, Dominion accuses Fox Corp, and the Murdochs specifically, of allowing Fox News to amplify false claims that the voting company had rigged the election for Joe Biden.

Fox Corp had attempted to have the suit dismissed, but a Delaware judge said Dominion had shown adequate evidence for the suit to proceed. Dominion is already suing Fox News, as well as OAN and Newsmax.

“These allegations support a reasonable inference that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch either knew Dominion had not manipulated the election or at least recklessly disregarded the truth when they allegedly caused Fox News to propagate its claims about Dominion,” Judge Eric Davis (Click here to read more)

“In court papers, Dominion claimed that Fox Corp, through Chairman Rupert Murdoch and his son Chief Executive Lachlan Murdoch directly participated in, approved and controlled the network’s election coverage and its aftermath.”

“Dominion has adequately pleaded actual malice with respect to Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch,” the judge wrote. (Click here to read more)

And in relation to Smartmatic’s lawsuit:

Election technology company Smartmatic filed a massive lawsuit Thursday against Fox News, saying the network and some of its biggest on-air personalities made it into a villain and perpetuated false claims about the recent election.

The suit names Fox stars Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro, as well as Trump allies Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.

The defamation and disparagement lawsuit seeks more than $2.7 billion, citing damage from what Smartmatic calls a “disinformation campaign” that was waged by people who were unhappy with President Biden’s victory – but who also hoped to profit from former President Donald Trump’s persistent and erroneous claims that the election was fraudulent.

“They knew the election was not stolen,” the company says it in a court filing. “They knew the election was not rigged or fixed. They knew these truths just as they knew the Earth is round and two plus two equals four.” (Click here to read more)

Where are the 2 US defamation cases now?

Some of the biggest names at Fox News have been questioned, or are scheduled to be questioned in the coming days, by lawyers representing Dominion Voting Systems in its $1.6 billion defamation suit against the network, as the election technology company presses ahead with a case that First Amendment scholars say is extraordinary in its scope and significance.

Sean Hannity became the latest Fox star to be called for a deposition by Dominion’s legal team, according to a new filing in Delaware Superior Court. He is scheduled to appear on Wednesday.

Tucker Carlson is set to face questioning on Friday. Lou Dobbs, whose Fox Business show was canceled last year, is scheduled to appear on Tuesday. Others who have been deposed recently include Jeanine Pirro, Steve Doocy and a number of high-level Fox producers, court records show.

People with knowledge of the case, who would speak only anonymously, said they expected that the chief executive of Fox News Media, Suzanne Scott, could be one of the next to be deposed, along with the president of Fox News, Jay Wallace. Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, whose family owns Fox, could follow in the coming weeks.

The depositions are among the clearest indications yet of how aggressively Dominion is moving forward with its suit, which is set to go to trial early next year, and of the legal pressure building on the nation’s most powerful conservative media company. There have been no moves from either side to discuss a possible settlement, people with knowledge of the case have said.

It is common for large media companies like Fox to settle such cases well before they reach the point where journalists or senior executives are forced to sit for questioning by lawyers from the opposing side. But both Dominion and Fox appear to be preparing for the likelihood that the case will end up in front of a jury. (Click here to read more)

What the Dominion and Smartmatic defamation show is that Lachlan Murdoch is under huge pressure to stamp out any allegations that he or his father had any control over the lies published by Fox News regarding false vote rigging allegations in the US elections.

And both Lachlan and Rupert are likely to be forced to give evidence under oath (Deposed) to Dominion’s lawyers in the next few weeks which would have them extremely worried.

And that is why I think Lachlan pulled the trigger on suing Crikey because once Crikey published the ad in The New York Times calling Lachlan’s bluff to sue for defamation the Dominion and Smartmatic lawyers were always going to have a close look at it and maybe use it in their lawsuits against the Murdoch’s if Lachlan didn’t sue Crikey.

But whether I am right or wrong about Lachlan’s motivation for his defamation case against Crikey he now has 3 defamation cases that are his own making which are likely to blow up in his face.

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