Overview
- News Corp’s Herald and Weekly Times argued its July front-page stories had the character of news and served the public interest given Sam Groth’s political ambitions.
- The Groths’ counsel said the articles were baseless gossip sourced from a Liberal MP’s tip to an editor and did not amount to a factual presentation of information.
- Justice Shaun McElwaine reserved a decision on whether to hear the privacy law’s journalist exemption separately and directed the parties to mediation on Friday.
- The court heard the publisher will rely on a public interest defence to defamation rather than truth, with the trial for the defamation and privacy claims set for May.
- The recently enacted privacy law caps damages at up to $478,000 and provides an exemption for professional journalists producing material with the character of news or current affairs.