Retired journalist Ray Chesterton awarded $90,000 damages over a “comprehensive assault” on his reputation by John Laws. Despite his denials, Justice Lucy McCallum finds Chesterton was indeed known as “Ankles” (i.e. lower than a c***) ... more

Things become even more interesting as the District Court gets not one, but two Defamation List judges and a Defamation Panel … Does this mean the court is expecting an avalanche of actions? The Gazette ponders the possibilities ... more

NSW District Court Judge Judith Gibson refuses to strike out six imputations pleaded by a former NSW policeman The Daily Telegraph included in a “rogue’s gallery of corrupt cops” ... more

Channel Nine journalists escape prison terms and criminal records over breaches of the Listening Devices Act. NSW Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Fullerton finds that neither Andrew Byrne nor Ben Fordham knew they were breaking the law, because they were wrongly advised ... more

Is the District Court jury issue dead in the water? And what is Judge Judith Gibson doing hearing interlocutory arguments in several concurrent defamation cases? The Gazette reports that once-troubled waters appear to be becalmed – for now ... more

NSW Supreme Court Justice Peter McClellan has awarded former terrorist suspect Mamdouh Habib minimal damages of $5000 over a defamatory column by The Daily Telegraph’s Piers Akerman ... more

David Levine is a former Defamation List judge of the NSW Supreme Court. Although retired, he continues to take a keen interest in media law and agreed to comment on some recent and disturbing developments ... more

The high cost of Alan Jones … Today Tonight story injuncted … Westpoint founder out of time … Alan Bond settles with The West ... “Love rat” settles with The Telegraph ... Aboriginal art dealer sues the ABC … Anthony Cummings sues Fairfax (twice) ... Who’s appealing what … Justice McClellan’s meeting of the minds ... more

More interesting developments down at the Dizzo as Judge Leonard Levy neatly side-steps a call to disqualify himself on the basis of apprehended bias ... more

The rumour mill continues to churn around the future of juries in defamation hearings at the District Court. The Chief Judge of that court, Reg Blanch, declined an interview with the Gazette. No so, the Supreme Court’s Chief Judge at Common Law, Peter McClellan ... more

A part of the contextual truth defence bites the dust as NSW Supreme Court Justice Carolyn Simpson decides that pleading back a plaintiff’s imputations is not available to defendants under the 2005 Defamation Act ... Is a re-draft on the cards? ... more

Qualified privilege gets a top thrashing … High Court finds that wrongly bounced cheques issued by Westpac defamed a Sydney real estate agent because they were not published on an occasion of qualified privilege ... more

A Current Affair reporter Ben Fordham and former producer Andrew Byrne found guilty of breaches of the Listening Devices Act. Their employer, Channel Nine, gets off scot-free ... more

Mamdouh Habib’s barrister takes an inventive approach to damages and asks that publicity given to the initial judgment – later overturned – be taken as “furthering the harm to the plaintiff’s reputation”. Nationwide News resists ... more

Is there a plan to phase juries out of defamation hearings at the NSW District Court? Read what Judge Leonard Levy had to say to media lawyers who first called for him to stand down on the basis of bias – and then withdrew the application ... more

Judith Gibson’s recent departure as Defamation List Judge at the NSW District Court took everyone by surprise – and caused some speculation about the future of juries in defamation trials. Her Honour agreed to talk to the Gazette about this, and other media law issues ... more