ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
A local [redacted by legal] has explained to our reporters that they can’t wait to get their hands on the journalists who’ve been writing [redacted by legal] and [redacted by legal] things about them.
Earlier this year, [redacted by legal] was the subject of an investigation by the ABC and the Sydney Morning Herald over alleged [redacted by legal] in Afghanistan – and since then, more examples of [redacted by legal] have come to light.
That’s placing increasing pressure on [redacted by legal] to re-evaluate the relationship they have with [redacted by legal] and the terms of their employment at [redacted by legal].
Chillingly, the threats towards journalists by [redacted by legal] have ushered in a new stage of conflict toward the forth estate by [redacted by legal] and their supporters.
Speaking to The Advocate this morning over the [redacted by legal] saga, this masthead’s in-house counsel Barry Whistler Avenue QC said reporting on this story in a fair and just manner is more dangerous than it may appear.
“The defamation laws in this country are very complex and tipped in favour of the powerful,” he explained.
“It’s not great. The ladder of law has no top and no bottom. I mean, just look at this article I’ve just had to gut. This article, as it was before it came to me, you’d be stripping the walls for the copper wire by close of business. First, we’d get an email saying take the article down. We’d laugh. Then Clancy would draw a crude drawing of [redacted by legal] and [redacted by legal] engaging in a [redacted by legal] and mail it back,”
“Then a huge A4 envelope would turn up from some mid-tier domestic firm like [redacted by legal] or [redacted by legal]. Then shit would hit the fan. Assets would be transferred. Intellectual property would be assigned to Errol’s holding company in Malta. It’d be bedlam,”
“Then [redacted by legal] would probably turn up out of the shadows and chop Clancy’s [redacted by legal] off.”
“It’d be bad, so publish the article with my edits.”
More to come.
