Ben Roberts-Smith faces defamation case setback, losing bid to access documents containing journos’ sources
Former Special Air Services soldier Ben Roberts-Smith will not be able to force Nine newspaper journalists to hand over almost 50 documents they say could reveal their sources.
The judgment, handed down yesterday in the Federal Court, is the latest update in the Victoria Cross recipient’s defamation case against The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, which hinges on a series of 2018 articles by Walkley Award-winning journalists Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters claiming he committed war crimes while deployed overseas.
Well that’s that then. Get accused of murder and no-one needs to reveal where the evidence came from if it’s a journalist reporting the details. How does that work ?
Replace “murder” with “war-crime”, which I’m sure you’ll find is well outside the jurisdiction of any local laws. And yes, the conduct of the ADF is certainly within the sphere of public interest.
How does that work you ask.
It works very well in countries that have Freedom of the Press.
While this may influence his trial by media and public opinion, it’s not going to matter in the courtroom and his boss is supporting him, so his livelihood is secure.
Report away all you want Nick – does anybody really care about a dead villager half a world away? Doesn’t sound like it!
In the hands of considered, sensible journalists who put their heads on the chopping block publishing, the importance of the preservation of sources far outweighs that of the preservation of Roberts-Smith’s ego and reputation.
If you’re going to make a claim, you need to be able to back it up when the sh*t hits the fan, like the comment above – otherwise you can just make any unsubstantiated claims and then not have to disclose your source (potentially no source, or not a credible one).