Fairfax Media has flagged a possible appeal after being ordered to pay Treasurer Joe Hockey damages of $200,000 over a three-word headline and two tweets.
A court ruled on Tuesday that the publisher defamed Mr Hockey when it splashed the words "Treasurer for Sale" across a promotional poster for the Sydney Morning Herald on May 5, 2014.
Federal Court Judge Richard White awarded Mr Hockey damages of $120,000 for the poster and $80,000 for two similarly worded tweets from The Age newspaper.
But he dismissed Mr Hockey's claims over the content of the articles themselves, published in three metropolitan newspapers.
The articles said Mr Hockey gave access to a select group in return for donations to the Liberal Party via the North Sydney Forum, a fundraising organisation whose activities were not fully disclosed to election funding authorities.
Justice White found that an ordinary reasonable reader would not have regarded the articles as conveying that Mr Hockey's conduct was corrupt.
"Instead, they would have understood the articles to be conveying that Mr Hockey was engaged in a non-corrupt form of fundraising which used the allure of his office," he said.
But he found that SMH editor-in-chief Darren Goodsir, who devised the "Treasurer for Sale" headline, had been motivated by his "animus" towards Mr Hockey after the treasurer insisted on a correction and apology over an earlier story.
"He sought a headline which would be hurtful of, or damaging to, Mr Hockey," Justice White said in his judgment.
Fairfax says its lawyers will consider the lengthy judgment before determining its position.
Share
