Report finds journos fear defamation

A report released last fortnight has found that almost half of Australian journalists have refrained from publishing certain information, due to fears of a defamation lawsuit.

Conducted by Medianet and based on over 1,000 journalists’ responses, the ‘2023 Australian Media Landscape Report’ found that 49 per cent of journalists have withheld from publishing information they knew to be true because of fear of defamation.

A further 41 per cent said they believed defamation laws in Australia are too strict in relation to the media, while only 2 per cent responded that they felt there had not been any threats to public interest journalism in 2022.

Many respondents noted that editors, publishers, or lawyers at their media organisations were highly conservative when it came to publishing potentially defamatory information due to the financial risks of being taken to court.

One respondent said defamation laws were their biggest fear.

“Working for a small organisation my biggest fear is a wealthy person suing us for defamation and litigating us out of business with court costs,” the respondent said.

“Defamation laws… have had a chilling effect on reporting, particularly on political corruption and sexual misconduct, as cautious media publishers understand how costly a potential defamation action can be,” another said.

Medianet’s annual survey includes insights into some of the challenges Australian journalists face in their work, including defamation laws but also issues such as discrimination and abuse, burnout, unpaid work, and gender pay gaps.

Medianet Managing Director Amrita Sidhu said an overwhelming majority of survey respondents highlighted the struggles of working within the industry.

“Almost every single respondent [98 per cent], felt that public interest journalism in Australia had been threatened in 2022, whether that be due to defamation laws, disinformation or lack of resources and staff, among other factors,” she said.

“So many journalists discussed the personal toll of being overworked, underpaid and burnt out, along with tight deadlines, feeling undervalued, and covering difficult news stories including floods, war and COVID.”

Seventy-two per cent of respondents said they had experienced burnout at work, and 22 per cent reported being of an ethnic background other than Australian non-Indigenous, New Zealander, English, Scottish, or Irish said they had experienced racial discrimination or abuse as part of their media work.

While the gender pay gap has decreased, male journalists remain more highly paid than their female and non-binary counterparts, with 31 per cent of males receiving over $100,000 per annum compared to 20 per cent of females and 13 per cent of non-binary journalists.

Females and non-binary journalists were also found to be less represented in chief-of-staff, photojournalist or cameraperson, publisher, presenter or announcer, editor or producer positions.