Timothy Smartt

A judge has rejected a top orthopaedic surgeon’s bid to uncover the names of 13 sources who gave information to a Nine journalist, preferring the public interest in protecting the sources’ identities and noting their fears of reprisals by the Sydney surgeon. 

The judge overseeing ex-commando Heston Russell’s defamation case against the ABC over reporting of alleged war crimes will be involved in assessing his costs after media reports put his lawyers’ fees at $2 million.  

A judge has awarded ex-commando Heston Russell $390,000 in damages over coverage of alleged war crimes in Afghanistan, in the first ever post-trial judgment in a defamation case to consider the public interest defence.

A top orthopaedic surgeon who is suing Nine for defamation has accused the outlet of contempt of court by publishing unadmitted evidence about his reputation, claiming the stories were “improper, unjust and lacking in bona fides”. 

A top orthopaedic surgeon and former NSW Australian of the year has argued in his defamation case against Nine that stories detailing his alleged negligence misled the public about medical issues and were the “opposite of public interest” journalism. 

A judge overseeing the defamation trial of former commando Heston Russell said he was “disturbed” by an ABC press release following the broadcaster’s decision to drop its public interest defence on the eve of trial, which was reinstated days later.

A judge hearing closing submissions in Heston Russell’s defamation case against the ABC has expressed “significant reservations” about evidence by the former commando and said that a “less than complete” story could still be protected under the new public interest defence.

A judge has questioned an ABC journalist who is the target of a defamation case by ex-commando Heston Russell if he should have treated a key source who another source called a “showpony” more cautiously while reporting on alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. 

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has defended its reporting of alleged war crimes in a defamation case by ex-commando Heston Russell, saying the debate over whether its stories were in the public interest “rises well above truth”. 

A source for ABC articles over alleged war crimes that are at the centre of a defamation case by ex-commando Heston Russell told reporters his memory of the events was “hazy”, a court heard Friday.