When Justice Anthony Besanko knocked out Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation claims in straight sets last week, Australia’s media mostly celebrated the result as a win for investigative journalism and press freedom.
But in the days since, some conservative media have shuffled back towards the Victorian Medal recipient, hosing down the significance of the historic judgment and casting doubt on the reporting that led there.
Leading the charge was Peta Credlin, who was one of the first media figures to defend Roberts-Smith. In a Daily Telegraph opinion piece the day after the verdict, Credlin took issue with drawing conclusions from Besanko’s findings about Roberts-Smith’s behaviour.
“The judgment against him last week was a civil law matter, with a lower burden of proof (on the ‘balance of probabilities’) and not a war crimes trial operating at the criminal standard of proof (‘beyond reasonable doubt’),” she wrote.
Soon this was a line echoed across the media by The Australian’s Greg Sheridan (in a piece titled “Going woke risks destroying the ADF as a real fighting force”) and Sky News host Steve Price. Retired commando and News Corp regular Heston Russell, in conversation with Sky News’ Peter Stefanovic, also criticised the “trial by media” in the civil proceedings initiated by Roberts-Smith, instead calling for the veteran to be able to clear his name in front of criminal proceedings.
But Credlin also wrote that even a criminal conviction wouldn’t be enough for her, as the real fault for alleged crimes such as murdering a “person under control” fell with the Australian government and military bureaucracy.
“Plainly, a succession of risk-averse governments and military hierarchies expected too much of the SAS and the commandos, whose extraordinary level of skill and professionalism was thought to render them less likely to suffer casualties than normal infantry,” she wrote.
Sky News host Cory Bernardi took this argument a step further by declaring that he “cares nothing for the alleged crimes of Ben Roberts-Smith”. He cited the trauma experienced by SAS soldiers as why Roberts-Smith shouldn’t be held responsible for his behaviour, and even hinted at jealousy from other veterans as reasons why he had become the centre of Australia’s war crimes scandal.
Price rubbished a move to revoke Roberts-Smith’s Victoria Cross as the veteran had received the highest possible military honour in Australia at a different time than when he had allegedly committed war crimes. Instead Price took aim at Greens Senator David Shoebridge and other politicians for the calls: “Can I politely suggest that politicians of both sides shut up.”
News Corp’s readers seem to agree. The Australian published a letter from retired colonel Roger Dace who lambasted “armchair warriors”.
You should acknowledge that however bad his alleged failings, the service he rendered his country and his military colleagues at a different time, place and circumstances earn him the highest level of recognition for his exceptional bravery.
On her Sky News show, Credlin said the uniformly positive comments towards Roberts-Smith in the comment sections of her articles proved that the public was on the veteran’s side. She quoted a few in support, complete with how many people had liked them.
“Unless you were there, you don’t know what these men went through,” she read out, live on air. “411 likes.”
… Credlin read out, live on air. Was she there? Were any of the rest of the News Corp ghastly crew there? And since she finds being there so essential if you are to be taken seriously, why does she dismiss the evidence of various soldiers who witnessed the killings?
Without doubt the dimwits who read Credlin’s crap would agree wholeheartedly with her.
411 Likes!……………..
Every one of her audience agrees with her!
And of course, the other way around too. Just like Fox News in the USA which, following its near-death experience a while ago when it briefly strayed into broadcasting a few facts, dares not say anything to contradict, annoy or offend its audience of baying lunatics. They deserve each other. I just wish we did not have to share this planet with them.
Well perhaps there was a 412th who couldn’t be bothered voting.
Given that the quote used was the miniscule “411 Likes!” there is the distinct possibility that Thucydides was ridiculing the size of Credlin’s audience. Personally, I found it very funny.
On Skynews you can “like”, but there’s no “dislike” option. You can offer a “Reply”, but many of mine aren’t printed. So of course Credlin doesn’t know, or want to know if anybody dislikes her insights.
Whereas sentient media like Crikey has +- so you can see net approval/disapproval rates.
And was it not The Moloch and His NewsCorpse MInions here in Australia , in the UK and in the USA that were chickenhawkish and gung ho in their support of The Lying Rodent©Senator George Brandis for both The Afghan Imbroglio and The Iraq Fiasco.
Honourable mention – Greg Sheridan on Iraq and WMDs – mocked the arguments of the anti-war Labor Left as “the shrill and politically semi-literate anti-Americanism of those hitherto hidden Metternichs.” In another article of this time he suggested that anyone who thought that Saddam Hussein might be telling the truth about his WMD was “in need of immediate psychiatric assistance. ”
Well, I wasn’t there but other people who were there, the SAS members who leaked the story and testified against him were.
Absolutely. And the usual riff raff here are quite happy, by the look of things, to betray and abandon those soldiers who spoke up, at no small cost to themselves.
That News Corp would quickly return to this topic as a lever to use in its unceasing culture wars is hardly a surprise. The dog whistle here is that the victims of BRS alleged war crimes are somehow less worthy of justice and probably deserved it, their lives being worth less than the reputation of a media-fetishised Australian military because they were Muslims.
The ‘My country right or wrong’ of Bernardi and his ideological fellow travellers is a pathetic as it is disgusting.
Ultimately , it would be extremely foolhardy to expect News Corp in general and Credlin in particular to behave as champions of press freedom, impartiality, justice or anything decent yet fundamental to a healthy democracy. As long as his distorted worldview is promoted and the money rolls in, he will demand his organisation lie and dissemble.
Just posted a comment to Cam and then read yours. My brother, 66, did a uolgy for his best mate nearing on 58 years last week. They spoke daily in recent years. He said his beloved mate would be devastated that he died before Rupert and the mourners cheered. There is hope!
Too right. 411 casual racists.
But Credlin also wrote that even a criminal conviction wouldn’t be enough for her, as the real fault for alleged crimes such as murdering a “person under control” fell with the Australian government and military bureaucracy
So, when Ms Credlin worked at the every heart of the Australian Government, what did she do about it?
So presumably she will now be agitating for her Boss to hold both the American military and their Government to account for their serial War Crimes over the past 80 years?……………….
Or doesn’t the Fox “News” concept of “balance” encompass that?
I find the notion of a heart in any government that includes Credlin and her pals more than a little improbable.
Credlin and all the neofascist cretins are contemptible. They are totally shameless. No sympathy for the murdered victims and their families.
Nor for those brave soldiers who spoke out to expose this murdering fraud who harmed them, their beloved SAS, the Army, the ADF and the entire population of Australia.