The Age’s investigations editor Michael Bachelard had a strong piece in the latest edition of the MEAA’s Walkley magazine, lamenting the lack of debate about Australia’s woefully restrictive defamation laws. It opened as follows:

“A very noisy section of the commentariat believes that the biggest threat to free speech in Australia is anti-discrimination law, particularly the ‘offend and insult’ provision, section 18C. They are wrong. A far bigger threat is defamation law.”

Bachelard goes on to outline specific problems with the uniform national defamation laws, which were introduced by the Howard government in 2005, notably that the “honest opinion” defence is effectively gone, as is an argument about “reasonableness”. The internet has also made the old one-year time limit on litigation redundant. Bachelard sets out some worthy reforms such as the British requirement that no libel action gets going unless the plaintiff first establishes that they have a reputation to lose and secondly that they have suffered “serious harm”.

Another potential reform the Australian media industry could pursue would be a culture that discourages practitioners from suing. As part of the emerging Crikey Lists series, today we present an unfortunately long list of journalists and media players who have resorted to initiating legal proceedings, not free speech, to settle a debate. If we’ve missed anyone, please email us here.

Media players who have launched defamation proceedings

Piers Akerman: the veteran News Corp columnist sued Fairfax over various articles during his disastrous stewardship of the Herald Sun in the early ’90s, although none went to court. He also sued the journalists’ union back in his Adelaide days and secured a $20,000 settlement, which former Australian Journalists Association state secretary Bill Rust described as “the greatest sell-out in the history of the union”.

Col Allan: The former Daily Telegraph and New York Post editor settled — “to my satisfaction”, in his words — a defamation case against Austereo’s Andrew Denton, who suggested a crime story was only on the front page of the Tele in the 1990s because the accused was Korean.

Chris Anderson: The former Optus CEO and journalist sued The Australian’s then-business columnist Mark Westfield in the ACT Supreme Court in 1999. The Oz settled with a grovelling apology without telling Westfield.

Tony Bell: The then-CEO of 3AW’s parent company Southern Cross Broadcasting issued proceedings against Derryn Hinch for comments on 3AK in the early 2000s that 3AW had exercised too much power in the Melbourne talk radio market. The case settled after Jeff Kennett joined 3AK and intervened to sort things out with his old friends at 3AW.

Peter Blunden: the long-term Herald Sun boss launched a Supreme Court writ against ABC Radio’s Jon Faine in 1999 but it was quickly withdrawn and he then did dozens of regular spots on Faine’s show.

George Buschman: John Singleton’s then-2GB chief executive sued sacked drive time presenter Mike Jeffreys for daring to criticise him publicly about his $530,000 unfair dismissal claim against the station. 2GB eventually settled both actions with a six-figure payout to Jeffreys.

Richard Carelton: The head-kicking 60 Minutes reporter sued Media Watch over claims that he pinched some footage. Justice Terrence Higgins said Carleton was defamed but didn’t award any damages on the grounds that Media Watch was entitled to make such commentary. The Packers picked up the estimated $500,000 in costs.

Mark Day: Sued a journalistic critic in the 1980s and recovered his legal costs in the settlement but now wishes he’d never bothered to go to court and has previously claimed to Crikey he couldn’t remember the person’s name.

Derryn Hinch: The then-3AW drive time shock jock sued Steve Price, the then-2UE drive time shock jock, for comments he made on Today Tonight suggesting Hinch was a drunk following on-air revelations made by Hinch that former Test cricketer David Hookes had separated from his wife before he died. Both broadcasters worked for Southern Cross Broadcasting at the time, and the action was unsurprisingly settled.

Alan Jones: Very litigious over the years, including multiple actions against The Sydney Morning Herald.

John Laws: The then-2UE presenter collected $210,000 from Fairfax in 1983 after a jury agreed an article unfairly suggested that he fraudulently benefited from a land deal.

Glyn May: The Brisbane freelance journalist sued Media Watch and received a written apology from then CEO Jonathon Shier and an on-air apology in the early 2000s. May had written travel articles plugging the airline he worked for as a consultant, but the newspaper conceded it knew of the conflict of interest and should have revealed this fact to its readers.

Tony McAdam: The hard-hitting former Melbourne columnist sued former Victorian Labor MLC Joan Coxsedge in the 1980s for calling him a “CIA agent” and a “man with an invented past”. Kroger and Kroger were the solicitors and Peter Costello did some of the barrister work as Coxsedge finally paid up in a settlement after six years.

Eddie McGuire: The media personality and Collingwood president sued The Age in the early 2000s over a column that called him a “hopelessly conflicted tabloid muckraker”. The Age settled and Eddie told friends at the time he had a big win.

Lachlan Murdoch: ignored his father’s rule of never suing and collected a $50,000 defamation settlement from Fairfax after CBD columnist Ben Butler (now at The Australian!) incorrectly claimed he’d been using the News Corp corporate jet as a non-executive director.

Neil Mitchell and Peter Couchman: The then-competing 3AW and 3LO morning hosts launched duelling writs in 1997 when Mitchell said ABC staff were “fat cats who walked around eating yoghurt and drinking light ales”. The legal action started after Couchman counselled his audience that “you can’t believe what a gung-ho radio jock [Mitchell] tells his listener”. That came after Mitchell controversially broadcast the contents of an ABC envelope delivered by mistake to 3AW. Both writs settled before going to court.

Murray Nichol: The former 3AW Drive and Morning presenter successfully sued his old station and Steve Price for describing him on air as a “dill”.

Kerry Packer: Issued dozens of defamations writs against rival media outlets over the years, particularly the ABC and Fairfax.

Steve Price: Collected $50,000 in a 2002 settlement from Crikey Media Pty Ltd and Stephen Mayne after an 18-month battle, which started over a third-party press release that was barely read by anyone and removed as soon as Price complained. Price also issued at least one other writ, including against a media newsletter over cash-for-comment claims.

Lisa Pryor: the former SMH opinion editor sued Fairfax over a 2014 Mark Latham column headlined “Why left feminists don’t like kids”. Settled in March 2016 with an apology in the AFR as Fairfax dropped an estimated six-figure sum.

Theodore Skalkos: The Marrickville Greek newspaper proprietor was charged $300,000 by Stuart Littlemore QC to run a 35-day defamation trial, which failed to persuade the judge.

Richard Sleeman: The then-producer of Derryn Hinch on 2GB is rumoured to have collected $300,000 from the ABC in the 1990s when Stuart Littlemore and Media Watch wrongly claimed he pretended to be a grieving relative to get on a flight to Hobart after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre. Also won a $434,000 damages award from Justice Levine after suing the The Australian over an Amanda Meade piece in Media Diary that criticised a Good Weekend story Sleeman had written on Olympic swimming champion Ian Thorpe.

Tony Webster: The then-owner of Webster Publishing sued Stephen Mayne, David Ireland and Crikey Media over an article downloaded 178 times. Infosentials bought the business but went broke with creditors losing about $7 million. The case settled in 2001 with a $1000 contribution by Webster to Crikey’s costs.

Mark Westfield: The most sued business journalist in Australia sued a Manly councillor about what was said in the chamber, but it was thrown out by the jury after more than a day of evidence and about five hours of deliberation. The councillor in question counter-sued Westfield over remarks he had made about her in a letter to the Manly mayor but withdrew her action after he lost his case against her.