Media

The ABC has reached a settlement with ousted managing director Michelle Guthrie in her suit accusing the national broadcaster of unfairly sacking her.

Wealthy Chinese-Australian businessman Chau Chak Wing has won $280,000 in damages in his defamation case against the Sydney Morning Herald over an article he said falsely linked him to an international bribery scandal.

A judge has gutted Buzzfeed's truth defence in a defamation case brought by Labor MP Emma Husar accusing the news publisher of "slut shaming" her, saying the claims said to back the defence were "incapable" of supporting its case.

Media organisations ABC and Fairfax have argued that a judge's definition of espionage was "artificially narrow" when striking out their truth defence to a defamation case brought by Chinese philanthropist Dr Chau Chak Wing.

Liberal Democrat Senator David Leyonhjelm has lost his challenge to a ruling that denied his request for speedy dismissal of a defamation lawsuit by Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young on the grounds of Parliamentary privilege.

Fairfax Media is moving forward with a lawsuit against Network Ten over the alleged infringement of its "Boss" trade mark, even after the TV broadcaster agreed to stop using the name.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who is suing fellow senator David Leyonhjelm for defamation, has asked a court for the costs of having her lawyers appear at a hearing for which his side failed, without explanation, to appear.

The ABC has called for a "clearer articulation" of former managing director Michelle Guthrie's unfair sacking claims against the broadcaster ahead of court-ordered mediation.

A key prospective witness in the Ben-Roberts Smith defamation proceedings can continue to have her identity suppressed, after a judge found there was "sufficient risk" to her safety if it was revealed.

Barristers for Senator David Leyonhjelm failed to turn up to the first case management hearing in the politician's own appeal of the court's dismissal of his bid to stay a defamation case brought by Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.