MURDOICH TO FACE OFF LEE FAMILY IN SINGAPORE
January 14th 2008 01:18
WILL MURDOCH TAKE ON SINGAPORE’S RULING LEE FAMILY OVER FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW LIBEL CASE?
Asia Sentinel reports that Rupert Murdoch’s purchase of Dow Jones has “delivered some unwanted cargo in the form of a long-running libel suit.” Dow Jones publishes the Far Eastern Economic Review and in July, the magazine published a long and contentious interview with Chee Soon Juan, the harried leader of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party. The magazine promptly found itself the recipient of a letter from Drew & Napier, the lawyers for the autocratic minister mentor Lee Kuan Yew, and his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, demanding an apology.
The Review refused to apologise, and for a year and a half a libel suit hast through the Singapore courts (see MediaBlab archives.)
On the one hand, the Lee family has never lost a libel suit in its own courts.
On the other hand, unlike many of his competitors, Murdoch's titles have never experienced a Singapore libel action.
Asia sentinel said, “But with this libel headache now on Murdoch's desk, Singapore faces a media company run by a dominant individual who is an archly pragmatic deal-maker when it suits him. That could mean wriggle room for legal negotiation except that, with libel, the Lees always want absolute victory.”
“As an example of the Lees’ thirst for judicial blood, many international news organizations, including Time Magazine, the (pre-Murdoch) Asian Wall Street Journal, The International Herald Tribune, Business Week, Bloomberg and the Financial Times have lost suits in Singapore.”
“The Review’s sudden defiance is rare indeed. The presumption of a loss is such that media companies routinely settle promptly and apologize. The most recent, last November, was the Financial Times, which settled for unspecified damages and apologized in a case that according to non-Singaporean legal scholars contained no libel.
“In an earlier case involving the Review, the Anglo-Australian constitutional lawyer Geoffrey Robertson’s cross-examination of the elder Lee was so rigorous that a Singaporean judged awarded additional damages for his discomfort in the witness box.”
Asia Sentinel said that with the advents of Murdoch’s purchase of Dow Jones, the status of this case in unclear.
It said, “Outwardly, it seems as if nothing has changed, and for now a Murdoch-owned Review is still taking on the Singaporeans. The articles and letters remain posted at FEER.com and the Review editors say it is still live, referring the matter to Dow Jones lawyers, who do not respond.”
Asia Sentinel reports that Rupert Murdoch’s purchase of Dow Jones has “delivered some unwanted cargo in the form of a long-running libel suit.” Dow Jones publishes the Far Eastern Economic Review and in July, the magazine published a long and contentious interview with Chee Soon Juan, the harried leader of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party. The magazine promptly found itself the recipient of a letter from Drew & Napier, the lawyers for the autocratic minister mentor Lee Kuan Yew, and his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, demanding an apology.
On the one hand, the Lee family has never lost a libel suit in its own courts.
On the other hand, unlike many of his competitors, Murdoch's titles have never experienced a Singapore libel action.
Asia sentinel said, “But with this libel headache now on Murdoch's desk, Singapore faces a media company run by a dominant individual who is an archly pragmatic deal-maker when it suits him. That could mean wriggle room for legal negotiation except that, with libel, the Lees always want absolute victory.”
“As an example of the Lees’ thirst for judicial blood, many international news organizations, including Time Magazine, the (pre-Murdoch) Asian Wall Street Journal, The International Herald Tribune, Business Week, Bloomberg and the Financial Times have lost suits in Singapore.”
“The Review’s sudden defiance is rare indeed. The presumption of a loss is such that media companies routinely settle promptly and apologize. The most recent, last November, was the Financial Times, which settled for unspecified damages and apologized in a case that according to non-Singaporean legal scholars contained no libel.
Asia Sentinel said that with the advents of Murdoch’s purchase of Dow Jones, the status of this case in unclear.
It said, “Outwardly, it seems as if nothing has changed, and for now a Murdoch-owned Review is still taking on the Singaporeans. The articles and letters remain posted at FEER.com and the Review editors say it is still live, referring the matter to Dow Jones lawyers, who do not respond.”
| 48 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
