Sue Chrysanthou – the Senior Counsel who appeared for Geoffrey Rush in 2019 in the actor’s defamation case against News Corp’s Daily Telegraph – will stand up for the publisher’s co-chairman against Private Media.

In a much-publicised action, Lachlan Murdoch is suing the publisher of news site Crikey for defamation after effectively being challenged to ‘put up or shut up’ via its articles (pictured) and advertisements in newspapers including the New York Times and the Canberra Times.

It has also been announced that Justice Michael Wigney – who found for Rush in the 2019 case – has been assigned to hear the Murdoch action.

Rush was awarded $2.9 million damages, and in the appeal which followed, it was suggested that Wigney's tone had “given rise to an apprehension of bias in the case”, although the argument was later dropped.

Private Media is being represented by Michael Hodge, QC, who was counsel assisting in the royal commission into the banking sector.

The upcoming case has given rise to much speculation, and comes ahead of action being taken against Fox News by US voting machine manufacturer Dominion Voting Systems, scheduled for next April.

In the Guardian Australia last week, Richard Ackland argued that the Murdoch-Crikey case “may turn out to be a misconceived adventure in reputation repair”, citing Porter v ABC, Streisand v Adelman and the classic 1895 action of Oscar Wilde against the Marquess of Queensberry.