Anti-co-governance campaigner Julian Batchelor sued TVNZ over an online article in 2023.
Anti-co-governance campaigner Julian Batchelor sued TVNZ over an online article in 2023.
Anti-co-governance campaigner Julian Batchelor’s defamation case against TVNZ and academic Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa has been dismissed.
In a judgment released today, Judge David Clark said the defendants’ defences of truth, responsible communication in the public interest and honest opinion were proven.
“It follows then that it is unnecessary to considerthe issue of damages and the related issue of mitigation.
The article quoted Hattotuwa, then a research director for The Disinformation Project, as saying: “It is what you would call dangerous speech. It incites hate, and it instigates harm offline. This is racist rhetoric. This is colonialism’s long shadow.”
Batchelor said his reputation was harmed by what his lawyer Matthew Hague described as “serious allegations”.
TVNZ and Hattotuwa defended their actions on several points of defamation law, including honest opinion, truth and responsible communication in the public interest.
Batchelor told the Auckland District Court that Grenon had called him after seeing the TVNZ story, offering his help. Batchelor later met him at Grenon’s home.
Batchelor told the court that Grenon said to him: “I’ve been following you, I don’t think you’re a racist. I think we should sue TVNZ”.
Findings
Hagueclaimed “racist rhetoric” strikes at his client’s “character and integrity, imputing prejudice and a belief in racial superiority”.
Judge Clark agreed with Hague’s assessment, saying: “Where words are used to describe someone as a person who uses racist language, where the language used incites hate and instigates harm, that must be defamatory”.
When ruling on whether Batchelor used “racist language”, Judge Clark said “on any measure, the answer must be yes”.
He found Batchelor’s comments were “not one-off quips, or isolated to a particular period”.
“They are sustained, made over a significant period of time, deliberately targeting Māori,” he said.
A copy of the "Stop Co-Governance" booklet distributed by Julian Batchelor. Photo / NZME
“They are in many instances highly pejorative and offensive and, in many instances, patently wrong. An example is Mr Batchelor’s generalised comment Māori lack character.
“Irrespective of how he has reached this position the comments are nonetheless racist rhetoric. I find then, the defence of truth, insofar that Mr Batchelor uses racist rhetoric, is proven.”
The judgment also found Hattotuwa’s comments were expressed as opinions, rather than assumed facts.
“Dr Hattotuwa was clearly asked by TVNZ to comment as an expert. When he was making his comments, I find he was doing so as an expert,” Judge Clark said.
Julian Batchelor at a Stop Co-Governance meeting in Kerikeri last year.
“They were genuinely held views held by him based on his extensive academic and lived experiences. I also find there is no evidence TVNZ had any reasonable cause not to believe Dr Hattotuwa’s views were not genuinely held.”
Judge Clark also found TVNZ’s reporting was responsible in preparing and publishing the reporting, as it fairly summarised Batchelor’s position and published his response.
He said the article contained serious allegations about Batchelor.
“However, even though I have subsequently found the allegations were clearly justified, I also find the steps taken by TVNZ to investigate the story and publish what it did in the article was responsible.
“I find then the defence of responsible communication is available to TVNZ and Dr Hattotuwa.”
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