The legacy media got so addicted to whipping up hateful mobs against whoever is their latest Goldstein that they clearly thought they were untouchable.
Emmanuel Goldstein, in Orwell’s 1984, is “the primal traitor, the earliest defiler of the Party’s purity… the sight or even the thought of Goldstein produced fear and anger automatically”. Goldstein is always the focus of the Two Minutes of Hate: the ritualistic, performative demonstration of Party loyalty where participants scream hate and abuse at Goldstein’s projected visage.
The legacy media trot out an endless succession of Goldsteins for the Party members to dutifully scream bilious hatred at. But sometimes, the Goldsteins fight back.
Nick Sandmann was a Goldstein. So was – indeed, still is – Kyle Rittenhouse. But both of them fought back. Sandmann lawyered up and hit media outlets with defamation suits, and won. Rittenhouse hired Sandmann’s lawyer to do the same.
Bruce Lehrmann is the first Australian Goldstein to likewise lawyer up.
Multiple media outlets have received legal letters from lawyers for Bruce Lehrmann as the former Coalition staffer begins potential defamation action over coverage of allegations by Brittany Higgins that she was raped in Parliament House in 2019.
Guardian Australia has been told by a source close to Lehrmann’s team that media outlets including News Corp Australia, Paramount and the radio station WSFM were sent letters of demand or concerns notices.
Other media outlets might also receive legal notices, the source said.
Oh, please, please, please let Lisa Wilkinson’s name be next on the naughty list.
Few of the media pack did more to whip up the near-daily Two Minutes of Hate against Lehrmann. Firstly by implication, when Higgins’ The Project interview was aired before Higgins even went formally to the police. Then, at this year’s Logie awards, with a speech that shocked and outraged even many of the media pack.
It is understood Lehrmann’s legal team will seek an exemption to the one-year statute of limitations for defamation proceedings, arguing that the concerns were not issued earlier due to the prosecution of Lehrmann.
The media, of course, judged themselves to be above such footling considerations as “sub judice” and “presumption of innocence”. Every time they trumpeted Higgins as a “victim” and “survivor”, they tacitly pre-judged Lehrmann as guilty.
Lehrmann maintains his innocence over allegations that he raped Higgins, a colleague and fellow political staffer, in the office of the then defence industry minister, Linda Reynolds, in March 2019 […]
Lehrmann has been widely reported to be considering “legal remedies”, including an unfair dismissal claim and defamation action, after prosecutors decided not to proceed with a retrial due to fears about its impact on Higgins.
The Guardian
Higgins, whom the prosecutor said was hospitalised, nonetheless managed to bob up just days later and allegedly several million dollars richer courtesy of the taxpayer, to attend a splashy graduation ceremony.