The last post was in haste as news of the crikey case being dropped was coming through.  Since then, the blog has given some thought to what it might mean.

The longer-term implication of the Dominion case is how it impacts on Lachlan and what happens when Rupert goes. When? What the rest of the family will want? Who knows?

The answers to those questions, might be implied in the remarkable coincidence of Lachlan Murdoch dropping his defamation action against crikey soon after the Dominion settlement.

The ABC reported (21/4): “In a statement today, Mr Murdoch’s lawyer John Churchill said his client remained confident the court would ‘ultimately find in his favour’ but no longer wished to allow Crikey to use the case to ‘facilitate a marketing campaign’ to boost subscribers.”

The statement said Crikey had tried to introduce “thousands of pages of documents” unearthed during the Dominion case.

“In that case, in the US state of Delaware, the trial judge ruled the events of January 6, 2021, in the US Capitol, were not relevant,” Mr Churchill said.

“Further, the plaintiff Dominion Voting Systems made clear it would not argue that Fox News caused the events of January 6, and at no point did it ever argue that Mr Murdoch was personally responsible for the events of January 6.”

Deconstructing all that is a bit of challenge. It could be bravado – we would have won but decided not to. It could be faux generosity – we’re not going to stoop to take action against a tiny outlet just trying to boost their circulation at our expense. It could be Daddy told him to stop the damaging public controversy and avoid yet more dirty washing displays.  It could also be a recognition that Lachlan is not the smartest member of the next generation and might fare badly in a witness box.

Most probably it’s a bit of all the above.