Australia’s most decorated living soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith, is suing three of the country’s most trusted newspapers for defamation over articles he says falsely accuse him of war crimes. Whatever the outcome, the ramifications will be immense for public interest journalism, Australia’s military and the man venerated as a modern-day war hero. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts or Spotify
Latest episodes
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43 min
Part eight: the pursuit of truth
At the heart of the defamation case Ben Roberts-Smith launched against three of Australia’s biggest newspapers were the articles published by Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters. In th…
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31 min
Part seven: a hero’s downfall
Australia’s most decorated living soldier has lost his defamation case against the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age and the Canberra Times. A federal court judge has found that the n…
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17 min
Ben Roberts-Smith v the media part six: judgment day
Australia’s most decorated living soldier has lost his defamation case against the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age and the Canberra Times. A federal court judge has found that the n…
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1 h 01
Ben Roberts-Smith v the media part five: the letters
In June 2018, an SAS soldier known in this defamation trial as Person 18 says he received two threatening letters at his barracks in Perth. In their defence, the newspapers allege…
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1 h 07
Ben Roberts-Smith v the media part four: the tunnel
On 12 April 2009, the SAS arrive in the village of Kakarak in Afghanistan’s Uruzgan province. It’s a Taliban stronghold where an Australian soldier was killed just a month earlier.…
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1 h 16
Ben Roberts-Smith v the media part three: the affair
An affair between Ben Roberts-Smith and a witness known to the court as Person 17 is one of the key contested elements of this extraordinary defamation trial. The newspapers as par…
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1 h 15
Ben Roberts-Smith v the media part two: death in Darwan
In the aftermath of an attack on Australian soldiers by a rogue Afghan soldier, the SAS is sent to the Taliban-controlled village of Darwan. They arrive by helicopter at dawn, look…
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41 min
Ben Roberts-Smith v the media part one: reputation
In the defamation trial of the century, Australia’s most decorated living soldier is seeking to defend his reputation against reports in three newspapers that he says falsely accus…
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10 min
Introducing Ben Roberts-Smith v the media
Australia’s most decorated living soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith, is suing three of the country’s most trusted newspapers for defamation over articles he says falsely accuse him of war…