Fairfax Media says a series of articles about Nick Di Girolamo that examined his role in the company Australian Water Holdings, the redevelopment of Balmain Leagues Clubs' Rozelle site, a corrupt coal mining deal and a $10,000 political donation were produced by journalists who acted reasonably and responsibly.
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Mr Di Girolamo, a lawyer and businessman with links to the Liberal Party and the Obeid family, is suing the publisher of The Sydney Morning Herald for damages, claiming his reputation has been "completely destroyed" by the articles.
In his opening address to the jury on Tuesday, Fairfax Media's barrister Tom Blackburn, SC, said in some instances, the articles do not carry the defamatory imputations alleged by Mr Di Girolamo.
He said these alleged imputations were drafted by Mr Di Girolamo and his lawyers but the "ordinary reasonable reader" would not have read the articles in such a way. Nor did the journalists Kate McClymont, Sean Nicholls and Linton Besser intend for those particular meanings to be conveyed.
"The first question is whether these meanings were actually conveyed," Mr Blackburn told the jury of four women. "Some were. But some of them weren't."
Mr Blackburn said Fairfax Media agrees some of the imputations were conveyed; however it intends to prove they are true or substantially true.
In the case of other imputations, it will argue the defences of contextual truth, qualified privilege and fair comment or honest opinion.
Mr Blackburn told the jury if they find Mr Di Girolamo has been defamed, "the question for you will be has [the journalists'] conduct been reasonable in the circumstances and if the answer is yes, they will get the benefit of the defences".
One article, headlined "Water company donated cash to Nationals MP", published on March 19, 2013, said Mr Di Girolamo caused a cash donation of $10,000 to be made to Nationals MP Katrina Hodgkinson. It also reported that Mr Di Girolamo was later appointed to the board of State Water Corporation, a government agency under Ms Hodgkinson's remit.
Mr Di Girolamo alleges the article defames him by suggesting he did not deserve his appointment to the board of State Water Corporation, or that he was only appointed because of the cash donation.
Mr Blackburn said all the facts in the article were true and Nicholls did not say, nor did he intend to say, that Mr Di Girolamo's appointment was not based on merit.
The inclusion of a quote from the then-opposition water spokesman Steve Whan criticising the appointment was "something you would expect an opposition spokesman to say" and is typical of the usual "cut and thrust" of politics, Mr Blackburn said.
"Is the plaintiff saying the SMH shouldn't report the $10,000 donation or shouldn't get comments from the opposition?"
He said it would be a "sad day for free speech" if a major metropolitan newspaper risked a defamation action each time it reported a politician's opinion.
"The law might be an ass but it's not that silly," he said.
Later on Tuesday Mr Blackburn began taking the jury through a large number of documents to explain the background to the six articles, including the history of AWH, various Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiries and the corrupt coal mining deal involving the Obeid family in the Bylong Valley.
He said he had to use the documentary evidence because he could not cross-examine Mr Di Girolamo, who, at this stage, has decided not to enter the witness box.
In an interview with Besser in December 2012, Mr Di Girolamo, who was chief executive of AWH for several years, denied that the Obeid family had any interest in AHW or that he had anything to do with the Obeid family.
But Mr Blackburn said documents show that "it's very clear ... that there was a sale of shares of AWH to the Obeid family interests" in November 2010 and, from 2007 onwards, "Eddie Obeid jnr took a very close interest in the management of the company and became an employee in 2011".
"I will have to suggest to you that [Mr Di Girolamo] wasn't telling the truth when he said that to Mr Besser," Mr Blackburn said.
Mr Di Girolamo wants the articles, published between December 2012 and August 2013, permanently removed from Fairfax Media websites. He is also seeking damages including special damages for economic loss and costs.
The trial before Justice Christine Adamson is expected to take three to four weeks.
