“You can see in all of my communications with you that there’s an element of terror,” she said to Ms Weiss. Ms Stone also gave an interview to the ABC's 7.30 Report after host Leigh Sales flew to the United States to record it. Loading Australia now has a global reputation as having the harshest, most anti-journalism defamation laws in the developed world, and Sydney is the global defamation capital. More cases are tried there than in any other global jurisdiction. Journalist Gerard Ryle is an Australian who runs the multi-award-winning, US-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. A number of his senior editors are also Australian. But Ryle says it would be impossible for his organisation to be based in Australia.

The ICIJ produced the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers stories, breaking open the rich-lister's world of tax evasion. The stories named dozens of high-profile people, from politicians and celebrities to business people. It has prompted numerous police investigations. "We could not be headquartered in Australia. Absolutely not," he told The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. "The defamation laws there are too restrictive." Actor Eryn Jean Norvill leaves the Federal Court in Sydney, where she has given evidence in a defamation trial brought by Geoffrey Rush against Nationwide News. Credit:AAP The crippling cost of running cases, let alone the danger of losing when it's difficult to defend a story, even if it's true, make it simply too dangerous. In the United States, the landscape for media is significantly different.

In the United States, under the "free speech" doctrine of the First Amendment, a public figure complaining they have been defamed by journalists must prove the publisher acted with "actual malice" or with "reckless disregard" for the truth. The onus is on the complainant to prove it. The Centre for Investigative Reporting, which has been exposing corrupt businesses, charities and politicians since 1977 is rarely sued and is almost always successful. We could not be headquartered in Australia. Absolutely not. The defamation laws there are too restrictive. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists director Gerard Ryle "In general the advice I give to reporters is: do your homework and be good citizens," says general counsel Victoria Baranetsky. In practice, US news organisations often employ fact checkers, and the targets of investigations are given time to comment or provide context in answer to allegations. Assuming this is done, the journalist cannot be successfully sued for defamation, even if they inadvertently get facts wrong.

The United Kingdom changed its defamation laws in 2013, which made clear that if a statement did not cause serious harm then the claim could not proceed in the defamation court. There is also a public interest test for serious journalism. The number of cases in the UK has dropped significantly since. Loading Under Australian laws, a plaintiff only has to complain that they have been defamed, and that their reputation has been diminished. Then the onus of proof is on the publisher to prove the truth of the "picture" the plaintiff says the journalist has painted of them. In the case of Emma Husar, for example, US-based Buzzfeed must attempt to prove that she is a "slut," even though that word was never used in the article. Justice Stephen Rares ruled in the Federal Court on Friday that the word meant a person who engaged in casual sexual encounters without any emotional attachment, and the article "seems eminently capable" of conveying that imputation. The practical effect of Australia's defamation laws, and how they are interpreted in courts, has been that the #MeToo movement is paralysed.

Geoffrey Rush has sued the Daily Telegraph for defamation over a story about his behaviour, saying it painted a picture of him as a "pervert" and a "sexual predator". That case is awaiting judgment. Another actor, Craig McLachlan, has sued the ABC and the Sydney Morning Herald over separate sexual harassment stories. The case is being fought now. West Indian cricketer Chris Gayle successfully sued over claims he had exposed himself to a team masseur. The jury ruled for him, and he was awarded $300,000. Craig McLachlan on stage during the production of The Rocky Horror Show. Credit:Janie Barrett Threats are now routine. Former NSW Opposition leader Luke Foley threatened to sue either the woman who made allegations of sexual harassment against him, or the ABC, which reported it, but later pulled back. And National Party leader Michael McCormack even suggested that disgraced politician Andrew Broad could sue New Idea for defamation over the magazine's report that he had met and propositioned a much younger woman in Hong Kong after arranging it through a "sugar daddy" website.