Crikey boss Peter Fray set to depart amid Murdoch lawsuit

Crikey boss Peter Fray is expected to announce his departure from its publisher Private Media as early as next week after four months of leave triggered by his outburst at the Walkley journalism awards in November last year.

Industry sources, who spoke anonymously to discuss a sensitive matter, said Fray and Private Media were on the cusp of announcing an amicable end to his time as editor-in-chief and the media veteran had already begun his search for a new position.

Asked about his negotiations to leave Private Media and employment plans on Wednesday, Fray said, “I am still employed by Private Media”, and declined to comment further. The chief executive officer of Private Media, Will Hayward, declined to comment.

The pending separation comes at a difficult time for Private Media, which is facing a defamation claim from media mogul Lachlan Murdoch over Crikey’s commentary on former US president Donald Trump.

Murdoch, who is executive chairman of Fox Corporation and co-chairman of News Corp, launched his legal claim in August over a June 2022 article calling the Murdoch family Trump’s “unindicted co-conspirators” following the 2021 riot at the US Capitol.

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Fray is named as the third defendant in the case, which Private Media is fighting in part via a newly introduced public interest defence, and will likely give evidence in the case. Private Media is defending Fray and covering the costs as part of its overall defence, which is not expected to change with a departure from the company.

Fray, who has had a long career in the senior ranks of the media including stints as editor-in-chief of The Sydney Morning Herald, deputy editor of The Australian and a journalism professorship at UTS, has not been actively working for Private Media since November after the Walkley awards incident.

In tweets and in-person heckling at the event, Fray implied the awards were biased towards the national broadcaster, which has long been a strong performer at the event. He also traduced its award-winning work on Australia’s guardianship system, which Crikey had also reported on, as a “fraud”.