Crikey to destroy copies of leaked News Corp documents

After leaking News Corp Australia’s confidential Weekly Operating Statement, news website Crikey has said it will remove and destroy all electronic and hard copy versions of the accounts.

Crikey made an official statement last night after News Corp Australia’s Chief General Counsel Ian Philip told staff the company is “taking the necessary and appropriate action against Crikey (including considering all available legal avenues).”

Crikey posted the following statement to its website:

“Crikey owner Private Media and News Corp have reached a legal agreement that prevents Crikey from hosting or further distributing the News Corporation Australia Weekly Operating Statement for the week ended June 30, 2013.

“As part of the agreement, Private Media promised to destroy by 5pm Thursday any hard and electronic copies in its possession.

“However, we are not required to pull down the stories based on the documents we have already published. We are also not bound by any confidentiality agreement. As part of the contract signed by both parties, Private Media cannot be sued over publication of the confidential documents.

“The agreement is not a legal injunction. It does not prevent others from publishing stories based on the documents.

On Wednesday Crikey published the original 270-page financial documents on which we based our stories. We have now scrubbed those links and removed the document from our website. If you have previously viewed the document, clear your cache.”

The documents in question showed The Australian newspaper lost $27 million in its 2013 financial year, while the media company’s national newspaper division shed $320 million in ad revenues. The accounts apparently revealed News Corp shed over 1,000 jobs from its newspaper division in financial year 2013 and supposedly propped up the division with earnings from REA Group and Foxtel.