Michael West Media is being sued by BHP, “The Big Australian”, over reporting on injured coal miner Simon Turner.
At the heart of it: public interest journalism, secrecy orders, labour hire exploitation, coal mining, and whether a $300 billion mining giant should be weaponising the courts against a small independent media outlet for doing its job.
This is what happens when independent media is squeezed while much of the mainstream press is tied up in corporate interests and mining advertising revenue. Powerful corporations get louder, while smaller voices face legal threats for scrutinising them. That’s not healthy for democracy.
