With mediation on Lachlan Murdoch’s defamation claim against Crikey publisher Private Media set for tomorrow (Wednesday), an application is being made to add two additional parties to the case.

Murdoch, who is chief executive and executive chairman of Fox Corporation, wants to add Private Media chairman Eric Beecher and chief executive Will Hayward to the claim. He is suing Private Media over a Crikey article, the headline of which linked the Murdoch family to the January 6, 2021 attacks on the US Capitol, claiming the article caused serious harm to his reputation.

While the case is set to go to mediation tomorrow (December 21), it has also been set down for a hearing on the following day, when Murdoch’s lawyers will put his new statement of claim to Federal Court Justice Michael Wigney.

Pictured: Rupert Murdoch’s elder son is a rich vein of content for Private Media’s Crikey website