Andrew Bolt

Lawyer Adam Houda brought a defamation action against Sky News, Andrew Bolt and another presenter following broadcasts and a January 2024 article portraying him as a 'Jew hater'. In their 2025 defence, the defendants argued that the imputation was true and cited his history of social media posts.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

A complaint alleged that several Sky News programmes, including Bolt's, promoted hostility towards Muslims. The regulatory authority did not uphold the complaint.

Attribution

Directly implicated

The Press Council examined columns linking the second wave of COVID-19 to immigration and multiculturalism. It notably found that the publication had not fairly presented other documented causes, such as population density and insecure employment, and had contributed to substantial offence or harm to migrant communities.

State of the evidence

Reported by the press

Attribution

Directly implicated

On The Bolt Report, Bolt attacked the ABC by attributing editorial responsibility for a documentary series on Captain Cook to it. Media Watch noted that the series had in fact been commissioned and produced for Foxtel/History Channel before its broadcast by the ABC.

State of the evidence

Reported by the press

Attribution

Directly implicated

The Press Council found that a Bolt column about Greta Thunberg, which used her autism and other diagnoses to discredit her climate activism, breached standards intended to prevent unjustified offence, distress or harm.

State of the evidence

Reported by the press

Attribution

Directly implicated

A Bolt column describing an immigration 'wave', enclaves and a 'foreign invasion' triggered numerous complaints to the Australian Press Council and substantial public controversy over the stigmatisation of migrants.

State of the evidence

Reported by the press

Attribution

Directly implicated

Several readers challenged a column claiming, among other things, that Met Office data showed no warming over fifteen years. The Press Council partly upheld the complaints, finding the presentation of certain data misleading and the Met Office's explanations insufficiently considered.

State of the evidence

Reported by the press

Attribution

Directly implicated

The Federal Court ruled that Bolt's articles about nine fair-skinned Aboriginal Australians breached section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. The judge identified factual errors and refused the good-faith exemption; a corrective notice was ordered.

Attribution

Directly implicated

Magistrate Jelena Popovic sued Andrew Bolt and Herald & Weekly Times following a 2000 column inaccurately describing her conduct towards two drug traffickers. The Supreme Court of Victoria found defamation and a lack of reasonable conduct and awarded damages; the appeal removed punitive damages but upheld the defamation finding.

Attribution

Directly implicated