Stuff threatens The Spinoff with defamation

Shayne Currie reports:

The founder of The Spinoff, Duncan Greive, says he has been put on notice of a potential defamation claim from news publisher Stuff after a stand-off – stemming from an exclusive report last December – escalated into a pointed email last weekend.

Greive revealed in December that Stuff had officially and legally split into two companies – Stuff Digital and Stuff Masthead Publishing – and analysed the potential outcomes and opportunities of what Stuff’s chief financial officer Dale Bridle himself described internally as a “conscious uncoupling”.

At the time, Stuff downplayed the significance of the move, and took issue with Greive’s analysis and reportage, claiming the article was wrong in places and wanting it removed from The Spinoff website until the so-called errors were fixed.

Basically Grieve said that this split may indicate that part of Stuff could be up for sale. Stuff said this was wrong.

As Media Insider revealed this week, Stuff is also understood to have been in talks with Trade Me about a full or part acquisition of Stuff Digital. It is unclear when those discussions started.

So Grieve was threatened with defamation – for being right!