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Billionaire Jim Grenon has “strongly held personal values concerning democracy and freedom of expression” and that is why he says he became involved in funding a “wholly unsuccessful” defamation case against TVNZ on behalf of Julian Batchelor.
Grenon, who is also the largest shareholder of media company NZME, was revealed as a funder of Batchelor’s defamation case in December last year when Judge David Clark ordered him to say who was covering his legal fees when questioned by lawyers.
Batchelor, the organiser of a “stop co-governance” roadshow, attempted to sue TVNZ and Sanjana Hattotuwa, a former researcher for The Disinformation Project, over an August 2023 news item on 1News’ 6pm bulletin and its website. The subject was the Electoral Commission investigating an anti-co-governance pamphlet distributed by Batchelor before the 2023 general election.
Batchelor wanted damages. He claimed the story had caused him personal and professional damage after Hattotuwa described him as using “racist rhetoric” and speech that “instigated harm offline”.
