About Defamer

Defamer is an independent Australian publication about business, money and power. We tell the stories behind the companies and the people who built — and broke — them: the empire-builders, the quiet global outliers, and the spectacular collapses that Australians still argue about decades later.

Two engines

Everything we publish runs on one of two tracks:

• The drama. Great collapses, tycoons and dynasties, and scandals and reckonings — the rise-and-fall stories and the reckonings that followed.
• The admiration. Iconic brand histories and outliers and global empires — how the household names were built, and how a mid-sized economy keeps producing world-beaters.

How we work

• The public record comes first. When we write about living people or operating businesses, we rely on court judgments, public inquiries, regulator findings and established reporting — and we attribute our sources.
• Allegation is not finding. We say plainly what has been proven and what has not, and we presume innocence for anything a court hasn’t decided.
• Stories, told straight. Much of what we cover is history. We tell it as narrative, but we don’t embellish beyond what the record supports.

Our full approach is set out in our editorial standards, and if you think we’ve got something wrong you have a right of reply — see corrections & complaints.

A note on the name

“Defamer” is a nod to this masthead’s irreverent Australian heritage, and to the plain fact that the best business stories are often the ones somebody would rather stayed untold. It is not a description of our method. We report accurately, in context, and with a right of reply.

Contact

Story tips, corrections and feedback are welcome via our contact form.