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"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark"
I covered this yesterday in relationship to the police raid on Nicky Hager's house.
I am so happy that someone more knowledgable than I has written about this case.
Ex-pizza boss Matt Blomfield: Whaleoil and me
I covered this yesterday in relationship to the police raid on Nicky Hager's house.
I am so happy that someone more knowledgable than I has written about this case.
Ex-pizza boss Matt Blomfield: Whaleoil and me
David
Fisher
9
October, 2014
Matt
Blomfield was beaten bloody. A shotgun blast ringing in his ears.
Blows from the stock of the weapon splitting skin to send blood
running down his face.
It
was a horrifying attack at home. His children were watching. One
stood at the window as her father grappled with the intruder. The
other sought shelter in the house, seeking safety from the armed man
who brought violence to their home.
Blomfield
had fought off the attacker, fiercely enough that police later found
blood from which they took DNA.
He
struggled to think who might want him hurt, or worse. In the end, he
came up with a suspect list of 285,000 people - the monthly
readership of the Whaleoil blog, who he believed had been given every
reason to think he was one of the worst people in New Zealand.
Blomfield
had been living in relative obscurity just a few years earlier. As
marketing manager for Hell Pizza, he spent his days coming up with
clever campaigns to generate media coverage and drive customers to
the restaurant.
It
was an ordinary job for an ordinary man working for a reasonably
ordinary company. Blomfield had ordinary dreams which he drove with
an ordinary over-extension of investment that left him bankrupt.
But
you don't have to be famous to become a target of Cameron Slater's
Whaleoil blog. Slater, who has previously
called himself a "bully" in an interview with the Herald,
lives by the motto "Never F*** With A Blogger".
Anyone
is considered fair game.
Blomfield's
departure from Hell Pizza wasn't pleasant.
There were accusations, ill-feeling and an eventual falling out with
those who had been friends - Hell Pizza director Warren Powell, his
PA Amanda Easterbrook and Powell's friend Marc Spring.
The
depth of feeling is captured in emails held on a file in the Manukau
District Court, where Blomfield is suing Slater for defamation. Filed
in support of Blomfield's claims, the emails show Easterbook
arranging a meeting between herself, Slater, Spring and a liquidator
in April 2012 for what was called "Operation Bumslide".
In
a chain of emails between them, there was a joke about Blomfield
being raped and one in which Spring made disparaging sexual remarks
about Blomfield's wife Rebecca. Spring did not return calls.
Cameron
Slater leaves Auckland High Court in February after appearing in a
defamation case brought by Matt Blomfield. Photo / Doug Sherring
Easterbrook
did not want to comment beyond saying: "Just because you're
copied in on something doesn't mean you agree with it."
About
that time, Facebook messages apparently hacked from Slater's computer
and supplied to the Herald, show him forecasting a "big story".
He told one confidante it "involves Hell pizza, a g[u]y called
Matt Blomfield" and a lawyer. "I've got him on money
laundering, cheque fraud," wrote Slater.
Blomfield
alleges Operation Bumslide began to play out in early May 2012 when
he became the focus of more than 100 articles posted to the Whaleoil
site in a two-month period. Slater declared the beginning of an
investigation based on the contents of a hard drive he had obtained
on which were 10 years of Blomfield's communications and personal
records. There was no explanation about where it came from, but court
documents would later allege Blomfield's former business associates
had given it to Slater.
In
the weeks that followed, those court documents allege, Blomfield was
described as being involved in "drugs, fraud, bullying,
corruption, collusion, compromises, perjury, deception" along
with being a "psychopath" and a "pathological liar"
who loved "notoriety and extortion".
Blomfield,
who sued on the basis the claims were untrue, says he was puzzled
over Slater's interest: "I'd never heard of Whaleoil." He
says he wasn't contacted before any post ran on the site but watched,
initially incredulous then frustrated and finally strained, as the
blog painted a picture of someone he says has no resemblance to
himself.
"There
were stories of me committing every crime you can imagine. I felt
like the only thing Cameron Slater hadn't accused me of is killing
someone. The time and energy it takes from someone is very hard to
deal with.
"There
were only so many people I could sit down with and walk them through
the story and say what had actually happened. You're never going to
match the reach of Cameron Slater."
The
apparently hacked Facebook messages show the blogger appealed to
media interest in his Blomfield posts. In May, after the campaign
began, one Facebook correspondent asked Slater: "Any journos
taken you up on your offer?"
"Not
yet," the blogger replied. Journalists were "lazy", he
said.
Regular
readers were puzzled by the campaign. A month after it began , a
regular Facebook chat companion asked Slater: "Why are you going
after blomfield"?
Slater:
"Have you not been reading those posts?"
Correspondent:
"Yeah maybe I need to go back a bit. But I have skimmed over
them a little as it seems Bloomfield is a **** but there are plenty
of them in business."
Slater:
"Yep but I can stop this one."
Correspondent:
"And not every c*** gets this attention from you. Has he (e)ver
done anything to you or a good mate?"
Blomfield
says he felt his life had been unbundled for the world to pick over.
Lawyers counselled him against defamation action because of the cost
and time involved so he decided to file the papers himself.
"Eventually
somebody has got to stand up to the bully. I was the perfect
candidate to have a go at him. I've got nothing to lose, I've got
plenty of time, I can write and I have access to the internet. And if
I didn't, it appeared no one else was going to."
The
next 18 months involved a painful drudge through the court system for
Blomfield and Slater. (Read the court documents embedded below;
mobile
readers click here).
The former found himself under investigation by a number of
authorities following the blog posts, including the Serious Fraud
Office, police, Companies Office, Official Assignee and Inland
Revenue.
He
alleged, in documents filed in court, that the complaints came from
Slater or others named in Operation Bumslide - he has documents from
each agency showing he was either cleared or no action was taken.
Meanwhile,
Slater was bumptious about his prospects in the case, according to
the hacked correspondence. He told a lawyer friend defamation actions
were controlled by the defendant. He said "blomfield is just
starting to realise this... and when I hold 34000 emails he is
realising how much hurt he is in... I have them all from 2000 to
2010".
By
October last year he was less bullish. Slater had lost a key hearing
in which he claimed a journalist's source protection. District Court
Judge Charles Blackie ruled the blogger was not media and would have
to give up his sources (read the court documents embedded
below; mobile
readers click here).
In
hacked Facebook messages, he is said to have told former prostitute
Rachel Francis: "Matt is terrorising me with this case."
Slater, who has spoken publicly about his mental health issues,
purportedly asked her to think of a lawyer who might assist: "I
can't deal with it on my own... making me mental again."
The
conversation suggests Slater believes Ms Francis has contacts in the
prison system. He asked her to "keep her ear to the ground"
about Blomfield's brother Dan, who had just been arrested for breach
of a protection order.
He
told her: "I'll let you know where he stops soon... make sure he
gets a message."
Two
days later, Slater is said to have told Francis: "That piece of
shit ... was remanded in custody...he is in Mt Eden...I heard the
stairs are very slippery in there...Dan Blomfield."
And
then, in early November, he said: "Dan Blomfield appeared in
court again today... remanded until Jan 20... still sitting in Mt
Eden until then."
Two
weeks later, Slater appeared to be passing on information saying he
believed Blomfield had failed to pay protection money for his
brother. "They are now looking for him... I know where he is and
where he works if they want to find him... name is Matthew
Blomfield".
Slater's
hacked messages are filled with boasts, including claims he himself
has called embellishments. There is no evidence his conversations
with Ms Francis progressed beyond social media chat to actions in the
real world.
Slater
appealed against Judge Blackie's decision, seeking
a declaration he was a journalist and could keep his sources
on the Blomfield posts secret.
In
March, asking for permission to appeal, he told the court: "The
items published were of public interest relating to the failed
business dealing and activities of a former bankrupt and director."
He
said his sources needed protection from "intimidation"
because Blomfield threatened "media exposure, violence,
financial harm or the use of legal proceedings to cost his opponents
large sums of money".
He
also revealed new pressures, with the judgment recording Slater
saying "he could no longer afford to pay legal costs".
(Read the court documents embedded below; mobile
readers click here.)
The
right to appeal was granted. Ahead of the April hearing, Slater's
newly appointed website administrator Pete Belt summarised the
Whaleoil side of the case. Supporters rallied to Slater's cause in
the comments section of the blog, raising questions about Blomfield's
source of income and praising Slater. Belt contributed, saying: "I
wouldn't want to be Mr Blomfield for the next 10 years. The other
side of Karma is coming."
In
another post that day, Belt pointed to new figures showing Whaleoil
maintained its lead as New Zealand's most popular blog, with 1.4
million visits a month.
Ten
days later, a man with a gun walked up Blomfield's front lawn.
Blomfield
says he believes the attack is somehow connected to the Whaleoil
posts, although is definite in saying police collected no evidence
linking the blogger to it. Slater too denies any role. After
questions were raised on other blogs, he rejected any involvement in
a post on Whaleoil. He did not return requests for comment on this
article.
"The
Whaleoil fight is my one and only fight," Blomfield said. If you
asked me to write a list of people I don't get on with Slater would
be near or at the top of the list.
"The
extension of that is Slater has a quarter of a million people who
worship his blog site and would crawl over broken glass for him. You
can't exclude anyone."
He
has received strange and threatening emails and text messages since
he filed the defamation case in 2012. Maybe someone took it further,
he says. "Who knows?"
By
the time the injuries had healed, Justice Raynor Asher came back with
a verdict on the appeal (read the court documents embedded
below; mobile
readers click here).
It
was a Pyrrhic victory for Slater. Yes, said Justice Asher, bloggers
can be journalists - but the journalistic protection Slater sought
also came with responsibilities.
The
blogger had to show there was a "public interest" in
keeping his sources secret and in the Blomfield case, there was none.
Instead,
he found the opposite - the sources had to be revealed to serve the
public interest. He said the "extreme and vitriolic statements"
made publicly about Blomfield had to be studied. If Slater was to
rely on the defence his blog posts were honest opinion, then the
motivations of his sources were likely to be relevant, he said.
"Some
of the exchanges between the alleged informants and Mr Slater show a
gleeful attitude towards his shaming Mr Blomfield," said Justice
Asher. There was also no interest in "protecting informants
intent on pursuing personal vendettas or when conducting personal or
commercial attacks". It was a case where "there is a public
interest in a full airing of all matters relating to this claim".
Justice
Asher said there had been and was no public interest in Blomfield.
"This is not a whistleblower case. There are no political
issues, or matters of public importance at stake. Mr Blomfield is not
a public figure. There is no evidence that his company, now in
liquidation, is the subject of ongoing public interest."
Justice
Asher also dismissed Slater's argument his sources needed anonymity
as protection from Blomfield. There was no evidence to support the
claim: "I do not accept Mr Slater's suggestion that [Blomfield]
is a person to be feared."
Slater
claimed the finding as a victory. Blomfield went back to the district
court to get what he always wanted - the identities of the sources
Slater once said he would risk contempt of court to protect. He has
yet to get the information Slater was bound by judicial order to
leave in a sealed envelope at the Manukau District Court.
Blomfield
says he believes his case against Slater has changed the Whaleoil
blog. This year it has banned death threats, such as those made
against a public servant singled out on Whaleoil with help from
Slater's close friend, National MP Judith Collins.
Ms
Collins championed the Harmful Digital Communications Bill which is
intended to stop online abuse. The legislation is still working its
way through Parliament.
The
blog has also dropped a regular feature in which the deaths of
children with unusual first names were mocked, with the suggestion
the names were linked to poverty and uncaring parents.
There
are also fewer attacks on Joe Average, says Blomfield. New people
around Slater, like Belt, appear to have found a way to "assist
him to focus on matters that a more of public interest", he
says.
"I
don't think he's quite there yet," says Blomfield. "There's
a place for people like Cameron Slater in the world. There has to be
someone who is that antagonist in the media. (Justice) Asher was
right - bloggers can be journalists.
"But
there need to be some sort of controls."
Blomfield
has sunk 3000 hours of his life into the defamation case, which still
has a long way to go. It is far harder, more complex and draining
than he ever expected and he'd been warned it was going to be bad.
"Maybe
the justice system is the control. I believe there needs to be some
sort of body for dealing with bloggers which cross the line."
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