Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey / Picture: Kym Smith Source: News Corp Australia

Herald editor-in-chief Darren Goodsir and Fairfax Media are defending claims in the federal court of defaming Mr Hockey and acting with malice by orchestrating a “pay back”.

Expletive-laden texts and emails by Fairfax’s two most senior editors were handed to the court yesterday in the defamation case triggered by a front-page headline “Treasurer for Sale” written by Mr Goodsir last May.

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The court was told that Mr Goodsir wrote in a text that he felt “pissed off” Mr Hockey’s press secretary rang him at 2.15am to complain about a story on Friday, March 21.

Mr Hockey also rang Mr Goodsir’s boss, Fairfax chief executive Greg Hywood, and the Herald — which boasts in its masthead the motto “Independent. Always” — was forced to apologise for a mistake in the story involving the Treasurer and campaign fundraising body North Sydney Forum.

“They have a f … … hide,’’ Mr Goodsir texted his Fairfax colleague, The Age editor-in-chief Andrew Holden.

Mr Holden replied: “Amazing they freeze us out and then think they have the relationship that allows them to call in the middle of the night”.

Source: DailyTelegraph

Mr Holden advised Mr Goodsir to “dig” into the fundraising body (NSF) and “in that story you can run Hockey’s claim he knew nothing ... beyond that, f … him”.

That day Mr Goodsir instructed Herald state political editor Sean Nicholls to “drop all other work and be full time digging into NSF” and said he wanted to have a “red hot go at this issue”. After receiving an update on Mr ­Nicholls’ work on March 27, Mr Goodsir wrote: “F … … brilliant! ... Given what Andrew and I ­endured last week with Hockey, I want to have this nailed to the cross in more ways that one.

“I have long dreamt (well ­actually since last Friday) of a headline that screams: Sloppy Joe! I think we are not far off but ­perhaps even more serious than that.’’

He later advised staff he wanted to be “in a spot to launch our dirt on Hockey team’’ when he returned to work on Monday, April 28.

Mr Holden advised Mr Goodsir to “dig” into the fundraising body (NSF) and “in that story you can run Hockey’s claim he knew nothing ... beyond that, f … him”

The article, published May 5 on the front pages of the Herald and The Age, said that in ­return for annual fees of up to $22,000, NSF members were rewarded with “VIP” meetings with Mr Hockey.

The court was told a page editor at Fairfax’s Canberra Times, Mark Uhlmann, said he did not like the “Treasurer for Sale” headline and preferred to take a “more conservative approach”.

Before Justice Peter Jacobson entered the court yesterday, the Herald reported last night, Mr Hockey’s lawyer Bruce McClintock told Fairfax barrister Sandy Dawson: “If the imputations are conveyed you are f…..”. The Herald also reported that Mr Hockey would give evidence at the judge-only trial next March.

In court, Mr McClintock submitted “there was a big measure of payback because the Herald had been forced to apologise to Mr Hockey” over the earlier article. He said he found it “surprising” Mr Goodsir did not believe such a headline might suggest Mr Hockey was corrupt.

Fairfax argues the article contained correct factual material and the company did not intend to infer Mr Hockey was corrupt.