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An Australian journalism lecturer has been threatened with legal action by the editor-in-chief of the Australian, according to reports from within the country.

It's reported that editor-in-chief Chris Mitchell plans to sue Julie Posetti, a lecturer at the University of Canberra, in relation to tweets she posted about comments made by former reporter for the Australian Asa Wahlquist while talking about working for the title at a Journalism Education Association Australia (JEAA) conference. In a report by the Australian on Friday, editor-in-chief Chris Mitchell said he was planning to take action for defamation against Posetti, saying that "there is not protection from the law in repeating accurately allegations falsely made".

"I am not one who believes new media should be exempt from the normal laws of the land," he is also quoted as saying in the report.

Posetti declined to comment and Journalism.co.uk is awaiting a response from the Australian. In a post on her blog Posetti said she was attending the conference at the University of Technology as a speaker "in my capacity as a University of Canberra journalism lecturer".

"My university has not received any communication from Mr Mitchell and I have been asked not to comment further on the detail of what transpired until we know what allegations are being made against me and the University and have had an opportunity to take legal advice," the post said on Sunday. ABC has since published what is understood to be an audio recording of Wahlquist speaking at the conference. Others have been voicing their opinion on the situation via the Twitter hashtag

\#twitdef

.

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Written by
Rachel Bartlett

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