“We tried to have some interaction to discuss it … and obviously, how we could do something about it, but we got no reaction from the Seven side,” he said. Seven West has been approached for comment.

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There is no other printing operation in WA that can produce a daily newspaper aside from Seven’s Colourpress. Stokes dominates the media in WA via control of its main newspaper, The West Australian, many of its regional titles, and the main television network, Seven.

It has been a tough six months for both Stokes and Seven West.

In December, Stokes agreed to pay the multimillion-dollar costs of the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation litigation against Nine, following reports from this publication that accused Roberts-Smith of being a war criminal.

In a historic decision last year, Federal Court Justice Anthony Besanko dismissed the lawsuit and found the newspapers had proven to the civil standard – on the balance of probabilities – that Roberts-Smith was complicit in the murder of four unarmed prisoners in Afghanistan.

Roberts-Smith, who was a Seven West employee at the time, had his legal case funded by the company and then a private entity controlled by Stokes. This year, a former producer at Seven West alleged the network had paid for drugs and prostitutes to secure an interview with Bruce Lehrmann.

Seven’s news boss Craig McPherson and Spotlight executive producer Mark Llewellyn subsequently left the network.

Seven West shares – which were worth more than 60¢ just two years ago – are currently trading around the 20.5¢ mark.

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