Karvelas called Rundle’s message “quite staggering” on air.

Rundle has been writing into the show for several years, two sources with knowledge of the messages said, speaking on condition of anonymity. While the show blocked his number at times, this was the first time Karvelas had read out one of his texts with his name attached.

It is not the first time Rundle has got into trouble with his publisher: he was sidelined in 2023 after a piece published on Crikey about Brittany Higgins, commenting she had as “much motive as anyone has ever had to make a false sex crime claim”, while also saying the consultation process over her compensation was “stunningly rapid”.

Crikey removed the article and apologised twice, also issuing a correction about the contents of the piece. Its editors, Sophie Black and Gina Rushton, said their editorial processes had failed in publishing the piece.

After not publishing Rundle for a lengthy period, the outlet announced a new set of editorial guidelines two months later, and Rundle also returned to writing for Crikey.

Rundle was last published on Crikey’s website on Thursday. He is one of the website’s most popular writers, with his columns regularly attracting over 100 comments.

Subscriptions are responsible for 98 per cent of Crikey’s revenue, Hayward told readers this week. In 2023, an internal source at Crikey told this masthead it had added around 5000 new subscribers during its legal process against News Corp chair Lachlan Murdoch. The jump took its total figure to the “high 20[thousand]s”, the source said.

Rundle was approached for comment, but did not respond.

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