Aussie spat gets physical

The spat between News Corp and Mail Online over copyright in Australia has spilled over to the Cannes Lions advertising festival, with a late night altercation between website publisher Martin Clarke and a reporter from a Murdoch title.
Darren Davidson, a media business reporter with the Australian, claimed that when he approached Clarke at a late night Cannes party and requested an interview, an associate of the Mail Online executive grabbed an iPad the encounter was being filmed on, verbally abused him and then poured beer on him and a former colleague who was shooting video on the tablet.
Davidson said that he was then forced to pursue Clarke down the street outside the party to retrieve the iPad and alleged that when he got it back the video of the incident had been deleted.
However, Mail Online sources painted a slightly different picture, claiming that Davidson had persisted with his questioning after his interview request had been declined and had chased Clarke out of the Spotify party where the incident took place. They also denied that an iPad had been stolen or a video deleted.
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