But Justice White said even if Fairfax Media's conduct in publishing the articles was reasonable,it does not follow that it was also reasonable to publish a poster or tweets with a defamatory meaning to promote interest in them.

He estimated more than 1 million people would have seen one of the 2,466 posters with the"strong and eye-catching headline"placed outside newsagents and other places selling the newspaper.

A very large number of them would not have gone on to read the article either in print or online,which put the words"Treasurer for Sale"in context. The headline also appeared on the front page of theHerald andThe Age.

Mr Hockey had claimed the articles,by the Herald's state political editor Sean Nicholls and chief political correspondent Mark Kenny,and the related publications defamed him by suggesting he was corrupt and accepted bribes paid to influence his decisions as Treasurer.

But Justice White said ordinary reasonable readers who read the articles as a whole would have understood that"theSMH was reporting on a method by which access to Mr Hockey in his important role as Treasurer could be obtained by the payment of significant sums,but not that Mr Hockey himself,or his judgment or discretion,could be bought".

"The articles make it plain that the fundraising is for the purposes of the Liberal Party or Mr Hockey's own election campaign rather than any decision to be made by him in his capacity as Treasurer,and I consider that the ordinary reasonable reader would have understood them in that way."

However,in"the circumstance of the heightened consciousness of issues of corruption in NSW at the time"ordinary reasonable readers who only saw the posters"are likely to have understood that the poster was indicating that theSMH contained an article concerning corrupt conduct by Mr Hockey".

"The words"for sale"implied that that conduct involved the receipt by him of payment of an improper kind,or a willingness on Mr Hockey's part to receive such payments,"Justice White said.

"Those readers who later read theSMH article would,for the reasons given earlier,have appreciated that that was not what theSMH was in fact conveying."

In defamation law,a poster is regarded as a discrete publication while a headline is to be read in the context of the article as a whole.

Justice White applied similar reasoning to tweets sent fromThe Age's Twitter account,which reproduced the"Treasurer for Sale"headline.

However,he said the tweets are likely to have been read and"taken in"by fewer people than in the case of theSMH poster.

Fairfax had denied the meanings pleaded by Mr Hockey were conveyed. But if the court disagreed,Fairfax Media said it had a defence of qualified privilege,because the matters were in the public interest,and they acted reasonably and without malice in publishing the material.

Mr Hockey had contended the articles were motivated by"personal spite and ill will"and"payback"by Fairfax for having to publish an apology and correction to an earlier article.

Justice White said that in the case of theHerald,the defence of qualified privilege would have been defeated by malice.

He saidHerald editor-in-chief Darren Goodsir"had lost objectivity"and was"motivated by his animus towards Mr Hockey and that he sought a headline which would be hurtful of,or damaging to,Mr Hockey".

"If it was not for his desire to get back at Mr Hockey,I consider it probable that he would have selected a less provocative headline."

He found Nicholls,Kenny,Age editor-in-chief Andrew Holden andHerald news director Ben Cubby were not motivated by malice and acted responsibly.

And he dismissed Mr Hockey's claims that the publication was deliberately timed to coincide with preparations for the 2014 budget.

Justice White criticised Mr Hockey's barrister Bruce McClintock,SC,for asking for further or aggravated damages because of the conduct of Fairfax Media's lawyers during the trial. Mr McClintock's claim that barrister Dr Matthew Collins,QC,tried to"embarrass"Mr Hockey during cross-examination was"inappropriate",Justice White said. He also dismissed Mr McClintock's pronouncement during closing submissions that Fairfax Media's defences of qualified privilege were"hopeless".

He also dismissed Mr Hockey's claim that access provided by the NSF is the same as the occasional access obtained by an ordinary member of the CWA,Rotary,a member of a Chamber of Commerce and Industry,or for that matter the person in the street.

A spokesman for Fairfax Media said the court found the articles were"well researched and accurate".

He said reporting in Tuesday'sSMH andThe Age on political donations paid by Mafia figures to Liberal Party fundraising vehicle the Millennium Forum shows"Fairfax journalists remain fearless in their pursuit of information that is in the public interest".

He said the company will consider the full 127-page judgment before deciding whether to appeal. The matter will return before Justice White on July 14 for submissions on costs,interest and injunctions and final orders. The company will then have 21 days to appeal.

Mr Hockey wants an injunction restraining future publication of the defamatory imputations.

A spokeswoman for the Treasurer said Mr Hockey was unlikely to respond to the judgment on Tuesday.

Mr Hockey has been in Beijing and Hong Kong for the last two days to meet with Chinese government figures including the Finance Minister,Lou Jiwei,and to discuss Australia's decision to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. In Hong Kong he met with the state's Monetary Authority.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott recently suggested at Parliament's Mid-Winter Ball that Mr Hockey might well make a donation to the Mo,Evie and Otis foundation,which was set up by Mr Abbott's chief of staff Peta Credlin and theHerald to remember the three Maslin children who died in the Malaysian Airlines MH17 tragedy.

The charity was established to resolve a complaint over a potentially defamatory letter published by the newspaper.