There are multiple holes in this theory @whytee. Here are they are:
short positions started climbed in mid/late-January following the 17 January release which showed the slowing growth. The Australian didn't air their report until 5 March, nobody sits on or leaks a sensational story that long because they're worried someone will beat them to it. So shorts were building well before the news was known. In fact, the Australian had actually been posting quite bullish articles such as the one 'skin in the game' from 23 December which was basically a puff piece about DW and how great sales were going
what started out as allegations being aired in the media (and being poo-pooed by the HotCopper threads) turned out to be true. The Australian even had written emails backing up their earlier claims. Someone was leaking them specifics, hence they made the claims they did with no legal threats from the company.
if your "media hit-up" theory wascorrect, bearing in mind shorters started building in late January when the price was above $2.00, having seen it fall 50% you'd expect to see at least some covering to lock in their profits, given it is now several months on and the 'scandal' has gone quiet. They haven't done that - in fact, they've continued to grow. Why?
There has to be more to it than what you've suggested.
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