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JUDGE ROB: The case of ABC v 7 Spotlight and Mark Llewellyn

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After claims a producer from the 7.30 program coached talent for an expose on actor Craig McLachlan, the ABC has made a counterclaim. Now Judge Rob looks at the evidence and passes his verdict

Craig McLachlan in Horror Show (image – 7NEWS Spotlight)

Just over a week ago Channel 7 aired an interview with actor Craig McLachlan over sexual assault claims. During the interview the 7 Spotlight program ran raw footage of the interviews conducted by 7.30 showing a producer from the ABC appearing to coach the women making accusations against the actor.

Before we move forward it is important to note the dispute we are examining here is not about the claims made in the original report or the believability of the women involved. This case is about the behaviour of the ABC and whether the interview techniques used met journalistic standards.

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Here is one of the exchanges aired by Seven, as reported in The Australian today. The following is experts of a dialogue between ABC reporter Lorna Knowles and an off-screen producer before the 7.30 story screened in January 2018:

OFF-SCREEN ABC PRODUCER: And just the final one, I’m just looking for a sharp, short, you said ‘this is predatory behaviour, it wasn’t a one off, and when we all shared our stories we realised how calculated he was.’

KNOWLES: I don’t think we should be putting words into her mouth to some extent.

PRODUCER: These were the words that I wrote down.

KNOWLES: OK, so if we’ve got them why are we getting them again?

PRODUCER: Because it’s going to be a bit longer.

KNOWLES: OK.

When the complainant restarts the interview and stumbles over the word “predatory”, the reporter says: “Do that again, we want predatory in there.”

A week after the tapes were shown on national television, the ABC issued a ‘correcting the record’ rebuttal of the claims made by producer Mark Llewellyn.

In January 2018 the ABC reported allegations made by three women regarding actor Craig McLachlan. The broadcast and online stories included interviews with these women.

Last week the Seven Network aired claims, since repeated elsewhere, that the women interviewed were “manipulated” by an ABC producer and reporter “to say certain things”. Seven producer Mark Llewellyn subsequently claimed the women were “coached” and that there was “clear evidence of words being put in (their) mouths”.

The ABC rejects these claims. They are also offensive to the women who stepped forward to tell their stories.

Here the ABC has used the women who were interviewed as a shield to avoid criticism. They are basically saying ‘if you have a go at us you are attacking the women who made the complaints’.

Sorry, but that is a gutless response from the ABC and fails to understand the basic issue of the matter. The ABC PR department should know better and this statement is offensive to the women they interviewed. How dare they try to use these women who have already been through so much (whether you believe their story or not) in trying to justify their actions.

This is absolutely shameful.

The statement continues:

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Seven has selectively edited raw footage and used very brief grabs without full context from near the end of an almost hour-long interview with one of the women.

The unedited footage shows the interviewee was asked to repeat in a more succinct way statements she had already made on-camera. This is a normal television industry practice in some cases to ensure content is presented in a clear way for viewers.

This is a laughable defence from the ABC. Every choice made in an edit is selectively edited, just like the ABC’s original story. The simple fact is those words were said by the producer. She was coaching them. No matter what context or what else was said on the tapes she was literally trying to put words in the mouths of the people being interviewed.

A good interviewer can get the same result without have to tell the talent what to say.

The statement continues:

At the time of the original story the ABC offered Mr McLachlan the opportunity of an interview, sent him detailed questions and ran his responses extensively.

This is an irrelevant statement form the ABC. The criticism has been the conduct of the producer during the interviews, not whether the ABC sought comment from Craig McLachlan.

Reporter Lorna Knowles reposted the ABC’s response again using the three women as a defence, instead of reflecting on the way the interview was conducted.

Executive Producer Mark Llewellyn said to me on twitter he had never seen anything like what he witness on the tapes.

Knowles did not take kindly to the commentary by Llewellyn and fired back this response:

Again, he did not manipulate the vision or re-edit the words to change what was said. This defence of manipulation does not pass the pub test.

It should also be noted Mark Llewellyn has a proud history of working in news and current affairs over many decades, including as Executive Producer of 60 Minutes and Sunday Night.

After posting my initial thoughts about this on twitter, it became obvious this is an ideological issue to many. The people defending the ABC do not seem to be able to separate the claims made by the women at the heart of the story and the behaviour of the ABC.

And that leads to comments like this:

PLEASE RISE FOR JUDGE ROB’S VERDICT

As I have previously stated, in other articles and commentary, I have seen hundreds of raw interviews from A Current Affair, Today Tonight, 7 News, 9 News and 60 Minutes. In my three decades of working in the television industry I have never seen coaching like this. It is one thing to ask for a more succinct grab, but another to put words into the mouths of talent.

If the ABC think this behaviour should be defended, then the ABC needs to look at it’s own ethics and ask itself whether it can be trusted to be held in the high standard we all hope and want the ABC to be.

This is not about defunding the ABC and this is not about having an anti-ABC bias. This is about journalistic standards and holding the ABC to account when it gets it wrong.

On this occasion the ABC got it wrong and it needs to accept that, learn from it and move on.

I FIND IN FAVOUR OF CHANNEL 7 AND MARK LLEWELLYN.

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Know more about this or another Australian media story?

Contact the team anonymously at TV Blackbox

Robert McKnight
Robert McKnighthttps://tvblackbox.com.au/robert-mcknight/
"Leading TV commentator" - The Daily Telegraph | "Known for his impeccable sources in the TV industry" - The Daily Mail | "Always first with the correct info" - Beau Ryan | Robert McKnight is a highly regarded Australian Television Producer having worked at SEVEN, NINE and TEN during his 30 years in the industry. Currently Rob can be seen every fortnight on THE MORNING SHOW (7) and heard on NIGHTS WITH JOHN STANLEY (2GB/4BC). He is also a producer on 7 NEWS SPOTLIGHT.
Comments

1 COMMENT

  1. Robert … there are so many parallels between this and the current Bashir/Panorama findings … we are now seeing stories written by people who call themselves journalists trying to subvert the narrative and turn it into a story about Diana’s death and the Royal family’s involvement when the truth is that the real story is about the shockingly gross dishonesty of one of their own in obtaining the interview … this is what happens too many times in today’s media environment when people actually believe that by calling themselves a “journalist” they can get away with unethical behaviour because they feel they are somehow superior to mere mortals … I’ve worked with journalists my entire working life and have seen this happen too many times … it’s disgusting and the ABC news department is as much a purveyor of this kind of self-opinionated trash as any other publication that may be mentioned …

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