Employment lawyer Michael Byrnes explains the legal manoeuvres taking place.
In this edition of Media McKnight
- Jackie O’s fight over privilege
- How the White House is censoring embarrassing moments for Donald Trump
- Hugh Riminton retires and reflects on a changing industry
You can watch the video version of MEDIA McKNIGHT in the YouTube player below:
JACKIE O’S DAY IN COURT… DELAYED
Jackie O’s multi-million-dollar court battle with former employer ARN has been sensationally delayed until April next year.
The Federal Court case was due to start on October 12, with two weeks set aside. It’s now been adjourned to April 27, set down for nine days through to May 7.
The culprit isn’t a bombshell. It’s paperwork. Employment lawyer Michael Byrnes from SWAAB told me on the court simply ran out of time to deal with a pile of procedural disputes, chiefly over legal professional privilege, which decides what documents get put before the trial judge and what stays hidden.
“I think there were more disputes about privilege than they might have anticipated.”
Five outstanding applications, three from ARN and two from Jackie’s camp, were still unresolved. Byrnes said the court wasn’t in a position to hear and determine them before the trial date. A two-day hearing to sort them out is now set down for October 19 and 20.
Byrnes said Jackie’s matter had been “caught in the slipstream” of Kyle’s, which was on an expedited timetable and has since settled. The two cases travelled together through the court because of their common facts. When Kyle’s case settled, the judge even asked whether the parties really wanted to keep the October dates. They did.
Despite the delay, Byrnes said all the preparation remains valid. “It’s not like it’s just set back to zero,” he said. Evidence has been filed and documents exchanged.
Settlement odds
I asked whether this is a sign of a settlement, given both sides have been through discovery and should have a better handle on the strength of their cases. There’s still no sign of one. But Byrnes thinks the extra six months changes the picture.
“You would think that this increases the chances of the matter settling or resolving prior to final hearing,” he said.
He also explained ARN may not want the uncertainty hanging over it for that long, and Jackie may decide the wait is too long and she wants this over.
The privilege hearings could be the real turning point. If a party loses the argument and documents it hoped to keep out become admissible, it may rethink its position, particularly if those documents affect the merits or raise reputational issues. Win unexpectedly, and that side might get “more bullish” about running the case to the end.
The documents matter because this is, among other things, a Fair Work Act case. What was in the minds of ARN’s decision makers when they terminated Jackie’s services agreement will be critical. Byrnes said ARN’s position appears to be that Jackie had already decided she wanted out by the time she lodged her February 26 complaint letter.
As I put to him, it’s far from black and white. Many believe ARN also wanted out of the contract, so both sides may want out in different ways.
Wearing his practising lawyer hat, Byrnes said this is a case “crying out for a sensible commercial settlement”. With his legal commentator hat on, he wants to see it play out in court, citing arguments around repudiation of contract, the Fair Work Act and workplace safety.
“It’s not all showbiz,” he said.
WHITE HOUSE ACCUSED OF HIDING TRUMP NAPPING
The ongoing dispute between the White House and news outlets it considers “Fake News” is now having real consequences for voters.
When President Donald Trump banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico, it upset the pool arrangements for covering media events. That’s when outlets share cameras, mics and other resources to capture video of the President during press conferences.
The first casualty was the opening of his new helipad, where a President with plenty to say couldn’t be heard. I pointed out at the time that the White House’s in-house video team would have the issue fixed.
Then I issued a warning: the more the White House shuts out the media, the more control it has over what’s released. If an incident happens, we could be reliant on the administration to hand over the footage, and if it paints Trump in a bad light, you can be sure we’ll never see it. I called it dangerous.
You can see my previous reporting on the issue in the video below:
It didn’t take long for McKnight to be proven right.
Split-screen footage from a recent meeting shows the President seemingly falling asleep. The press pool stayed on the close shot. The official White House feed cut to a wide shot.
It’s pretty minor in the scheme of things, but it proves my point. If the press aren’t in there covering the leader of the free world, we end up relying on footage from the administration, and that has the potential to be riddled with censorship issues. It gives them control over what we see and lets them hide mistakes, or even just embarrassing moments like the President nodding off.
HUGH RIMINTON REFLECTS ON JOURNALISM CAREER
Reporter Hugh Riminton has called time at Channel 10 after 48 years in journalism. 10 News Sydney gave him a special farewell on Friday night, October 2.
He thanked viewers for their connection over nearly 50 years and told his colleagues “the future is in extremely good hands”, adding that he knows the news business is “in great hands with this team”.
I spoke to Hugh on McKnight Tonight on Monday night, and he reflected on how the industry has changed with a classic Kerry Packer story.
Before heading into Iraq ahead of the invasion, Hugh asked his network for cash in case a crew member was injured and he needed to buy a car to get to the border. The request was met with silence. Then, on his last night in London, there was a knock on the door of his Piccadilly hotel room. A muscular, well-dressed man handed over a bag and left. Inside, vacuum sealed, was US$250,000 in cash. Word had gone up to Kerry Packer, and Packer’s view was that Hugh shouldn’t get five grand, he should get $250,000 “just in case he needs it”.
That certainly wouldn’t happen now. Hugh says he was able to give the money back because, thankfully, he didn’t need it.
The full interview, including his insights on how news gathering has changed over the decades, is on the McKnight Tonight YouTube channel.
THURSDAY: SPECIAL EDITION – METRO RADIO RATINGS RESULTS
Media McKnight drops every Tuesday at 9pm Australian Daylight Saving Time. YouTube members get each episode as soon as it’s ready, usually in the afternoon.
Watch for a special edition on Thursday morning when the next batch of metro radio ratings is released. Spencer Howson joins me to go through the results.
