The Horse Has Bolted But Nine's Court Fight Goes On

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday June 30, 2006

Natasha Wallace and Lisa Murray

CHANNEL NINE is seeking to legally force other media organisations to divulge how and from whom they received a damaging affidavit that has exposed nasty executive tactics at the network.

The heavy-handed approach is part of an attempt to stop the media from publishing the affidavit, written by Nine's former head of news and current affairs Mark Llewellyn, that reportedly contains conversations between him and Nine's chief executive, Eddie McGuire.

Mr McGuire was in damage control yesterday after it was revealed one of the network's biggest stars, Jana Wendt, had consulted her lawyers and was considering her future as host of the Sunday program.

Despite Nine's troubles, Publishing and Broadcasting Limited's chief, James Packer, has flown to England to play polo and watch tennis at Wimbledon.

A source at Nine said Mr McGuire called Wendt in for a long meeting, which went well. However, it is unclear whether Wendt will stay at Nine beyond September, when Sunday and Business Sunday merge.

Meanwhile, Nine's deputy chief executive, Jeff Browne, moved quickly to settle negotiations with the former Sunday director Peter Hiscock, who was forced to take redundancy.

Mr Hiscock confirmed yesterday that negotiations over his exit payment had been settled.

It is believed Nine was keen to avoid any legal stoushes that could lead to further damaging affidavits about the network.

Channel Nine yesterday refused to say whether it will subpoena its own journalists, including John Lehmann, who on Tuesday was named editor-in-chief of The Bulletin magazine, owned by Nine's parent company, PBL. The affidavit was leaked to Lehmann on Sunday when he was media writer for The Australian.

A spokesman, Jamie Campbell, said: "Because this is before the court we don't really have any comment to make."

Nine has obtained an injunction halting publication of the document, after parts of it were posted on the Crikey website on Monday.

Fairfax - publisher of the Herald and The Age - and Nationwide News have applied to the NSW Supreme Court to have the injunction overturned. A hearing has been set down for July 7.

Yesterday, Justice Joseph Campbell directed that Nine issue any subpoenas to the media by this afternoon. Nine's barrister Tony Bannon, SC, told the court his client wanted the media to "fess up" about how they got the document. This is despite a well-established code of ethics among journalists to protect their sources.

The affidavit was prepared in response to Nine's court action against Mr Llewellyn over his defection to Channel Seven. He has agreed not to disclose it. But so keen is Nine to keep the Llewellyn allegations under wraps it has taken its battle to the Federal Court.

Lawyers for the network are trying to suppress a statement of claim, which is separate from the affidavit, which was made by Llewellyn as part of a legal action against Nine over his demotion.

The matter will be heard in the Federal Court this morning.

At Channel Nine yesterday, Today presenter Jessica Rowe, who has been publicly endorsed by Mr McGuire after damaging allegations about her future, indirectly acknowledged the furore on the show's blog. "I've been overwhelmed by your support and kind words," she wrote.

"Such encouragement inspires me to keep going and keep enjoying what I'm doing."

The influential media buyer Harold Mitchell warned against the subpoena action. "This probably isn't the occasion for the courts. I think the matter will pass quickly enough," Mr Mitchell said.

Richard Ackland - Page 15

© 2006 Sydney Morning Herald

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