Nine has ‘taken their eye off the ball’ with chequebook journalism, former 60 Minutes staffer claims

A FORMER 60 Minutes heavyweight claims the show’s recent reliance on ‘chequebook journalism has taken their eye off the ball’.

The mother at the centre of the botched child rescue, Sally Faulkner, pictured with her two children, Noah and Lahela. Picture: Supplied

THE fallout over the arrest of seasoned reporter Tara Brown, experienced producer Stephen Rice and two crew will “irrevocably change the way TV current affairs are now done in this country,” a former 60 Minutes heavyweight claimed.

The industry insider, with a long and highly-respected work history with the jailed reporter Brown and award-winning producer Rice, claimed the show’s recent reliance on “chequebook journalism had taken their eye off the ball” and dangerously distracted them from the “basic rigour required in these [complex] investigations.”

Rice and Brown remain in legal limbo in a Beirut prison, along with Nine cameraman Ben Williamson and sound recordist David ‘Tangles’ Ballment, in the wake of a botched mission by Child Abduction Recovery International (CARI) last week.

A former 60 Minutes staffer says the Nine program — on which Tara Brown is a senior reporter — has become increasingly reliant on so-called ‘chequebook journalism’. Picture: Channel 9

The program were following Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner, in her attempts to retrieve her two children, Lahela, 6 and Noah, 4, from their father, Ali Elamine — when the attempt, on a street in South Beirut, descended into chaos and all parties associated with the story taken into custody.

Nine boss Hugh Marks told staff their 60 Minutes colleagues — facing charges of kidnapping, assault and hiding information over the incident — were “in good health, generally good spirits, are detained in reasonable conditions and being well-treated by local officials,” with a local “fixer on the ground” providing the detainees with “food, books and other comforts”.

In a company-wide memo, Mr Marks said: “I know there are lots of questions about how this happened. Questions we will get to the bottom of when everyone gets back. It is essential that we do whatever we can to help facilitate our crew’s fastest possible return to Australia.”

Mike Munro, a former host of Nine’s A Current Affair, has been supporting his nephew Ben Williamson’s distraught family through briefings by the network; while Ben’s wife Cara posted a family portrait of the couple in happier times with their twin daughters to her Facebook page, prompting comments from friends to: “hang in there.”

60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown (top left) and her crew who are in a Lebanese jail over the bungled child recovery mission. Picture: Supplied

Ballment’s partner, Laura, a long-serving editor at ACA, Rice’s wife Denise and Brown’s producer husband John McAvoy are also expected at another briefing in Nine’s boardroom scheduled for Friday.

Nine News boss, Darren Wick, on the ground in Beirut to engage legal support and liaise with risk and crisis management specialist Sallie Stone, also a former 60 Minutes producer with extensive experience with DFAT, “has had numerous meetings with a wide range of senior government and legal officials and our presence there is being well received,” Mr Marks said.

The mother at the centre of the botched child rescue, Sally Faulkner, pictured with her two children, Noah and Lahela. Picture: Supplied

“We are highly respectful of the Lebanese legal process and this is well understood and appreciated over there. The signals from our PM and Foreign Minister have also been well received in Lebanon and we are getting good assistance from DFAT.

“We think it is encouraging that the judge has directed the parents of the two children to reach a mediated agreement on custody. It demonstrates sound logic and a rational approach to what has been an intractable issue for that family.”

Tara Brown has previously reported on a child abduction case in Queensland's Sunshine Coast. At the time, the story was hailed as ‘the biggest international child abduction case in living memory.’ Picture: Channel 9

He added: “My priority is to get our crew home and every decision is made through that prism, while providing whatever support we can give to those who are impacted by these events.”

But the recriminations have already reached fever-pitch outside of Nine, with 60 Minutes current executive producer Kirsty Thomson and her predecessor Tom Malone in the spotlight.

Thomson, married to actor Matt Day and an experienced producer, news editor and most recently chief-of-staff at 60, took over responsibility for the program from February 8.

Working with a skeleton staff over its summer hiatus, producers are known to set up stories over the holiday break, then action them when the production office returns to full operation in January: in this instance, when Malone was still in the chair [he was appointed Nine’s new head of sport on February 5].

Col Chapman, a rival child recovery specialist, has claimed he understood Faulkner was in discussions with the show about the recovery story from early December.

After quoting for his operation, Child Abduction Recovery Australia, to conduct the mission, he told News Corp Australia, he received a text message from Faulkner stating: “I’m now just working very quietly with 60 Minutes in the new year.”

The former 60 Minutes insider described Williamson and Ballment as “collateral damage” in the aftermath of the story gone wrong.

The flagship show’s brand had also been damaged and would need rehabilitating, with spin doctors like another former 60 Minutes staffer, Anthony McClelland with the expertise to held rebuild its tattered public image and international reputation, the source said.