She’s back at work at 60 Minutes, but Tara Brown isn’t back on air

TARA Brown and her 60 Minutes crew have escaped kidnapping charges in Beirut, so when will we see her back on air?

TARA Brown and her 60 Minutes crew escaped kidnapping charges in Beirut for their involvement in a failed child snatch, so when will Nine return its Walkley Award-winning reporter to TV screens?

Brown and her crew — sound recordist David Ballment, cameraman Ben Williamson and sacked producer Stephen Rice — were overnight issued with a $1000 fine and a misdemeanour charge for not reporting a crime for their involvement in the failed snatch, with prosecuting judge Rami Abdullah saying “it is over for them”.

There is clearly relief among the 60 Minutes team, with Ballment posting on his Facebook page overnight: “My charges in Lebanon are dropped. Saying it’s a big relief is an understatement. I feel I have my life back.”

But Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner and recovery agent Adam Whittington — who remains in jail in Beirut — have been charged with kidnapping, following the 60 Minutes saga in Lebanon.

The judge accepted the Nine Network financed and directed the kidnapping operation, something Nine’s own review also acknowledged despite the company’s early insistence it paid Whittington by mistake.

Charges downgraded: The 60 Minutes crew (from left) David Ballment, Stephen Rice, Tara Brown and Ben Williamson. Picture: Supplied

Brown, Ballment and Williamson have been back at work since early June, following Nine’s release of its internal review of the saga, which found a series of “inexcusable errors” had led to “the gravest misadventure in the program’s history”.

Brown was one of at least four staff at Nine given a formal warning and censured for their involvement in the story. Rice was dismissed by Nine CEO Hugh Marks, and is taking legal action against Nine.

But Brown has not appeared on air on 60 Minutes since her return to work.

It’s understood she is working on a story which will probably air later this month.

The challenge for 60 Minutes is what that story will be.

Brown has borne the brunt of public backlash about the Lebanon saga because of her on-screen presence.

“In 2014 and 2015, Tara was on fire — she had bagged big interviews like (disgraced Australian ‘wellness’ guru) Belle Gibson, and, ironically, her series on a bitter custody dispute between an Italian husband and his Australian ex-wife,” said one insider today.

“How do you rebuild her as a brand after this?”

Brown and producer Rebecca Le Tourneau won a Walkley Award for journalism in 2015 for Brown’s take-down of paedophile Peter Scully in a story titled ‘Catching A Monster”.

Meanwhile, Channel Nine greeted the news of lesser charges out of Lebanon with caution, saying in an official statement the network is still expecting trial, despite the downgrade.

“We were advised last night by our legal team in Lebanon that the charges our 60 Minutes crew are facing in Lebanon have been downgraded,” a Nine spokesman said this morning.

“There will still be a trial on a date to be determined, and out of respect for the Lebanese legal process we will not be making any further comment while the matter is still before the court.”

Brown outside the 60 Minutes offices at Channel 9 in early June. Picture: Braden Fastier

Brown has not spoken publicly about the saga since her return to Australia after being released from a Lebanese jail, when in a brief interview with 60 Minutes colleague Michael Usher, she said of Lebanese authorities: “I thought, ‘We’re journalists, we’re doing our job — and they will see reason, they will understand that’.”

Faulkner, Brown, Rice, Ballment and Williamson were arrested in Beirut on April 6, along with Whittington, his colleague Craig Michaels and two Lebanese men, Khaled Barbour and Mohammed Hamza.

They were taken into custody after Whittington’s team snatched Ms Faulkner’s two children, Lahela, five, and Noah, three, from a busy suburban street, injuring their Lebanese grandmother.

Faulkner and the 60 Minutes team spent almost two weeks in prison, and were released when the children’s father, Ali Elamine, agreed to drop personal charges of kidnap against them in return for a payout, reportedly up to $500,000, from Nine.

Faulkner agreed to give up custody of her children in order to obtain her freedom.

Sally Faulkner gave up custody of her children in Lebanon after the failed child recovery. Source: Facebook

Originally published as She’s back at work at 60 Minutes, but Tara Brown isn’t back on air