Tom Steinfort addresses elephant in Logies room during acceptance speech

Nine’s Logies win was a big blow for rival network Seven, which was awkwardly forced to air it as part of their Logies broadcast.

Well, no-one can accuse Channel 7 of rigging Logies votes.

Nine Network took home the Logie Award for Best News Coverage for the 60 Minutes story ‘Ben Roberts-Smith: The Truth’, which covered the explosive 110-day defamation trial last year which found the decorated Victoria Cross recipient guilty of committing war crimes.

Channel 9’s win in the category was awkward from the outset, with Seven, the broadcasting home of TV’s night of nights and former employer of Mr Roberts-Smith, forced to air the moment in all its glory.

Nine journalist Tom Steinfort was clearly surprised by the nod, taking the bold step of addressing the elephant in the room while opening his speech.

“We definitely weren’t expecting this given Ben Roberts-Smith’s employment history,” Steinfort bluntly said.

Tom Steinfort accepts the Logie Award for Best News Coverage or Public Affairs Report. Picture: James Gourley/Getty Images for TV WEEK Logie Awards

Returning Logies host Sam Pang also took aim at Seven in his opening monologue amid their flurry of scandals over the past 12 months, including their controversial Spotlight interview with Bruce Lehrmann and the ensuing sex and cocaine scandal.

“I’m just letting you all know I’m going to say whatever I want tonight. I stand before you safe in the knowledge that whatever I say, this network will defend me in court,” Pang began.

“And with their impeccable record in defamation cases over the last 12 months I reckon I’ll be fine.

“Full disclosure, I’m not getting paid by Channel 7 tonight. Instead, for the next 12 months, they’re paying my rent. Which is handy as they’ll know what address to send the Thai masseuse to.”

Screengrab of Sam Pang on The Logies. Courtesy Channel 7

Mr Roberts-Smith stepped down from his role as Seven West Media’s general manager of Seven Queensland in June last year after a court ruled he was a war criminal in his defamation trial against Nine newspapers’ Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times.

The journalists who reported the original story, Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters, claimed the Australian soldier had machine gunned an unarmed insurgent with a prosthetic leg and that he had kicked an innocent civilian off a cliff, among other allegations.

Ben Roberts-Smith lost his defamation trial against Nine newspapers last year. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Federal court judge Anthony Besanko ruled that, on the balance of probabilities, the allegations had been proven to be “substantially true”.

Kerry Stokes, the boss of Seven West Media, was a strong backer of Mr Roberts-Smith, bankrolling his legal expenses.

The cost of both sides’ legal fees ran into the tens of millions.

Elsewhere at the Logies, Channel 7 presenter Larry Emdur took home the coveted Gold Logie following four decades on the silver screen.