SMH editor Bevan Shields apologises for Rebel Wilson saga amid staff outrage

Sydney Morning Herald editor Bevan Shields has responded to the Rebel Wilson saga after a scathing email was sent by an anonymous staffer.

The editor of the Sydney Morning Herald has responded to the recent uproar surrounding the publication’s treatment of Rebel Wilson’s new relationship.

“Given the attention on the Herald over the past few days, I wanted to get in touch directly with subscribers,” Bevan Shields wrote in a piece published Tuesday afternoon.

“As you may know, the Herald, Private Sydney gossip columnist Andrew Hornery and I have been strongly criticised over the weekend about our coverage of actor Rebel Wilson and her new partner, Ramona Agruma.

“I have always tried to be upfront and transparent with you as subscribers, so here’s the background on what’s happened, and an apology for getting it wrong. I have offered the same information to staff at the Herald and it’s only right you hear it, too.”

Shields said Andrew, who has been a journalist for more than three decades, had approached him last week to discuss approaching Wilson for comment about her new relationship.

“A celebrity romance is a regular staple of gossip columns. I agreed approaching her for comment was an appropriate thing to do given Agruma had featured prominently with Wilson on Instagram, and given Wilson had recently revealed she was in a new relationship and happy,” Shields wrote.

“I had made no decision to publish anything and expected to make a call on Friday about what to do next based on whether Andrew heard from Wilson. I want to be really clear about an important point: if she had not responded, I would not have published.”

Mr Shields acknowledged that a follow-up note he wrote on Sunday “defending our approach to Wilson” missed the mark, admitting “I should have also acknowledged our mistakes, which is what I’m doing today.”

Rebel Wilson revealed she is dating a woman after pressure from a Sydney Morning Herald journalist. Picture: Patrick T Fallon/AFP

Crikey reporter Cameron Wilson revealed Shields and executive editor Tory Maguire would be addressing the newsroom at 5pm today.

It came after a scathing email sent by an anonymous staffer to Sydney Morning Herald staff, claiming the newspaper’s “reputation is trashed” after the Rebel Wilson saga.

The email was sent on Monday after the publication’s Sydney gossip columnist Andrew Hornery apologised over a since-removed column about the Australian actress’s new relationship.

Hornery had used a column on Saturday — a day after Wilson “came out” about her same-sex relationship with Ramona Agruma — to complain that he had been “gazumped” by Wilson.

He had previously sent the star an email with a deadline for a response to questions about her relationship.

The email to all staff claimed reporters feel like the masthead is a “national laughing stock” over the way it handled the Wilson matter.

“Here we are again – our newsroom has become the story,” the email read.

It made mention of a story in February where the newspaper had insisted a Sydney train network shutdown was a “strike”. It was, in fact, a government-ordered shutdown.

“With the ‘strike’ fiasco, we were a national laughing stock – but now we’ve attracted international attention,” read the email from a “staff reporter”.

The “reporter” lamented that the newspaper’s “reputation is slowly being eroded each day”.

“When I started at the Herald, I felt proud to work for a masthead that had such a wonderful reputation,” the email reads.

“That reputation is slowly being eroded each day as the paper makes seemingly inexplicable editorial decisions. Hardworking staff have once again been tarred with the same brush as the (paper) and we have limited ability to speak up about it.

Australian actor Rebel Wilson responds after Sydney Morning Herald article receives backlash over what fans say tried to 'out' her coming out.

“Many of us would be familiar with colleagues being instructed to delete social media posts. If we spoke up about this, we would almost certainly be disciplined or sacked.”

In Hornery’s column, he said he gave the Pitch Perfect star 48 hours to respond to his email – which he called a “big mistake” because she then revealed the news of the romance via her Instagram account instead.

The column has since caused international uproar.

SMH editor Bevan Shields tweeted in response to the backlash: “The Herald made mistakes over Rebel Wilson, and will learn from them.”

But the damage may have been done. Former Sydney Morning Herald editor Peter Fray told Radio National on Tuesday that he believed the responsidiblity lies with the editor.

“The tenor, the way this whole story was framed was outing Rebel Wilson and to suggest that it wasn’t is disingenuous,” he said.

“The new partner of the celebrity, if you have a celebrity gossip column, I suppose is of interest to people who read such columns.

Rebel Wilson (R) and Ramona Agruma. Picture: Alex Goodlett/Getty Images

“Something has gone wrong here, I’m pretty sure it’s not just Andrew. There’s been a breakdown in the process at the Sydney Morning Herald that has enabled this to go on. If anything, really, I think it’s a failure of editing.

“Andrew, as listeners should know, has apologised and said he mishandled the situation. At least he understands that something has gone wrong here and I’d like to see a little bit more candour from the leadership of the Sydney Morning Herald.

“Bevan Shields, the editor, put out a statement saying ‘we weren’t trying to out Rebel Wilson’.

“There’s a disconnect here. I firmly believe editors should back their journalists. But when you make a mistake, the next thing you need to do is admit it and learn from it. And I don’t see a lot of evidence of those last two things at the moment.”

The View panellist Whoopi Goldberg joined those critical of the SMH for its handling of the story.

“There’s a lot of speculation that (Wilson came out) to get ahead of a tabloid story in the Sydney Morning Herald about her relationship,” Goldberg said.

“Now, the man who wrote it even apologised, saying it was ‘never his intention to out her’ … Well, you know that’s not true, because if it wasn’t your intention you wouldn’t have done it.

“If you didn’t want to do it, you shouldn’t have done it – you knew exactly what you were doing.”