Nine blasted over 60 Minutes producer sacking as damning emails emerge

DAMNING leaked emails show Channel 9 bosses knew about the kid-snatch plans, but made one man a scapegoat.

SACKED 60 Minutes producer Stephen Rice has been labelled a “sacrificial lamb” after a trail of leaked emails revealed senior managers at the program knew of the plan to abduct two children in Lebanon that led to his dismissal.

The Nine Network employee of 28 years was the station’s sole casualty of the botched attempt to retrieve children of Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner from Beirut, and record for the current affairs program.

Following an internal report into the incident, the program’s Australian founder, Gerald Stone, who helmed the review, labelled the bungled Beirut story the “greatest misadventure in the show’s 37 years”.

But the fallout, which has seen only one head roll, three of the crew warned, and senior management emerge unscathed, has been blasted by commentators.

Emails published in The Daily Telegraph today reveal that 60 Minutes executive producer Kirsty Thomson and her predecessor Tom Malone who headed the program when the plan was concocted — both of whom faced no consequences over the saga — knew of the plan to pay an agency to abduct the two children.

‘Sacrificial lamb’ Stephen Rice was the sole casualty of the 60 Minutes Beirut saga. Picture: Peter Parks/AFP

In his opening editorial, radio host Ray Hadley blasted Nine CEO Hugh Marks for sacking Mr Rice and letting the shows current and former bosses off the hook.

Referring to the Daily Telegraph story, he said: “It appears everyone knew about it”.

“There was one sacrificial lamb. One person got the sack, despite an independent inquiry saying no one should be sacked,” he said.

Speaking on his 2GB radio show, Mr Hadley said the decision was “no good”.

“Now Stephen Rice went, and staying there is the current 60 Minutes executive producer Kirsty Thomson, and the former executive producer, now boss of sport at Channel 9, Tom Malone,” he said.

“It’s no good, and I don’t think it’s fair.”

Mr Hadley said emails indicated “everyone” at the program knew of the risky plan.

“On the evidence presented by (Daily Telegraph journalist) Nick Tabakoff today, you would have felt rather poorly at Channel 9, 60 Minutes, if you didn’t know about it, because everybody else seemed to know about it and only one bloke got the punt,” he said.

“Hugh Marks makes the tough calls, but he’s made the wrong call. I don’t think he’s done the right thing sacking Mr Rice.”

Former Executive producer, now Nine’s head of sport, Tom Malone.

Executive producer Kirsty Thomson.

Did Channel Nine CEO Hugh Marks make the wrong decision? Picture: Hamish Blair

The emails from January this year, between 60 Minutes executive producer Kirsty Thomson, former executive producer Tom Malone and sacked producer Stephen Rice, outline detailed discussions about a plan to grab the children and take them on a boat to Cyprus, The Daily Telegraph reports.

The executives contacted a Nine Network legal counsel the following day asking to draw up a contract with Faulkner, which would involve payment to Child Abduction Recovery International (CARI), which is run by Adam Whittington.

The abduction plan was initially scheduled for late February, but ultimately took place in April.

The email chain began when Thomson, who was the chief of staff at the time, contacted Malone and Rice to express her interest in taking over a story shelved by Nine’s Inside Story that involved “snatching” Ms Faulkner’s “4 and 6 yo children from their father in Lebanon”.

The email from Thomson continued: “Father lives in Beirut and runs a surfing business. Classic “the kids aren’t coming home” after holiday,” according to The Daily Telegraph.

“IS (Inside Story) were going to pay $115k ($69 upfront) for CARI to snatch the kids, escape via water (jetskis) to a boat and then on to Cyprus,” Thomson said.

Four days after her email was sent, $69,000 was paid on behalf of Nine into Whittington’s bank account.

Sound recordist David Ballment, Tara Brown and Ben Williamson were each given an official warning over the incident. Only Stephen Rice was sacked.

When asked if the knowledge and invovlement of the current and former executive producers regarding the operation considered in conducting the review and disciplining staff, a Nine spokeswoman told news.com.au “all relevant matters” had been considered.

“All of the relevant matters were considered in detail as part of the review and by management in assessing the review,” the spokeswoman said.

“A large number of people were interviewed at length to get different perspectives on all matters related to this story.”

When contacted by the Telegraph last night, a Nine spokeswoman said: “There was no sense in the findings that we shouldn’t do a story about a mother trying to be reunited with her children. It’s just in the pursuing of it, things have gone wrong.”

Mr Rice was fired by the company on Friday and publicly named as the main person responsible for Nine’s botched Beirut story. He has reportedly hired high-profile workplace lawyer John Laxon to fight his sacking.

A close friend of Mr Rice told The Daily Telegraph that his decision to hire a lawyer had come because he was angry at being sacked despite the fact an internal review recommended no staff member be singled out for dismissal.

“They said right from the ­beginning no one was going to get the sack,” the friend said.

“Because of this he wasn’t legally represented at the review and hadn’t sought any legal advice.”

The friend said being named by the network as the main person responsible for Beirut had damaged Mr Rice’s career, reputation and his prospects of earning income.