Journalists firing off opinion pieces as 60 Minutes crew, Sally Faulkner await their fate

THE botched kidnapping in Beirut hasn’t only divided a family. It’s pitted seasoned journalists against each other, too.

The media industry is divided over 60 Minutes’ actions in Lebanon. Picture: Hussein Malla/AP

WAS 60 Minutes in the wrong when it allegedly paid child abduction agents to kidnap two Australian children from a busy Beirut street?

Legally, it’s a grey area, despite charges being dropped against the crew on Wednesday. Morally, it’s a different equation, and it’s dividing the public and the press.

In the 13 days since reporter Tara Brown, her film crew and Brisbane mum Sally Faulkner were among those arrested, journalists and media personalities from around the country have joined the conversation.

Seasoned reporters who know what it’s like to work in war zones have expressed sympathy. Columnists have expressed shock and disappointment. Friends and colleagues have sent prayers from the other side of the world.

The only opinion that matters is judge Rami Abdullah’s, which could be known shortly after 7pm AEDT on Wednesday. In the meantime, this is how the saga is playing out in the Australian press.

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT

Ray Martin has seen his share of controversial stories and close calls. Picture: Britta Campion

Veteran broadcaster Ray Martin was one of the first out of the gate. His opinion carries more weight than most, too.

The former 60 Minutes reporter knows the crew involved and knows what it’s like to be tasked an assignment that hugs the boundaries of what is legally and ethically acceptable.

Martin said he once drove a getaway car after filming a child recovery in Spain in the 1980s. He said he thought he was doing the right thing and so too would the crew involved in the April 7 abduction attempt.

“Ethically, as a journalist, I thought we were doing the right thing, because the courts had judged the case and decided that the mother had custody of the children, and the father had broken Australian laws and taken the children away,” Martin said.

“We certainly didn’t pay any money to them ... That’s one of the areas I wouldn’t comment on,” he said, adding: “I know the crew are highly ethical, and I can’t believe they would do something that’s unethical.”

It’s a sentiment shared by his colleagues at the Nine Network, including Tracy Grimshaw and Karl Stefanovic.

‘I’LL LET YOU READ BETWEEN THE LINES’

Karl Stefanovic says Tara Brown is “a brilliant journalist”. Picture: Kristian Dowling/Getty Images

The Today Show host wrote Brown and her crew were “trying to expose the truth of a story, fraught with legal hurdles that we can’t report on, and which usually protect the perpetrator”.

He labelled Brown a “brilliant journalist” who “has consistently broken stories, and forensically exposed wrongdoing in society all around the world”.

“Tara is a friend, she is a colleague,” Stefanovic wrote. “She is a mother. She is a brilliant journalist. She has asked those questions over and over again.”

He said the matter in Beirut — a domestic dispute involving Faulkner, her two Australian children and their Lebanese father, Ali Elamine — was complicated but there was evidence suggesting Ms Faulkner had a rightful claim to her children.

“The Family Court has taken the extraordinary step in this case of releasing the fact that an order was made last December in relation to the children, in favour of the mother,” he said, adding: “I’ll let you read between the lines on what detail might be contained within that order.”

Grimshaw told The Australian her friends are “not tabloid cowboys” and “not a threat to society”.

She said the Nine Network staffers are good people who care about what they do, love their families and just want to come home. She acknowledged her bias but asked the public to show compassion.

“So you’ve no doubt figured out by now this is not going to be a reasoned, impartial analysis of what happened over there, and why, and how,” she said.

“That’s not my case to make. It’s for a Lebanese court to decide and I’ll be following the proceedings with my heart in my mouth and my fingers crossed.”

‘IT WAS FOR RATINGS VIA VIGILANTE JUSTICE’

Alan Jones didn’t hold back about the 60 Minutes saga. Picture: Mike Flokis/Getty Images

Shock jock Alan Jones was less kind. His take on the subject was black and white.

“It seems here the preference was for television ratings via vigilante justice,” the 2GB presenter said.

He said he sympathised with the mother and her desperation to have her children brought home but could not condone the alleged actions of the crew and the decision to send them there by the network.

“Channel 9 has gone too far and now families of Australians are paying the price.”

Journalist at The Australian, Caroline Overington, said she would be “shocked” if it was found 60 Minutespaid for child abduction agent Adam Whittington to forcibly remove Ms Faulkner’s two children, as is accused.

“If is somebody at Channel 9 has authorised a payment of $115,000 for children to be kidnapped off the street then my profession has jumped the shark,” she told Monday night’s Q&A program.

“I would be shocked and horrified if that was true. And that’s why I’m hoping perhaps against

hope, I’m hoping that this was something that Sally was going to do anyway.

“That the child retrieval experts had gone to her and said, ‘We can get your kids back,’ and played on her desperation and that she had then told 60 Minutes, ‘This what I’m going to do’.”

‘YOU NEVER LIKE TO SEE JOURNALISTS IN JAIL’

Peter Greste spent almost 400 days in an Egyptian prison. Picture: Britta Campion

ABC foreign correspondent Philip Williams wrote an opinion piece for Fairfax Media on Monday. He said Brown and her team deserve our sympathy.

“You never like to see journalists in jail and you just hope that you see them out and healthy and back doing the job they should be doing and not in a Beirut jail,” Williams said.

“As for the actual who did what and when and who paid, I have no idea and I wouldn’t comment. But instinctively and just as another journalist ... you can put yourself in that situation.”

He said journalists like Peter Greste, who spent 400 days in an Egyptian prison for doing his job, should never have been there.

“It’s happening all too often,” Williams said.

Greste, who was arrested in December 2013 with two other Al Jazeera journalists, told the ABC last week he expected the Nine Network, including its reporters, to continue to publicly speak out in support of colleagues.

“Any media organisation worth their salt is going to throw everything they can into supporting the crew. It’s not only a question of your own public relations it’s a question of loyalty to your own staff.

“You’ve got to know as a reporter that the company has your back. We all work very closely with each other. It’s not just a corporate issue, it’s a personal one. They all know and care about each other.”

‘MY PRIORITY IS TO GET OUR CREW HOME’

Tara Brown is expected to appear before a Beirut judge on Wednesday afternoon. Picture: Nine Network

The network is playing its cards close to its chest. An internal email from the CEO, seen by news.com.au, told staff there were encouraging signs from the judge — who encouraged the parents to reach a mediated agreement — and Nine was doing everything possible to help those in custody.

“It is essential that we do whatever we can to help facilitate our crew’s fastest possible return to Australia,” Hugh Marks wrote.

“I know it’s a testing and frustrating time for us all, especially for those who are close to the 60 crew, colleagues and friends.

“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.”

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Twitter: @ro_smith