By Calum Jaspan
Prominent Crikey columnist and correspondent-at-large Guy Rundle has been sacked after its publisher was told about an offensive text he sent in to Radio National’s Breakfast Show this week, adding to years of messages sent to the program.
Rundle’s message, sent to the show on Thursday, said rising sexual assault complaints are because “every grope is now a sexual assault”.
Guy Rundle has been sacked as Crikey columnist and correspondent-at-large.Credit: Michael Clayton-Jones
This led to ABC managing director David Anderson expressing his concern in a note to Crikey publisher Private Media’s chair Eric Beecher and chief executive Will Hayward, highlighting the message, alongside a long-term pattern of messages directed at the Radio National breakfast show and its host, Patricia Karvelas.
Hayward condemned Rundle in a statement provided to this masthead, saying the company was appalled to hear Rundle’s comment on Radio National, and confirming he would no longer be published by Crikey, despite not being employed on a full-time basis.
“Rundle is a writer with significant talents and a body of insightful and challenging work, but we condemn those kinds of comments and our working relationship has become untenable,” he said. “Therefore, we will no longer be publishing his work.”
While it was expected Rundle would cover the upcoming US election from America for Crikey, this masthead understands that will no longer happen.
Rundle’s sacking was first reported by Guardian Australia.
Karvelas read out a text message sent in to the show with Rundle’s full name attached on Thursday, following a segment about rising sexual assault crimes in Queensland in relation to the upcoming state election.
She said Rundle had texted the show, calling an interview with executive officer of the Queensland Sexual Assault Network Angela Lynch “soft” on the head of a failed strategy, adding “it’s because every grope is now a sexual assault and people don’t believe policy people”.
Karvelas called Rundle’s message “quite staggering” on air.
Rundle has been writing in to the show for several years, two sources with knowledge of the messages said, speaking on condition of anonymity. While the show blocked his number at times, this was the first time Karvelas had read out one of his texts with his name attached.
It is not the first time Rundle has been in trouble with his publisher: he was sidelined in 2023 after a piece published on Crikey about Brittany Higgins, commenting she had as “much motive as anyone has ever had to make a false sex crime claim”, while also saying the consultation process over her compensation was “stunningly rapid”.
Crikey removed the article and apologised twice, also issuing a correction about the contents of the piece. Its editors, Sophie Black and Gina Rushton, said their editorial processes had failed in publishing the piece.
After not publishing Rundle for a lengthy period, the outlet announced a new set of editorial guidelines two months later, and Rundle also returned to writing for Crikey.
Rundle was last published on Crikey’s website on Thursday. He is one of the website’s most popular writers, with his columns regularly attracting over 100 comments.
Subscriptions are responsible for 98 per cent of Crikey’s revenue, Hayward told readers this week. In 2023, an internal source at Crikey told this masthead it had added around 5000 new subscribers during its legal process against News Corp chair Lachlan Murdoch. The jump took its total figure to the “high 20[thousand]s”, the source said.
Rundle was approached for comment, but did not respond.
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