Crikey’s fan base dwindles after Brittany Higgins column
Crikey has removed a column by Guy Rundle about the Brittany Higgins case saying the tone of the piece did not meet its journalistic standards amid reader outrage.
Online news site Crikey offended a substantial tranche of its subscribers over a column about the Brittany Higgins case, with its readers taking to social media over the weekend to blast the media outlet.
The article, headlined ‘The Brittany Higgins case: we’re not required to leave our brains at the security entrance’, was live on Crikey’s website for several hours on Friday before it was removed.
Written by freelancer Guy Rundle, the column called for “the full story” about Higgins’ taxpayer-funded settlement to be revealed.
On Friday evening, Crikey issued a statement about the removal of the article from its website, stating: “The tone of the piece did not meet Crikey’s journalistic standards, crucially given that it concerns writing about allegations of sexual assault.”
“We apologise to Brittany Higgins and our readers and we will update you on a continuing conversation around this issue,” Crikey’s editors said in the statement.
Crikey has made the decision today to remove a piece written by Guy Rundle. We apologise to Brittany Higgins and our readers and we will update you on a continuing conversation around this issue. https://t.co/HpNjMcvAMH
— Crikey (@crikey_news) June 16, 2023
Rundle’s article was in stark contrast to a piece published by Crikey earlier last week, which dismissed the wider media’s reporting on the links between Higgins, her partner David Sharaz, and senior Labor figures, as a “conspiracy theory”.
That article remains on Crikey’s website.
The Australian has been told that Rundle’s column was vetted by an editor at Crikey before it was published. The column attracted a deluge of criticism on social media platforms, with scores of readers pledging to cancel their subscriptions.
The Australian approached Crikey’s editor-in-chief Sophie Black and editor Gina Rushton for comment, but received no replies.
Rundle declined to comment.
Will Hayward, the chief executive of Private Media, publisher of Crikey, told The Australian: “Nothing more to say at this stage.”
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