Australian Financial Times tech journalist Mark Di Stefano accused of listening to rival outlets’ video calls
Australian journalist Mark Di Stefano allegedly suspended amid claims he listened to rival UK papers’ Zoom meetings.
An Australian journalist working for The Financial Times in the UK has been accused of accessing private Zoom video calls at two major rival newspapers, The Independent and The Evening Standard, and publishing the content in stories for his newspaper.
The Independent newspaper has published a story alleging that Mark Di Stefano listened to "confidential and sensitive video calls" as newspaper staff were told about salary cuts and temporary leave by editors and senior managers as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
Di Stefano has allegedly been suspended by the FT, which is owned by Japan's Nikkei Inc., pending an investigation, according to The Independent's story on its website on Tuesday.
Di Stefano started working at the FT as its media and technology reporter in January after five-and-a-half years at digital news outlet BuzzFeed in the UK and Australia. Prior to that, he worked at the ABC for four years, according to his LinkedIn profile.
The Independent's report quoted its editor, Christian Broughton, saying: “We respect freedom of speech and understand the challenges of newsgathering, but The Independent considers the presence of a third-party journalist in a staff briefing to be entirely inappropriate and an unwarranted intrusion into our employees’ privacy. Our spokesperson had a full statement prepared for the press — any interested reporters only needed to call and ask.”
The popularity of Zoom, which is owned by Zoom Video Communications Inc, has skyrocketed during the COVID — 19 crisis, but there are rising security concerns.
The Australian has contacted all three newspapers and Di Stefano for comment.
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