Four Corners accused of misleading viewers over Seven producer

A Four Corners investigation into the toxic culture at Seven West Media allegedly withheld key ­information about one of the ­central subjects of the expose.

Former Seven producer Taylor Auerbach, left, and former Spotlight executive producer Mark ­Llewellyn.

A Four Corners investigation into the toxic culture at Seven West Media allegedly withheld key ­information about one of the ­central subjects of the expose, sparking criticism that the show misled viewers.

Last Monday, high-profile ABC journalist Louise Milligan fronted a Four Corners episode, titled Don’t Speak that included “allegations of bullying, sexism, assault and exploitation” at Seven that “have left staff hospitalised, unable to work and attempting suicide”.

The program featured testimony given by Taylor Auerbach – whom Four Corners called a “famous Channel Seven whistleblower” – at the recent defamation trial involving Bruce Lehrmann, Lisa Wilkinson and Network 10.

At the trial, the court heard ­ Auerbach, a former Spotlight producer, used a corporate card ­belonging to his boss Mark ­Llewellyn, Spotlight’s then executive producer, to pay for $10,000 worth of Thai massages for himself and Mr Lehrmann (a claim Mr Lehrmann denies).

Four Corners alleged Llewellyn refused to accept Auerbach’s resignation after the junior producer confessed to misusing the company credit card for “something that had nothing to do with work”.

The Four Corners episode based much of its criticisms of ­Llewellyn, and the culture within the Spotlight team, on Auerbach and broadcast “a stream of disturbing text messages to Auerbach from Llewellyn – messages that haven’t been made public, until now”, Milligan said.

The journalist said that Auerbach had not had any contact with anyone at the ABC during the preparation of the Four Corners story, and observed that he had signed a nondisclosure agreement with Seven upon his departure from that media company.

Four Corners did, however, speak to another former Spotlight staffer, whose identity was not revealed in the program.

The female ex-staffer claimed in the program that “one male colleague, not Mark Llewellyn, blew the production budget on an overseas trip (and) drank so much he was, ‘lying, on the ground, in the gutter’ ”.

The same staffer also told the program that on another occasion, when Spotlight was attempting to speak to a victim of sexual assault, the same male colleague allegedly said to his female colleague: “Hey, hey, your job is just to get this bitch’s story.”

The Australian has spoken to multiple colleagues who claimed that the “male colleague” was ­ Auerbach, although Auerbach emphatically denies the truth of those allegations.

It’s also understood that Four Corners was aware of the identity of the “male colleague” but did not disclose it.

One Seven insider suggested to The Australian: “It seems the ABC has left out critical facts in order to protect Auerbach because they needed to paint him in a more ­favourable light.”

“They needed him to be credible. It’s disingenuous, unethical and dishonest.”

There is no suggestion that the allegations are true, just that they were made against Auerbach.

The Australian asked the ABC why Auerbach was not identified as the allegedly abusive “male colleague” in question. A spokeswoman replied: “No comment.”

The Australian also asked why Auerbach’s texts to Llewellyn weren’t featured.

Again, the ABC spokeswoman declined to comment.