Four Corners boss Sally Neighbour investigates Louise Milligan over social media storm

Four Corners boss Sally Neighbour investigated and cleared her reporter Louise Milligan of any wrongdoing following a complaint.

Four Corners executive producer Sally Neighbour investigated – and cleared – her high-profile reporter Louise Milligan of any wrongdoing in relation to a complaint that should have been handled by the ABC’s independent disputes department.

Milligan was accused by former Liberal staffer Dhanya Mani of publicly exposing her as a source for the controversial Inside the Canberra Bubble episode of Four Corners, which screened in November last year.

Ms Mani complained to the ABC on August 11, claiming she was misrepresented in a tweet posted by Milligan, and told The Australian she was shocked after she was later contacted via email by Neighbour – Milligan’s boss – who said she had investigated the matter.

“I was closely involved in the Canberra Bubble stories which Louise reported for Four Corners, and am aware of much of the detail of the research that went into these stories,” Neighbour wrote to Ms Mani in an email on August 18.

She said she had spoken to Milligan about the issues raised by Ms Mani.

“I have carefully considered your comments, reviewed the background material again and spoken to Louise Milligan and I am satisfied that there has been no misconduct by Ms Milligan,” Neighbour said.

The ABC’s complaints department, Audience and Consumer Affairs, “is separate to and independent to the content-making teams of the ABC” and its role is to “review, and where appropriate, investigate complaints alleging that ABC content has breached the ABC’s editorial standards”.

Louise Milligan. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

The ABC’s head of audience and consumer affairs Kirstin McLiesh responded to Ms Mani’s complaint on the day it was lodged, but said Milligan’s tweet was outside the investigative scope of the department.

“Personal Twitter accounts of ABC staff do not amount to ABC content,” Ms McLiesh wrote to Ms Mani.

“Rather, such matters are regulated under the ABC’s guidelines for personal use of social media. Accordingly I have forwarded your email to ABC News management.”

One week later, Ms Mani received the email from Neighbour.

The incident further highlights the ABC’s confused approach to the social media postings of its staff.

On August 9, ABC’s managing director David Anderson announced to all staff the guidelines on social media use had been updated. “What is separately created and posted on personal social media accounts is editorially and legally the responsibility of the owner of the accounts,” he said.

On August 11, the ABC covered the costs of defamation action taken against Milligan in the Federal Court after she posted a tweet about federal Liberal MP Andrew Laming earlier in the year which he said “irrevocably” harmed his reputation.

The expenses paid by the ABC included $79,000 in court-ordered damages, an estimated $50,000-plus in Dr Laming’s legal costs, and further undisclosed fees for the ABC to hire law firm Bird & Bird to represent Milligan.

Also on August 11, Ms McLiesh told Ms Mani the tweet by Milligan, posted on February 28, was not considered ABC content and therefore could not be investigated by the complaints unit.

The ABC was contacted on Sunday but did not respond.

Ms Mani, a friend of Kate, the woman who alleged she was raped by federal Cabinet Minister Christian Porter in 1988, said she spoke to Milligan as a “source on background” before the ABC aired the Inside the Canberra Bubble episode.

On February 28, Ms Mani was interviewed by Sky News host and The Australian’s investigative reporter Sharri Markson, during which she said her now deceased friend would have been “furious” with how the ABC program ­covered the issue of the alleged rape.

Hours after the Sky interview, Milligan tweeted: “A close friend does not send an email to a journo without consent. A close friend doesn’t tape a friend without consent, a close friend isn’t someone a person’s old, true friends have never heard of. A close friend doesn’t pretend to speak for a family after badmouthing them.”.

Ms Mani’s complaint to the ABC’s independent complaints unit read in part: “I understood the tweet to be about me, as did many members of the public.

“This tweet misused and misrepresented information that I had conveyed to Louise Milligan in my capacity as a source on background.”

In the complaint Ms Mani also said Milligan’s tweet resulted in her experiencing “en-masse public bullying, at a time when I was already experiencing a depressive episode as a result of reporting on Kate’s death”.

Ms Mani said the matter was poorly handled and failed to afford her “procedural fairness”.

“The impression I had when I filled out the complaint was that it was meant to be independent,” she told The Australian.

“I can’t see how it’s possible to have an independent process when somebody’s supervisor is judging the outcome of a complaint.”