Launceston Examiner editor Mark Westfield sacked after publication of alleged bogus ‘anti-trans’ letter

A Tasmania newspaper editor has been sacked after the publication of an allegedly confected ‘anti-transgender’ letter.

Mark Westfield, sacked editor of The Examiner newspaper. Picture: Braden Fastier

The editor of Launceston’s The Examiner newspaper has been sacked, in the wake of controversy over the publication of an allegedly confected “anti-transgender” letter.

Mark Westfield was dismissed on Tuesday night after he conceded a letter published in The Examiner, alleging a transwoman had undressed in front of young girls in a Launceston female changing room, may have been bogus.

In a twist, however, sources suggested The Examiner had since been contacted by two other women alleging males had entered the Launceston Leisure and Aquatic Centre female changing rooms, but the paper is yet to publish these allegations.

Westfield, a former staffer to controversial Liberal candidate Katherine Deves and to Malcolm Turnbull, pulled the letter – originally published on March 7 – from The Examiner’s website and issued a clarification.

This said the paper – Tasmania’s second biggest daily – “appeared” to have been “misled” and after publication had developed “concerns that the letter contained incorrect information”.

The letter – headed “Girls getting changed, then in walks a man” – alleged: “Recently while getting changed in the FEMALE change rooms with many young girls present an adult MALE walked in and started to undress, in front of the kids!”

It alleged that staff at the Launceston City Council-run centre had “shrugged” off a complaint, saying there was “nothing they could do because the person ‘identifies as female’”.

The council issued a statement in response saying it had received no such complaint and attacking The Examiner for failing to “check the veracity of the letter”.

In the wake of the controversy, Westfield conceded he would be more careful in publishing allegations concerning transwomen, but insisted it was not possible to check every claim made in every letter to the editor.

Australian Community Media, owners of the masthead, are understood to have terminated Westfield’s employment with immediate effect on Tuesday night and he is no longer editor of The Examiner, one of the nation’s oldest newspapers. Staff have been informed.

Westfield, who worked for The Australian from 1993 to 2003, refused to comment.

Sources suggest two other women had, since the letter was published, approached The Examiner claiming to have seen men enter the aquatic centre’s women’s changing rooms. It is unclear if these allegations will be published.

It is understood ACM, which at the time of publication was yet to respond to requests for comment, is undergoing a rapid transition from print to digital platforms and that this has created some tensions at some mastheads.

The issue of how transgender rights intersect with the rights of biological females is heightened in Tasmania, which has what activists describe as the nation’s most progressive transgender laws.