Seven gives up on Schapelle fight

CHANNEL SEVEN’s Sunday Night crew have given up on a month-long battle to secure an exclusive interview with Schapelle Corby.

Seven gives up on Schapelle fight

THE Seven Network’s Sunday Night crew has flown home from Bali, giving up on a month-long legal and political battle to secure an exclusive interview with Schapelle Corby.

Two weeks after saying “We’re not going to be hounded out of Bali by anyone”, Sunday Night executive producer Mark Llewellyn said he realised an interview with the convicted drug-smuggler was currently impossible.

Veteran Seven reporter Mike Willesee flew home from Bali during the week and is now in Brisbane, filming a story about a school boy who saved his brother’s life. “Hopefully when Schapelle is able to do an interview, well be the ones to do it,” Llewellyn told The Australian.

“In the meantime, it’s not my ambition or aim to stir the pot because there’s no point to that.

“After the interview with Mercedes, they (the Sunday Night crew) packed up their bags and left and they’re off doing other things.”

The withdrawal from Bali came after the parole board threatened to throw Corby back in jail following the interview her sister Mercedes gave Sunday Night.

Corby, who was caught with 4.2kg of marijuana in her boogie board bag in October 2004, has been granted parole in Indonesia until July 2017.

In an attempt to keep Corby out of prison, Mercedes issued an apology last week: “From the bottom of my heart I am very sorry to the people of Indonesia if my interview on Australian TV caused unease.”

Llewellyn said he had no regrets about his aggressive pursuit of the exclusive interview with Corby, arguing it was the most coveted story in the country.

“As Mike Willesee reflected to me with this sage observation, if you want to win the lottery you have to buy a ticket,” he said.

“Three weeks ago it was the best story in Australia. That didn’t change. It’s still a great yarn, but we have to wait for the right time.”

The initial coup of securing the Corby exclusive quickly turned into a disaster for Seven.

First there was a national debate about whether Corby should be allowed to profit from her story, in which Sunrise host David Koch publicly disagreed with his network’s decision to pay a convicted drug-smuggler for an interview.

“I reckon we should have nothing to do with her as a network,” he said at the time.

Then the AFP raided the offices of Sunday Night, Seven headquarters, New Idea and Seven’s lawyers in an attempt to uncover documents pertaining to a paid deal between the network and the Corby family.

The AFP obtained a draft, unsigned agreement that Seven had failed to hand over, but Seven argues it was not included in the documents requested under the production order.

Seven is now pursuing legal action against the AFP in the NSW Federal Court, arguing that the search warrants for the raids should not have been granted.

Indonesian Justice Minister Amir Syamsuddin is considering revoking Corby’s parole after she ignored his order not to give any media interviews.

It is understood some parole officers were sympathetic to an interview, realising it would take the value out of the paparazzi photographs and the whole situation would calm down.

Mr Syamsuddin held a different view, strongly objecting to Corby or any members of her family giving an interview.

Llewellyn, who has secured interviews with billionaire James Packer and VC recipient Ben Roberts-Smith, says the decision to leave Bali had nothing to do with the ratings of the Mercedes Corby interview, where, for the first time this year, 60 Minutes beat Sunday Night in the five-city metro ratings.

Llewellyn says an analysis of the minute-by-minute ratings shows the Corby interview was one of their better-rating segments for the year, peaking at about 1.4 million viewers, and he says his program still beat 60 Minutes nationally but he says viewers tuned out during the drought report by Alex Cullen.

“Schapelle actually rated really well for us. It had nothing to do with her,” he said.

“It was the drought story that didn’t grab viewers as much as I thought it would.”

Last night, Sunday Night returned to traditional ratings-winner stories, including an interview with former footballer Ian Roberts on brain damage.