The ‘unflattering’ Erin Patterson images the ABC didn’t want to show
Even as Erin Patterson was found guilty of murdering three people, a furious debate among the leadership of the ABC news division centred on concerns about her ‘distress’ | READ THE LEAKED EMAILS
These are the “unflattering” images of convicted mushroom killer Erin Patterson the ABC never wants you to see.
Why? Because the national broadcaster was more concerned about her “distress/privacy” than the fact she had just been found guilty of murdering three people.
Within an hour of the Victorian mother being convicted on Monday of killing her closest in-laws, the ABC’s editorial policy boss, Mark Maley, demanded the photos of her arriving at Latrobe Valley courthouse not be aired on the public broadcaster because they might impinge on the 50-year-old’s privacy – even though they were taken at a public courthouse.
Internal staff emails, obtained by The Australian, reveal the baffling decision sparked a heated argument between Maley, the executive producer of the ABC’s nightly current affairs program 7.30, and the broadcaster’s Victorian news editor – who pointed out they had already run other distressing images of Patterson – during the course of her trial and conviction.
The then never-seen images had been taken by international wire service Agence France-Presse photographer Martin Keep as Patterson arrived at court in Morwell, Victoria, on May 12.
They capture Patterson’s raw emotions as the then accused killer sat in the back of a prison transport vehicle – but were unable to be published during the course of her gruelling 10-week trial due to legal restrictions.
Although they were quickly splashed across news sites and television programs around the globe after she was found guilty of triple murder shortly after 2.15pm on Monday, the leaked emails reveal Maley shot off a missive to program bosses ordering that they not be used on the ABC.
When 7.30’s executive producer, Joel Tozer, queried the directive at about 3pm, Maley replied: “Hi Joel, What’s the editorial justification (genuine question)? These pics are 9-10 weeks old.”
Tozer responded three minutes later, explaining: “No one has been able to see (Patterson) for the past 10 weeks. It is a visually poor story and the pics really do help with doing a TV story. What’s the reason not to use?”
The question earned Tozer a stern rebuke, with Maley almost immediately firing back: “Because it’s a gratuitous invasion on her distress/privacy.”
The ABC’s Victorian news editor, Sarah Jaensch, was more strident in her opposition to Maley’s edict than colleague Tozer, insisting there was a clear “public interest argument” for publishing the images, given the heinous nature of Patterson’s crimes.
In an email sent to the group at 3.15pm on Monday, she argued she should be allowed to publish the images of the killer.
It was now a full hour after Patterson had been convicted of murdering estranged husband Simon Patterson’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt Heather Wilkinson, and the attempted murder of his uncle Ian Wilkinson, after deliberately lacing a homemade beef Wellington with death cap mushrooms before serving them the poisoned portions over an intimate lunch.
“I would like to be able to use pic 2 (of the series) as well,” Jaensch said in a group email. “While it’s far from a flattering picture, she is now a convicted triple murderer who was photographed while being conveyed to court for her murder trial.
“If we are not using any vision of her distressed, we wouldn’t use the vision of her crying on her doorstep, which was used many times before she was a convicted murderer.
“That was also invading her privacy but the public interest argument won over.”
Jaensch’s argument, ultimately, won out again.
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Less than 15 minutes after Jaensch fired off her firm views, ABC digital boss Grant Sherlock emailed the group to advise he had discussed the issue with Maley “and others involved” and that they were now “comfortable with using pictures 1, 2, 5 and 6”.
“Take care in each use case and give careful thought to 5 & 6 in particular,” he said.
“If in doubt, check with acting Victoria (managing editor) Toni Hetherington in the first instance.”
However, they were still prohibited from using the third and fourth pictures in the series.
ABC sources said that, although they felt the right decision was eventually made to run the images, they were gobsmacked it took more than an hour of internal debate before they were able to do so.
They were also concerned the ABC was still forbidden from publishing two of the six pictures and that some of their bosses were more concerned about the murderer’s right to privacy in a public place than the public’s right to know.
“It’s just another example of our priorities being completely off,” one insider said.
In a statement, an ABC spokesperson said: “It’s common and expected practice to have editorial discussions across ABC teams about what is appropriate to publish.
“Good editorial discussion is a feature of robust journalism. At the ABC much care and consideration goes into such decisions to ensure our coverage is responsible, justified and meets community expectations.”
The spokesperson declined to comment on whether or not the ABC managing director – who is also the editor-in-chief of the public broadcaster – was involved in the discussions about the images.
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