Walkley Awards commissions wide-ranging review of its complaints mechanisms

Walkley Foundation commissions a wide-ranging probe amid the fallout from its decision to grant an award to a story that was later discredited.

The Walkley Foundation has commissioned a wide-ranging review of its “complaints mechanisms”, amid the fallout from the organisation’s decision to grant one of its prestigious journalism awards to a story that was subsequently discredited.

Last month, the foundation’s directors announced a review into the Walkley Award won earlier this year by Nine journalists Peter Fegan and Rebeka Powell for their series of reports in March 2021 about Queensland MP Andrew Laming, one of which falsely claimed the then-politician had committed the criminal act of “upskirting” – taking a sexually intrusive photograph of someone without their permission.

The launch of that review, in September, came just two days after Dr Laming won a defamation case against Nine, during which the network accepted that a key claim made about the one-time MP in one of the reports was untrue.

But late on Friday, less than a week before the announcement of this year’s finalists for the Walkley Awards, the foundation foreshadowed a wider probe into the organisation’s “policies and procedures”, separate to the specific review into the award given to Nine for the Laming story.

Former MP Andrew Laming leaves the Federal Court in Sydney after the resolution of his defamation hearing against Nine. Picture: John Feder

A panel of “senior independent experts” will conduct the audit.

It is believed to be one of the most significant reviews in the foundation’s 66-year history, and will look at the guidelines governing complaints handling, appeals processes and entry criteria for the Walkleys.

“The Walkley Foundation has an existing internal process for the review of any complaints about its awards,” the foundation said in a statement on Friday.

“While it is our practice to regularly review all aspects of the awards, at this time we have resolved to consider whether we should tighten our policies and procedures to make sure we have the most rigorous processes in place to ensure our charter of excellence and the highest ethical standards of journalism.”

Currently, entrants to the Walkleys are required to disclose if their submitted work is subject to ongoing legal action.

But there are no rules governing the overturning of awards if subsequent legal action finds the story to be untrue, as was the case with the Laming “upskirting” claim.

However, it’s likely that the upcoming review will scrutinise this aspect of the awards guidelines, to determine if that process can, or should, be tightened.

Also on Friday, the foundation announced the appointment of Melbourne barrister William Houghton to spearhead an independent review into the Walkley Award won by Fegan and Powell.

Will Houghton QC

“There are particular circumstances to be considered in respect of this award and subsequent litigation concerning one of the reports,” said the statement issued by the Walkley Foundation.

“Interested parties in relation to this particular award have been invited to provide materials in

respect of whether the award should be revoked, annulled or there should be some other outcome.”

Last month, in the wake of his successful defamation action against Nine, Dr Laming told The Australian that Walkley organisers had known for “nearly a year” of his complaint that the Nine story submitted for the awards had made “baseless” upskirting claims against him.

“Despite being on notice at the time of a legal dispute and the waves of retractions, apologies by others over republications of Nine’s story, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (which oversees both the Walkleys and the Clarion Awards) persisted with both a state and a federal award – and as of right now, even despite announcing a review, they continue to refuse to rescind what is now an award for effectively a story that been withdrawn, deleted and has been accepted by all as a work of fiction,” Dr Laming said last month.

Fegan and Powell won the 2021 Walkley Award in the television/video news reporting category for their report on Dr Laming’s alleged misconduct; the pair also won a Clarion award (at the Queensland media awards) for their investigation into the MP.