From: Willis, Chris Sent: Friday, 27 July :06 PM To: Jonathan Holmes Subject: Media Watch Reply. Jonathan

Transcription

1 From: Willis, Chris Sent: Friday, 27 July :06 PM To: Jonathan Holmes Subject: Media Watch Reply Jonathan Before answering your specific questions, I would like to make clear some of the things we discussed by telephone on Thursday July 26. As both Seven and I personally have already done on several occasions this week, I wish again to express my condolences to the Lord family and my regret that the family and their friends were distressed by the presence of representatives of the media, including from Seven, and the media reports on the day of the accident. Whilst acknowledging that distress, I nevertheless believe that Seven's news reports concerning the accident were appropriately filmed and broadcast in the circumstances of this particular incident. It is worth noting in particular that this was the most recent of an increasing number of deaths related to the use of quad bikes, which is an issue that clearly requires public awareness and discussion. Seven responded to an alert from the NSW Police about the accident. In that alert, the NSW Police issued a warning to parents which clearly was intended for wider public consumption. I also want to make it clear that the main point directed at Seven, that we carried a picture of Mrs Goldspink-Lord and her daughter, simply did not occur. Such a picture was not posted on line or used on television in video or still form. We were obviously mistaken for another network which did carry the picture a mistake that is entirely understandable in the circumstances. From that has flowed a number of other allegations, some that are simply wrong. I find it somewhat uncomfortable rebutting allegations that have been made by people suffering the grief of the loss of a loved one. However, I have tried to deal with them in as factual and rational a manner as possible. Can I make it clear that I wish to make no criticism of any member of the Lord family, but you have asked me to answer questions and I have. Seven's news reporters and crew are aware that reports of tragic incidents such as this need to be handled with care and in compliance with Seven's obligations under the law and the Commercial Television Code of Practice. We strive to achieve an appropriate balance between our role to report on matters of public importance and the sensitivities of families involved in each particular circumstance.

2 From: Jonathan Holmes Sent: Thursday, 26 July :20 PM To: Willis, Chris Cc: Menios Constantinou; Lin Buckfield Subject: Media Watch questions Dear Chris Following our telephone conversation, I attach questions about the accident at Newton Park in which Molly Lord was killed. I m sorry there are so many of them but we think it is important to get your version of events in as much detail as possible. We will be putting similar questions to the Illawarra Mercury and to WIN News. To be clear, these questions and your responses will be posted in full on our website after our program has gone to air on Monday. They will inform my script and we will quote selectively from them when appropriate in the program. 1. How did Seven hear of the accident? At what time? What steps did your newsroom take at that time to cover the incident? [Willis, Chris] We received an ed statement from Police Media at 1.47pm. The statement detailed the accident in which a teenage girl had died and contained a warning from Inspector Ron Davis, a NSW Police officer, that parents should strictly supervise children using quad bikes and ensure they wore helmets when using them. Police do not normally issue statements about accidents in homes. Given that they did on this occasion and chose to make a statement indicated a broader public interest so we decided to cover the story. We dispatched a reporter and camera crew and a link truck to transmit pictures back. As we thought it might take some time to travel by road, we also dispatched our helicopter from the Rose Hill base. We also contacted our freelance supplier and asked if he could get a camera operator to the site. 2. One of the witnesses to whom we have spoken claims that the Seven helicopter was over the property as early as that day. You told me that it was considerably later in the day. Can you tell us at what time the Seven helicopter filmed above the Lord s property, and for how long? [Willis, Chris] Your witness is confused. According to the police statement, the accident happened at We didn t know about it until 1.47 pm. Therefore we would not have tasked the helicopter until we knew of the accident. The helicopter took off at 2.10pm. According to our flight records, it reached the Kembla Grange racecourse at approximately 2.40pm and left at approximately 2.48pm. 3. Mrs Goldspink-Lord wrote on your Facebook site that Seven posted footage of her sitting with her daughter s body, taken from the helicopter. No such footage was aired on any Seven bulletins that we have seen. Did the cameraman in the helicopter shoot such footage? Was it ever posted on your website?

3 [Willis, Chris] Let s be clear about this. No such footage was shot. No such footage was aired or posted. The qualification that we have seen is disingenuous by Media Watch. Media Watch is aware the footage complained of was aired by another media organisation. The allegation against Seven was a case of mistaken identity. 4. No other network used a helicopter to shoot aerial footage of Newton Park that day. Mrs Goldspink-Lord has told Media Watch that, whether or not it filmed her with her daughter, she found the presence of the helicopter highly intrusive and upsetting. Why did Seven consider it necessary to get aerial footage of the scene? Did you consider the impact on the family when you despatched to helicopter? Will you reconsider using a helicopter in similar circumstances? (After all, you were filming private property from the air, and in this case the body of a young girl, and airing it, without the family s knowledge or approval.) [Willis, Chris] We considered this to be a significant story. The NSW police statement highlighted its significance by specifically issuing a warning to parents and nominating a senior officer as a media contact.. As a result of the police statement, we decided to cover the story with our normal resources. The camera operator in the helicopter was aware of the sensitivities of the story. So he ensured that he was not in the area for long. He did not film the house. However, we accept the point that Mrs Goldspink-Lord was distressed by the helicopter s presence and sincerely regret that. 5. The police have told Media Watch that a freelance cameraman who said he had been sent there by Seven was encountered inside the property. He was told he should leave. He then parked his car outside the gate. We are not sure of the time of this incident but it was while Molly s body was still on the ground. Did Seven despatch a freelance cameraman to the scene? Where was he based? What time did he arrive? What were his instructions? Did he go onto private property and take pictures without the family s permission? Did he disobey police instructions not to go onto the property? Was it his footage that was used in Seven News s bulletins that day? (The footage shown in the Seven bulletins appears to have been shot from inside the Newton Park gate, clearly on private property). [Willis, Chris] This is denied by the freelance operator. He says he stopped at the gate with the sign Newton Park which he took to be the boundary of the property. A police officer was at the gate and told him he couldn t go any further. The police officer pointed the operator to an area where he said news crews were doing their grabs. The operator stayed there in accordance with those instructions. He says the ground shots to which you refer were shot with his zoom lens. He arrived at the scene at 4pm and departed shortly before 4.30pm. His instructions were to go the scene and film what he could. 6. At what time did your reporter, Paul Kadak, arrive at the property? Did he get there at the same time as your link van? Did he do the live cross at 4.30, outside the Newton Park gateway, before or after he went onto the property to seek comment? [Willis, Chris] Paul Kadak arrived at approximately 4 pm. After doing a live cross into our 4.30 news bulletin from outside the Newton Park gate, he and a crew drove through the gate marked Newton Park. They pulled up before getting to the house. He left the vehicle and approached a woman at the stable. He identified himself as being from 7 News, apologised for disrupting her, and said he was there to talk about what had happened earlier. She directed him to the house. He approached a woman who was standing outside the house. Again, he identified himself, apologised for disrupting her and asked if anybody was available to talk about the accident. She went into the house and returned with a man who said nobody wished

4 to say anything. Kadak then asked the man if he could have his phone number in case he wished to contact him in future. The man willingly gave his number. Kadak then left. Kadak says he was there for approximately 10 minutes. He spoke to three people and at no stage was he asked to leave. 7. Can you please tell us what Paul Kadak did, and who he spoke to, when he went onto the property to seek comment? [Willis, Chris] see above 8. We have accounts from three family friends who were there at the time who say that they told people manning the Seven links van that they were on private property, and that they should leave. We have been told they were told this five or six times during the course of the afternoon, but they only left after Amanda Fanning rang Seven News shortly after 5pm, and after she had told the crew that if they did not leave she would call the police. [Willis, Chris] Our link van was set up outside the gate signed Newton Park. At approximately 4.50 pm the operator was approached by a man. Our operator says they had a calm amicable conversation. The man told him the van could be seen from the house and that this was causing distress to the family. He then asked our operator if he could move the van out of sight of the house. It was agreed to move the van behind some small trees where it would not be visible from the house. Our operator moved it. A woman approached him shortly after 5pm and demanded that he remove the van altogether. He said he would ring the office and suggested she do the same. He gave her the Seven switchboard number. He made the suggestion because she was obviously upset. Before he could ring the office he received a call from the Deputy News Director of 7 News asking him to relocate away from the gate. He was in the process of packing the van to move when two men approached in a car from the house and repeated that he should move. Our operator informed him he was in the process of moving. They then left. Our operator subsequently moved the van to an area near the entrance of the Kembla Grange racecourse just off the Princes Highway which was approximately 800 metres from the house and out of sight of the house. Later the same woman approached an assistant near the van, which by now was in a public place, and made a derogatory comment. As can be seen from the above, the crews and reporter at all times accommodated requests; according to them nobody threatened to call the police. (To be clear, we are told that the Newton Park gate does not in fact mark the boundary of the Lord s property that the boundary is a less obvious gate further away from the house. The Seven links van, our informants allege, was parked for several hours just outside the Newton Park gate but still on private property. [Willis, Chris]. Our crews did not see any indication that they were entering private property until they reached the Newton Park gate. Our crews sincerely believed the gate marked Newton Park was the boundary. As detailed above this was also where the police had told our freelance operator to stay. In addition, there were a number of cars not from the media parked in an area near the gate which our crews and the freelance operator believed to be from the nearby racecourse. 9. How were Seven News s viewers served by a live cross from just outside the gate (whether or not it was on private property?) Given it was clearly upsetting the family, should it not have moved as soon as it was asked to? [Willis, Chris] Our van was moved when asked. As detailed above the first request was not to move from the gate but to move it out of sight.

5 10. Family friend Amanda Fanning has told Media Watch, and has publicly stated, that she called Seven at 5.07pm and asked to speak to the News Director. To quote her post on the Seven website: the immediate response was that I couldn't speak to him/her, but I could leave a message. I told them where I was and requested that the news director instruct the crew to leave the property immediately - I explained how their presence was causing more distress to an already shattered family. Once the girl knew why I was calling she said she would put me through to the news director. That didn't happen - she came back on the phone and said "sorry, but we ARE going to cover this story". What is Seven s account of this telephone conversation? Were you alerted to the call, and if so, wh7 did you not speak to Ms Fanning? Do you believe the call was correctly handled? [Willis, Chris] The account of the 7 employee who took this call is quite different to Ms Fanning's. The woman who took the call I want to make it clear she is an adult and a professional media employee - at approximately 5 pm from a distressed woman who did not identify herself but said she was calling from the accident. She said a reporter was on the property and we had to get him off. There was no reference to the link van. The woman did not ask to be put through to the News Director. Our employee apologised for any distress that had been caused and asked her to hold while she made some enquiries. She then spoke to the most senior person in the room at that moment, the Deputy News Director who told her to tell the woman that we would contact the reporter and ask him to leave. Our employee then passed that message on to the female caller. She apologised to the woman again and in answer to a question did say we would be doing the story. I was in the building at the time. If Ms Fanning had asked to be put through to me she would have been. I take calls from viewers and complainants on a regular basis. I am willing to do it and my staff know that I am willing to take calls. I accept that Ms Fanning was deeply distressed. I have empathy with her as I too have had a loved one s death reported by the media, but I do not accept her version of the call. I know the employee. I have heard her take telephone calls many times. She is diligent, intelligent and respectful. I am satisfied that she handled it as described. People nearby in the office, while not listening to the content of the conversation, remember the tone was sympathetic and respectful. 11. Is Seven aware of when Mrs Goldspink-Lord s post complaining about Seven s behaviour appeared on your Facebook site? What was the initial reaction from members of the public? Did that change, and when? Why was Mrs Goldspink-Lord s post taken down on Sunday evening? [Willis, Chris] As we said in a statement on Monday, the post was taken down in error. An error for which I accept responsibility. My intention was for the web site vision to be taken down in deference to Mrs Goldspink-Lord. My instruction wasn t clear enough and the Facebook post was taken down. It was reposted because I made an error. 12. Seven Media says that its journalists subscribe to the MEAA Code of Ethics, article 11 of which says: Respect private grief and personal privacy. Article of the Commercial TV Industry Code of Practice says that licensees must exercise sensitivity in broadcasting images of or interviews with bereaved relatives and survivors or witnesses of traumatic incidents.

6 Do you believe that Seven News, its journalist and technicians abided by these provisions in this instance? [Willis, Chris] Yes I do. 13. Is there anything else you would like to say about this particular incident, the public reaction to it, and about the media s coverage of such tragedies in general? [Willis, Chris] See introduction. To meet our production deadlines we d appreciate your response as soon as possible and in any case before close of business tomorrow, Friday July 27. Chris Willis Director of News Sydney Seven Network (Operations) Limited