The Seven Network has received an official complaint from Network 10 journalist Lisa Wilkinson regarding their interview with Bruce Lehrmann on Spotlight, and a separate segment on their morning breakfast show, Sunrise.
The complaint, lodged on Tuesday, June 13, refers to an interview Seven conducted with Bruce Lehrmann on the Spotlight program and a segment on Sunrise two days after the Spotlight interview aired which mentioned a letter allegedly sent to Wilkinson by Brittany Higgins.
While The Guardian reports that the actual contents of the complaint are unclear, lawyers representing Network 10, Wilkinson and Higgins have alleged that both broadcasters breached commercial television standards and have raised concerns that Seven may have improperly used evidence from Lehrmann’s trial during the Spotlight program.
Lehrmanns’ alleged rape of Higgins led to a trial that was aborted due to juror misconduct, and a second trial was deserted due to concerns regarding Higgins’ life. Lehrmann is also suing 10 and Wilkinson over their early reporting of the rape allegation.
In regards to the letter allegedly sent by Higgins to Wilkinson, lawyers representing Wilkinson say that she has no record of an “angry” letter that The Australian reported was sent to her. This is the same letter referred to on Sunrise.
If Seven takes no action in regard to the official complaint, Wilkinsons’ lawyers have confirmed that they can escalate it to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
The official complaint comes after Bruce Lehrmann dropped his legal proceedings against News Corp after reaching an out-of-court settlement. He was taking defamation action against both News Life Media – publisher of news.com.au – and Samanda Maiden, news.com.au’s national political editor.
In the News Corp case, Lehrmann claimed that he was identifiable in two news.com.au articles reporting on the March 2019 allegation that Brittany Higgins was sexually assaulted in Parliament House. Those two articles have now been updated with an editor’s note that reads “News.com.au notes that a criminal charge of sexual assault was brought against Mr Lehrmann and later dropped. News.com.au does not suggest that he was guilty of that charge.”
See Also: Bruce Lehrmann drops defamation proceedings against News Corp