The editors of online news outlet Crikey have issued a lengthy second apology and vowed to overhaul editorial processes after publishing a controversial opinion piece about Brittany Higgins that was later deleted.
On Monday, Crikey’s editor-in-chief, Sophie Black, and editor, Gina Rushton, penned an almost 500 word editorial – the second apology the publication has issued since it published, then hastily took down, the article by columnist Guy Rundle on Friday.
In his opinion piece headlined “The Brittany Higgins case: we’re not required to leave our brains at the security entrance”, Rundle argued that because Higgins received a compensation payment from the commonwealth, “we have a right to hear the full story”.
The piece was published following a federal parliamentary sitting week in which the Coalition attacked Labor, accusing the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, of misleading parliament over her knowledge of Higgins’ rape allegation, after text messages from Higgins’ phone were leaked.
In his now deleted piece, Rundle wrote that the case became something else when Higgins received a “taxpayer-funded” compensation payment from the incoming Albanese government in a “stunningly rapid process”.
Rundle also wrote that Higgins had “about as much motive as anyone has ever had to make a false sex crime claim,” saying that being found “naked and asleep on your boss’s office sofa is a career killer, obviously”.
Higgins alleged that she was raped in Linda Reynolds’ Parliament House office on the night of 22 March 2019 by fellow Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann, who has repeatedly denied the allegation.
A criminal trial was aborted after juror misconduct and plans for a retrial abandoned over concerns about Higgins’ mental health.
On Friday, after taking down Rundle’s piece, Crikey issued a five paragraph explanation of its decision, noting the columnist’s assertion the consultation process for Higgins’ compensation was “stunningly rapid” was incorrect.
Crikey also said there was no factual basis for Rundle to claim the compensation figure was believed to be $3m, and that the “the tone of the piece did not meet Crikey’s journalistic standards, crucially given that it concerns writing about allegations of sexual assault”.
In Monday’s more lengthy apology, Black and Rushton wrote: “As editors, we take full responsibility for publishing the piece. Our editorial processes failed. We are in the process of addressing that.”
The pair said that Rundle’s writing “can challenge people to think differently, surprise and provide in-depth context”, but that his piece from Friday “didn’t do any of those things”. “There is a line, and this crossed that. Crikey does not seek to cause harm. This caused harm.”
Black and Rushton said that Crikey’s publisher, Private Media, was in “ongoing” conversations with Rundle. “Rundle states that he stands by the argument made in the article and the article’s overall approach to the matter.”
“As female journalists, we feel acute regret as the publishers of this piece. We’d be lying if we said that catering to a Crikey audience as women is not sometimes difficult. As with any news outlet, to publish any kind of opinion piece doesn’t ever necessarily mean that editors endorse the sentiments but in this instance, we want to highlight that,” the pair said.
Before Rundle’s piece had been removed on Friday, readers complained about the article on Twitter, with some posting pictures of themselves cancelling their Crikey subscription.
Higgins tweeted “pithy but disgusting given the context”. Her partner, David Sharaz, tagged the CEO of Private Media, Will Hayward, in a tweet that read “are you happy with this victim-blaming bile being on your website?”.
On Monday, Hayward tweeted a link to the editorial from Black and Rushton, saying “we deserve our share of criticism this time”.
Black, Rushton and Hayward declined to comment.
• In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
