Press freedom battles in the courts

BY MILLICENT CAFFREY

A Current Affair reporter Ben Fordham escaped conviction for breaches of the Listening Devices Act on August 27, but the fate of the media watchdog is another matter. The charges against Fordham and his producer, Andrew Byrne, included concealing a device to record a private conversation and knowingly communicating a private conversation to the public. Justice Elizabeth Fullerton took into account his good character and previous instances in which he cooperated with police. However, Fordham still faces a conviction of concealing a serious offence.

What has become a saga fit for a soap opera began with the former mayor of Waverly, James Markham, paying his nephew Sean Tolmie $12,000 to kidnap, torture and murder a male escort, Paul Dunshea. Tolmie, allegedly seeking revenge against his uncle for mistreatment as a boy, took a mobile recording of Markham’s horrific plans to A Current Affair. Fordham took his role as investigative journalist to new heights, posing as an underworld contract killer and entering a car bugged with cameras and microphones in order to gain conclusive video and audio of Markham admitting his intentions. Fordham received more than he bargained for, with Markham being heard to say that he wanted to watch the escort being brutalized and also that there were two more people he wanted harmed, but that any further contract would be dependent on the success of Fordham’s first venture.

Like many of their other efforts, this ACA story could be the plot of a trashy paperback, but it is still in the public’s interest to know its contents. The fact also remains that a member of society who once held a position of power and trust is now facing trial on charges of recruiting others to commit crimes, including kidnap and assault, because of this story, seamy and tasteless though it may be.

The right to use recording devices by journalists is therefore an integral part of the Fourth Estate, which has had one of its functions amputated by the overzealous Listening Devices Act, raising the question of what corrupt dealings and criminal activities are being concealed in NSW at this very moment. The irony is that in trying to prevent illegal activity, this law is allowing criminals to proceed unmonitored. Sarah Ferguson should have come to NSW to sell access to her ex-husband Prince Andrew, after being caught out by a journalist wearing a listening device in her home country.

As Fordham said back in 2008, ACA conducted an investigation that may have saved a man’s life. This is the main point, and Paul Dunshea is probably very happy that Fordham and Byrne acted illegally to stop a criminal.