The Walkley Foundation has withdrawn an award given to Peter Fegan and Rebeka Powell of Nine News in the 2021 Walkley Awards.
The award for a series of three television news reports -- The Investigation of Andrew Laming -- won the Television/Video News Reporting category for stories when Dr Andrew Laming was a Federal MP.
The award was presented on February 25, 2022, following a delay caused by COVID-19.
Dr Laming initiated defamation proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia against Nine relating to the third report which centred around an allegation that a lewd photograph was taken of a young woman in her workplace without her knowledge or consent.
Nine settled on confidential terms except for the following apology given to Dr Laming and contained in a court order:
Apology to Dr Laming from Nine:
On 27 March 2021, 9News Queensland broadcast a report about Dr Laming who was at the time a member of Federal Parliament.
Serious allegations were made about Dr Laming in that report and he sued Nine because of it.
9News has now seen material which indicates that the photograph Dr Laming took was not lewd in nature.
9News unreservedly withdraws those allegations about Dr Laming and apologises to him and his family for the hurt and harm caused by the report.
The Walkley Foundation subsequently sought materials from interested parties, and independent legal advice.
This week, the directors of the Walkley Foundation met to consider its advice, and have accepted a recommendation that the award be withdrawn.
The Walkley Foundation has previously announced that it will conduct a separate process to review the organisation’s complaints mechanism utilising the skills of a panel of independent experts.
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