It’s finally over. Journalism wins

1 week ago 3

It’s finally over.

After seven years, about 120 days of trial hearings, 41 witnesses, $35 million in legal costs and an incalculable amount of stress and anxiety for two of Australia’s best investigative journalists, the Ben Roberts-Smith litigation saga has come to an end.

Ben Roberts-Smith at the Federal Court in Sydney in May.

As you may have already read or heard, the High Court on Thursday threw out the former Special Air Service corporal’s last-ditch bid to overturn his damning 2023 defamation loss, finding the application raised “no question of legal principle” and the proposed appeal had “insufficient prospects of success”.

Roberts-Smith is left with nowhere else to go, and has no other frivolous legal manoeuvres to hide behind; the Victoria Cross recipient is a war criminal, murderer and bully. The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age first alleged this in 2018, which triggered defamation proceedings and the so-called “trial of the century”. Roberts-Smith was backed by some of Australia’s most powerful identities, among them Seven West Media proprietor Kerry Stokes, while in our corner we had former SAS officers who had the moral courage to give evidence about what went on in Afghanistan.

You are almost certainly aware of this case, but you may not be so familiar with some of the figures who deserve credit for standing up for the truth, including many who operated behind the scenes.

Journalists Chris Masters and Nick McKenzie after the defamation verdict in 2023.

Ultimate praise here must go to Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters, the fearless reporters who broke the stories after years of exhaustive investigative work. Neither will mind me telling you that the investigation, and being dragged through the courts for years, took a heavy personal and professional toll. In his book Crossing The Line, Nick recalls dry retching in an alley for several minutes after being told in May 2023 that the Federal Court would hand down its verdict in the initial defamation case within a fortnight.

I am in awe of them – not only for their capacity as reporters, but their integrity, determination and resilience.

In his own book, Flawed Hero, Chris rightly observed that the court wins over the past seven years have been as much a triumph for the legal team as for the journalists.

Barristers Nicholas Owens SC, Lyndelle Barnett and Chris Mitchell led the case with great skill and commitment. In a deft postscript, Owens is now a Federal Court judge. On a much sadder note, Sandy Dawson SC, who started the case for us, died from brain cancer at the end of 2022.

Owens, Barnett and Mitchell were backed by an incredible coalition of legal minds, including Dean Levitan, who Masters once described as the “nuclear power plant” of the solicitors’ engine room, and the legendary lawyer Peter Bartlett, who has also been a wonderful bridge between the legal team and the newsroom’s editorial leaders, often calming our nerves with his wise counsel and gentle demeanour. I also pay tribute to the Nine legal team, including Larina Alick, Sam White and Kiah Officer.

Finally, the editors who backed the initial series of stories deserve our gratitude. This was high-risk journalism and the investigation could have easily cost them their jobs had things not gone our way. My predecessor, Lisa Davies, was Herald editor at the time of publication and Alex Lavelle was at the helm of The Age.

James Chessell, who is now the editor-in-chief of The Australian Financial Review and a mentor of mine, was the executive editor in charge of the mastheads and had the final say over whether to publish. He gave the stories the green light, which took real guts.

After the Federal Court win in 2023, Chris Masters paid tribute to James’ decision despite the huge legal and reputational risks. “I think it will go down in the history of the news business as one of the great calls,” Chris said. James continued to defend the Ben Roberts-Smith investigation when he was elevated to managing director of publishing at Nine, as has Tory Maguire, who now holds that role.

This has been a Herculean effort from so many people I am privileged to call colleagues, friends and supporters. This is a great week for journalism, and the truth.

It’s great to be back with you after a month of leave. My thanks to deputy editor Liam Phelan for filling you in each week while I was away, and leading the newsroom so brilliantly.

Have a terrific weekend.