Brittany Higgins: Public confrontation between journalists Janet Albrechtsen and Samantha Maiden over protection

Two well-known journalists working for a similar writer are locked in a confrontation over their respective protection of the Brittany Higgins saga following the collapse of the Bruce Lehrmann trial.

Their opposing views performed out within the pages of The Weekend Australian on Saturday, in a prolonged column by opinion author Janet Albrechtsen.

In her newest piece, Ms Albrechtsen examined the function of the media in first reporting Ms Higgins’ declare she was raped in Parliament Home in 2019 by her then-colleague Mr Lehrmann – who has at all times denied the allegations.

Her column highlighted what gave the impression to be the souring relations between Ms Higgins and Information.com.au political editor Samantha Maiden, who broke the story on-line in February 2021, hours earlier than Ms Higgins would repeat the allegations throughout an interview with Lisa Wilkinson on The Venture.

Information.com.au and The Australian are each owned by Information Corp.

The article drew on leaked textual content messages between Maiden and the previous political staffer earlier than and after the preliminary Information.com.au article was printed, till mid-2022.

Two well-known journalists working for a similar writer are locked in a confrontation over their respective protection of the Brittany Higgins saga following the collapse of the Bruce Lehrmann trial. (Pictured: Ms Higgins together with her companion David Sharaz on April 30, 2021)

A rift emerged between Ms Higgins and the senior journalist in October 2021, when Maiden’s byline appeared on a narrative casting doubt on a declare Wilkinson had made in her newly launched memoir – specifically that Wilkinson was paid considerably lower than her In the present day present co-host Karl Stefanovic whereas an worker at Channel 9.

Seemingly siding with Wilkinson, Ms Higgins fired off a tweet suggesting Maiden mustn’t have run the story. ‘Urgent replace within the midst of a sitting week from the political reporter of stories.com.au,’ she wrote.

An upset Maiden reportedly texted Ms Higgins 38 that night time, accusing her of ‘publicly attacking me’. Ms Higgins instructed her to ‘chill’ and insisted they had been ‘high-quality’.

Maiden was supplied a proper of reply by The Australian, which duly printed her 360-word response to Albrechtsen’s column in full – one thing hardly ever finished in journalism.

In her response, Maiden mentioned she’d had ‘variations of opinion on numerous points every so often’ with Higgins, which is ‘the case in any regular relationship’.

Their opposing views performed out within the pages of The Weekend Australian on Saturday, in a prolonged column by opinion author Janet Albrechtsen (pictured)

Her column highlighted what gave the impression to be the souring relations between Ms Higgins and Information.com.au political editor Samantha Maiden (pictured), who broke the story in early 2021

A rift emerged between Ms Higgins and Maiden in October 2021, when Maiden wrote a narrative casting doubt on a declare Lisa Wilkinson had made in her memoir. Seemingly siding with Wilkinson, Ms Higgins fired off this tweet suggesting Maiden mustn’t have run the story

She additionally made pointed remarks about Albrechtsen’s supposed bias towards Higgins, saying that her personal journalism by comparability was extra balanced.

‘That’s how journalism works – you search the views of all individuals in a problem and don’t cherry-pick the proof to swimsuit a most popular narrative,’ Maiden mentioned.

Maiden ended her response by saying she had ‘caught up with Higgins not too long ago’ and ‘was struck by the very fact the type and considerate girl I hung out with bears no relationship to the one who emerges in a number of the reporting by those that have by no means bothered to choose up a telephone and communicate to her’.

Bruce Lehrmann’s (pictured) trial was aborted in October 2022 because of juror misconduct. He has at all times denied Ms Higgins’ allegations