'The Age' and 'On Line Opinion'

There were a number of reasons for that.

On Line Opinion is an opinion site, and opinion in this case is a specific genre. It excludes reportage and investigation and concentrates on analysis of generally public facts.

We made this decision right from the outset for practical reasons because we do not have the resources to do news. To do news properly you need to have a network of writers who can report as close to instantaneously as possible. You also need fact checkers to ensure that what is reported is accurate, and lawyers who can advise on the legal aspects. None of these comes free of charge.

In addition you need to be financially equipped to defend yourself against legal action even when it is only of the “stopper writ” variety.

We also had practical marketing reasons. The news market is crowded, but the considered opinion market isn’t.

We have had experiences in the past that reinforce the wisdom of sticking to that strategy.

When I looked at the Rhiannon piece it was obvious that it was news and not opinion, and that checking for its accuracy was well beyond our resources. There also appeared to be a possibility that Rhiannon was trying to involve Lucy Turnbull in her husband’s affairs and that we had been chosen because she has an honorary role on our editorial advisory board. Subsequent events tend to confirm this was the case.

There is no law in publishing that says you have to publish anything, or be used by your contributors, and as The Age was apparently going to carry the story, the Greens would lose very little if we didn’t.

They also assured us that The Age would check the facts and the legal situation. In which case it would be appropriate for The Age to get the benefit and carry the risk, particularly as they were unlikely to tell us which parts of the article their lawyers advised against.

While our contributors indemnify us against liability arising from what we publish an indemnity is only as good as the indemnifier. It is only very recently that Bob Brown, the Greens federal leader, said he was facing bankruptcy because of legal bills he had incurred and couldn’t pay.

Given everything it also seemed prudent to double-check my view by referring the matter to our board of directors, which has two members who are lawyers, and a spread of political views. None of the directors wanted to publish, which was relayed via email to the Greens at 1:45pm on Tuesday. It was never discussed with the Editorial Advisory Board whose role is strategic, not tactical.

In the event some of the allegations in the article ran in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. They were presented as “investigative journalism” under the byline of Richard Baker and there was no acknowledgement that all but a small proportion of the article was sourced from the Greens.