It was around 5pm on Tuesday, on the sixth floor of a bright new office block north of Sydney, that a meeting like the one no media executive wants to have took place.
Sydney Morning Herald editor Bevan Shields and executive editor Tory Maguire had gathered staff in a conference room to discuss a media debacle that had shaken the headline, owned by Nine Entertainment, to the core.
For four days, the 191-year-old newspaper with a proud history of innovative journalism had been at the center of an international scandal over journalistic ethics and the treatment of celebrities’ privacy.
The newspaper’s gossip columnist Andrew Hornery was accused of forcing Australian actor Rebel Wilson to leave after giving him time to answer a question about his relationship with a woman.
The editorial error had spread rapidly around the world, prompting stories in the New York Times and a reproach by Whoopi Goldberg in The View. Even Star Trek actor George Takei and Irish pop singer Ronan Keating took part.
There was no video channel for Tuesday’s meeting, so only those in the office could attend. Some have spoken to Guardian Australia about the shock waves that went through the newsroom when the story went viral.
This was not a News Corp tabloid, it was the revered Herald, affectionately known as “Granny” when it was owned by Fairfax Media, and the staff were not used to being treated as outcasts.
Attendees said the mood was sad as Maguire, who oversees both Herald and Age national coverage in Melbourne, was excited, even angry. He implored journalists to provide emotional support to Shields and Hornery, who had been subjected to “horrific attacks” online, even death threats. There was a lot of sympathy for both of them among the meeting staff.
How did a tumultuous event in a column of gossip provoke these tumultuous events, events that saw the newspaper publish three apologies in so many days?
On a long weekend on Saturday, Hornery, a well-experienced journalist of about three decades, had published his Private Sydney column online and on page 36 of the newspaper. Although he had reported the day before that Rebel Wilson had revealed on Instagram that he was dating a woman, Hornery went back in history to tell his readers how a world first had been lost. He had learned of Wilson’s relationship and had approached his agent for comment, he said.
“PS was wrong on the side of caution and sent an email to Rebel Wilson’s representatives on Thursday morning, giving him two days to discuss his new relationship with another woman, LA designer Ramona Agruma. before publishing a single word, “Hornery wrote in the sarcastic tone of the PS trademark. .
“Big mistake. Wilson chose to look at the story and posted early yesterday about his new ‘Disney Princess’ on Instagram, the same platform he had previously used to brag about his beautiful ex-boyfriend, the rich baron of American beer Jacob Busch.
The reaction was swift and brutal. The column was seen as a threat to Wilson, who had previously only dated men in public, and the disgust for the newspaper only grew when Wilson herself said on Twitter that it was a “very difficult situation” that she was trying to handle gracefully. .
So, apparently, it wasn’t @ RebelWilson’s choice to go out … What’s worse, the openly gay men of the Sydney Morning Herald were involved in this. 🤦🏼♀️ https://t.co/Zl80zg01SW
– Kate Doak (@katedoak) June 11, 2022
Shields’ first reaction to the outrage was to protect his journalist, and he wrote a brief note from the editor, which was published in the Monday newspaper.
“Our weekly private Sydney celebrity column last week asked Wilson if he wanted to comment on his new partner,” Shields wrote. “We would have asked ourselves the same questions if Wilson ‘s new partner were a man.
“To say that the Herald” exceeded “Wilson is wrong.
“As other headlines do every day, we just asked questions and, as standard practice, we included a deadline for an answer. I hadn’t made a decision on whether or what to post, and the Herald’s decision on what to do would have been informed by any answer provided by Wilson “.
The claim that the newspaper had done nothing wrong fueled the anger of critics as well as some staff members, many of whom were uncomfortable with the position Shields was taking, and felt that he was not listening to the critics.
LGBTIQ + Health Australia Executive Director Nicky Bath told the Guardian that Wilson was in a “terrible situation” when the Herald contacted her.
Bath said there was a process through which people went through to reveal their sexuality and it was an intensely personal and vulnerable time.
“These are personal decisions,” he said. “Who you reveal first, how you do it and when you do it.”
“Oh, let’s just ask the questions …”
What exactly do you think you would have thought when you asked the questions?
False
Low rental behavior
How would these journalists and editors feel if they were asked these questions about their privacy? pic.twitter.com/9MivpB1E1L
– Raf Epstein (@Raf_Epstein) June 12, 2022
Hornery responded to the call with a mea culpa posted online Monday, writing that, as a gay man, he was aware of the pain of discrimination and regretted that “it has cost Rebel that.”
“It’s not the Herald’s business to ” exclude ” people, and that’s not what we set out to do. But I understand why my email was seen as a threat. The framing was a mistake. “The Herald and I will approach things differently from now on to make sure we always take into account the extra layer of complexities that people face when it comes to their sexuality.”
Shields tweeted Hornery’s apology and said the original column, which he had defended in a note from the editor just a day earlier, had been removed.
The Herald made mistakes about Rebel Wilson and will learn from them. Saturday’s piece has been removed and Andrew Hornery goes into detail here about what we didn’t get right https://t.co/jrnBpbJ4ne
– Bevan Shields (@BevanShields) June 13, 2022
A non-meeting SMH staff member said Shields’ initial reaction was “typically a knee-jerk impression” and similar to his reaction to criticism on another issue in February. Shields then finally apologized after he erroneously insisted that the stop of the train network ordered by the state government was a strike.
“Some critics have tried to describe the use of the word ‘strike’ as a kind of conspiracy, but that was just one thing, which was later corrected,” Shield wrote in his apology in March.
“Any assessment of our coverage for the next few hours and days would not show any signs of anti-union bias.”
Shields’ failure to read Rebel Wilson’s room continued for two more days, prompting an anonymous employee to send an email to all staff to his colleagues stating that the newspaper’s reputation ‘was “sinking”.
“Here we are again: our writing has become history,” said the email sent on Monday afternoon.
“With the ‘strike’ fiasco, we were a national mockery, but now we have attracted international attention,” the e-mail, signed “staff reporter,” said. “You don’t have to look far to find the common denominator in these editorial decisions.”
Shields responded to the email by telling staff that his door was always open to anyone who had any questions.
“Since I started as an editor in January, I’ve regularly stressed that I’m always available to talk to anyone in the newsroom about anything,” Shields wrote.
“Many of you who have come to me with problems, professional or personal, know that I am a decent and fair person, and committed to the Herald and everyone who works here. We are a great stick leader and in a great position. Obviously I saw the anonymous note sent this afternoon. “
But it wasn’t until Wednesday’s newspaper that Shields published a comprehensive apology acknowledging that the PS column “shouldn’t have been published and that it’s ultimately up to me as editor.” “I apologize to Wilson and anyone who has been offended by this,” Shields said.
The Guardian understands that this final (and third) apology could have saved the document from another embarrassing leak. SMH staff had discussed writing an open letter to distance themselves from what they considered unethical journalism, but decided against it after Shields published its second note, and heard that it finally “understood.”
While there was widespread support for Shields at the meeting, SMH and Age newsrooms in general seem to be divided between those who are sympathetic to Hornery and Shields, both hardworking and beginning journalists, and which they say the incident reveals. Shields, 36, is out of his mind and has made a number of mistakes since he was named editor.
Shields was a surprise appointment in December and replaced a popular publisher, Lisa Davies, who abruptly resigned in October after five years.
SMH Deputy Editor Cosima Marriner, who has run the newspaper since Davies left, was overlooked for the main job.
Shields, who is known as a somewhat thorny character on Twitter, where he has had some confrontations, was described by Maguire as an “exceptionally talented journalist and editor” who understood the story of the headline.
While some colleagues say Shields has had a hard start on a difficult role, another says the number of leaks indicates concern.
“I think the Herald editors got together and wanted to get Rebel Wilson out?” A staff member said. “No, but the problem for Bevan is that he’s had a lot of shit for six months and now he has a huge target on his back.”
The inappropriate tone of the PS column, which exceeded all usual editorial controls, was one thing, but the delay in apologizing turned the incident …