Crikey Talks

Me Too, the media and the making of Geoffrey Rush: Trial By Media

28 July 2020. 6pm AEST

Crikey’s News Editor Emily Watkins hosted an engaging discussion with Crikey reporter Georgia Wilkins, Sydney Morning Herald journalist Jacqueline Maley and Crikey contributor Gina Rushton.

The panel went behind the scenes of our recent 10-part investigation, Geoffrey Rush: Trial by Media, and discussed the wider implications the entire saga had on Australia’s Me Too movement.

They chatted about the process of putting together an investigation, and how one desperate Murdoch newspaper sacrificed tried and true practice to grab a scoop. They discussed the power imbalance that creates sexual harassment in the workplace, for example, in the case with Dyson Heydon. Lastly, the conversation highlighted the extreme pressure and victim-blaming that happens when women finally speak up.

Read the full Crikey investigation, Geoffrey Rush: Trial By Media.

Check out the highlights and replay.

Speakers

Emily Watkins

Former News Editor @emilykwatkins

Emily formerly covered all things "media" for Crikey and was based in Sydney. She has previously worked for the ABC's Media Watch and reported on courts, crocodiles and occasionally UFOs for the NT News.

Georgia Wilkins

Former News Editor @georgiamareew

Georgia is a senior reporter at Crikey. Previously Georgia has worked as a journalist in Australia and overseas, including six years as a reporter for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald covering corporate misconduct, multinational tax avoidance and wrongdoing at the big end of town.

Jacqueline Maley

Sydney Morning Herald Journalist @JacquelineMaley

Jacqueline is a columnist and senior writer for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, where she writes about politics, people and social affairs. She has also worked at The Guardian in London and at The Australian Financial Review, as well as contributing to numerous other publications including Gourmet Traveller and Marie Claire. In 2016 she won the Kennedy Award for Outstanding Columnist.

Geoffrey Rush: Trial by Media

Read the Series

This story is about reckless journalism.

About one desperate Murdoch newspaper that sacrificed tried and true practice to grab a scoop. About the damage inflicted on two people, their families and friends by that scoop, the subsequent defamation trial and the newspaper’s failed appeal.

About how this reckless act set back the Me Too movement in Australia and tarnished an industry dedicated to telling the truth.

Welcome to Geoffrey Rush: Trial by Media.

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