In the Malcolm Tucker era, tension between government media units and senior journalists is hardly a revelation, but it seems The Thick of It is nothing compared to the ongoing spat between the Brumby government and the ABC’s state political reporter Josie Taylor.

Since wrenching the hot seat from predecessor Kate Thwaites in mid-2008, Taylor has been vigilant in her pursuit of the government, especially over the whacking it has received from the state Ombudsman.

As critical report after critical report landed with a thud in the Legislative Assembly, Taylor leapt into action, like any good journalist would, reporting the Ombudsman’s criticisms of the government over dodgy councils, child protection and conflicts with the Office for Police Integrity in snappy two-minute packages for the 7pm news.

The problem, according to state government insiders, is that Taylor had an irreparable conflict — her father is the Deputy Ombudsman, John Taylor.

Taylor Sr was appointed in 2004, well before Taylor Jr landed the role, although Taylor Jr had covered Ombudsman issues in her previous job as a general rounds reporter. While Ombudsman George Brouwer has hogged the limelight, Taylor Sr is believed to be the driving force behind many of the Ombudsman’s investigations.

While a minority of advisers and the gallery were aware of the connection, it wasn’t until last year’s Brimbank scandal, when Brouwer issued a scathing assessment of petty corruption in the western suburbs ALP fiefdom, that media unit radars really turned crimson.

Senior figures in the Premier’s right faction targeted in the Brimbank report, including Theo Theophanous, have made little secret of their dislike of Taylor, with Theophanous using state parliament last June to launch a personal attack, accusing her of “misreporting” the fate of his electorate officer Costas Socratous (Theophanous then filed a hair-splitting complaint with the ABC and read its response into Hansard on February 3).

In late December, with the state government in wind-down mode, Taylor revealed in a comment piece on the ABC website entitled “Toxic relationship: the journalist and the press secretary” that Victoria’s own Malcolm Tucker, George Svigos, had left a message on her voicemail minutes after a report aired on Police Minister Bob Cameron’s struggles with the Ombudsman over a flawed police IT setup and issues with the Victoria Police Forensic Services Centre.

The police minister’s press secretary shot Taylor a follow-up text message:

“That was appalling on your part today and all week. I wouldn’t be answering my phone either if I was you.”

Now, the war has escalated again, with Taylor’s reports on the collapse of the Office of Police Integrity’s case against Noel Ashby drawing more opprobrium.

There is evidence Taylor has been specifically targeted. Among the networks, Brendan Donohoe at Seven is believed to be off-limits owing to his seniority while Gareth Boreham at Ten and Jacqueline Freegard at Nine have drawn much less attention. One factor counting against Taylor is believed to be her two-minute slots that leave room for editorialising — the commercial journos often only get 30 seconds or one minute. One gallery journalist told Crikey it was “standard practice” for media units to try and “crack new reporters early on”.

So, sour grapes from the state government, or is there a legitimate perception issue when it comes to Taylor Jnr’s family connection?

Reporting on fields that a close family member has a stake is nothing new. John Garnaut at The Age and Ross Garnaut, the economist, is the most famous duo, while there were also some grumblings about Duncan MacFarlane’s role writing finance at The Oz while his dad John helmed the Reserve Bank until 2006.

Overseas, The New York Times’ continues to tie itself in ethical knots over the problems posed by its Middle East bureau chief having a son in the Israeli Defence Force. The paper’s public editor, Clark Hoyt, has called for the correspondent to be recalled.

The ABC told Crikey that Taylor told them who her father was before she replaced Thwaites and agreed to notify management if a conflict arose.

ABC communications director Michael Millet said there had been “one issue” over the past 12 months that Taylor had raised with the news editor but no action was taken.

“The matter was discussed thoroughly and was not deemed breach any of the three categories of Conflict of Interest detailed in the Editorial Policies. The ABC believes its Editorial Standards have been meticulously observed by Ms Taylor and both she and the Victorian News Editor will continue to follow the mandated process.”

Millet told Crikey the incident had been discussed and cleared before the report went to air but refused to reveal the issue in question. Still, Taylor may still be in breach of the ABC’s conflict of interest guidelines, especially on the measure of a perceived, rather than an actual conflict (the guidelines make a distinction between a “potential”, “actual” and “perceived” conflict).

According to the guidelines: “There should be no conflict between the private interests of ABC staff and their official duties. The outside activities of staff, including financial, personal and political relationships, must not compromise the editorial integrity of ABC programs.”

The issue is complicated by the fact that while most Ombudsman reports are critical of the government, the government has also been a staunch defender of the oversight bodies that include the Ombudsman and the Office of Police Integrity. Taylor has dutifully reported Opposition calls for the structure to replaced with an independent corruption commission to mirror that in New South Wales, effectively leaving her dad out of a job.