Why is Chris Masters defending Lyons’ Whitlam interview?
For the past five years, the Nine Network has been fearful of criticism, fearful of risk and prone to make unscripted, illogical attacks on its critics. But just as staff were girding themselves for a counter-assault on Gerald Stone’s book, Who Killed Channel 9?, the network heavies ordered silence. No comment at all on the book and its controversial claims. That’s another example of the siege-like mentality that has developed at the network since John Alexander asserted his authority in 2001 in the wake of David Leckie’s sacking. But the book has legs in one area: claims that Sunday EP John Lyons selectively edited a controversial interview with former NRMA President Nick Whitlam, which generated significant legal fees and damages to Whitlam and a Walkley award for Lyons. Lyons lurched into comment in The Australian on Friday, along with a surprise supporter: Four Corners reporter, Chris Masters. “Investigative journalist Chris Masters examined the tapes at Lyons’s request and last ni
