Journalist Richard Guilliatt resigns from Walkley awards board after critic wins reporting prize

Exclusive: Resignation comes after abuse survivor said she was devastated her father, who was jailed for 48 years, was interviewed for the Shadow of Doubt podcast

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The journalist Richard Guilliatt has resigned from the Walkley awards judging board after the Walkley Foundation dismissed complaints about his podcast and then handed an award to the journalist whose reports were critical of him.

Nina Funnell won a mid-year Walkley for freelance journalist of the year for a series of three articles in news.com.au about a survivor of sexual assault who was abused by her own parents for 14 years.

The articles included allegations that Guilliatt’s podcast for The Australian had devastated her because the veteran journalist interviewed her parents in jail and the podcast, titled Shadow of Doubt, suggested the case could be a “grave miscarriage of justice”.

“On June 18, the Foundation announced that a Mid-Year Media Prize had been awarded to the misleading reporting which had prompted the complaints about my work,” Guilliatt told Guardian Australia.

“I regarded that decision as indefensible and I resigned as a Walkley judge in a letter to Walkley Foundation CEO Shona Martyn on June 26.”

The complaints were submitted by people who read Funnell’s reporting which alleged the podcast accessed notes from the survivor’s counselling and psychiatric treatment. One of the dismissed complaints seen by Guardian Australia said Guilliatt presented an “extremely biased” view and described the series as a “gutter podcast”.

Martyn wrote to the complainants to say the board was not in a position to “make editorial assessments about the journalism of individual judges” and “no further action will be taken in relation to Mr Guilliatt’s position on the judging board”.

Guilliatt told Martyn he was pleased with her “sensible decision” to take no action against him. But he immediately tendered his resignation because he was “dismayed that the Walkley Foundation Mid-Year Media Prize judges have awarded a prize to the misleading media reports which precipitated the complaints against me”.

Funnell told Guardian Australia that Guilliatt’s claim of errors and misrepresentations in her reporting was wrong. “We have not made any corrections, nor do we have any need to,” she said.

Martyn confirmed the resignation but did not elaborate.

“Richard Guilliatt is no longer a member of the Walkley Judging Board having resigned last month,” she said.

His resignation comes almost four months after the survivor of the abuse broke her silence and told Funnell that she was devastated when Guilliatt interviewed her parents for his podcast despite her father receiving a record sentence of 48 years , and the convictions being upheld all the way to the high court.

She said her privacy was shattered after The Australian accessed her sexual assault counselling notes which had been subpoenaed as part of the trial.

The Australian has defended accessing the notes as public interest journalism.

After Funnell’s articles Guilliatt defended his work, writing that “Shadow of Doubt raised questions about the guilty verdict , about the reliability of Emily’s memories, the adequacy of her mental health treatment and the police investigation of her allegations”.

Guardian Australia revealed in April that Corrective Services NSW was investigating how Guilliatt was able to interview the couple while they were incarcerated.

In 2023, The Australian published the eight-part series featuring interviews with the couple from jail using pseudonyms. It raised questions about the verdicts largely based on the argument that “no one noticed the abuse”.

Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse is available from the following organisations. In Australia, support is available at Full Stop Australia (1800 385 578). In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html