News.com.au published a summary of Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial that does the very difficult job of accurately summarising complex evidence given in court over the last week. Court reports must be accurate and objective. They cannot include any opinion about the guilty or innocence of the accused or the reliability of any witnesses. This article does exactly that, which makes it all the more objectionable that it was published under a headline calling it “Brittany Higgins parliamentary rape trial”.
Brittany Higgins is not on trial. No one has accused her of rape. I suspect her name was included in the headline to maximise SEO and monetise her courage in taking her story to police and the court. It’s cynical, abhorrent, and inaccurate.
Note: Lehrmann’s trial is ongoing and he has the right to the presumption of innocence. Publicly speculating about his guilt or innocence (including in social media comments) is contempt of court and could put the trial in jeopardy.
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If you’re reading this on social media, links to all the articles are on the post on my website: www.JaneGilmore.com
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