08-07-2025
ABC turmoil as shock Erin Patterson decision turns staff against each other: 'What's the reason?'
An internal squabble has erupted at the ABC after an executive refused to publish certain images of convicted triple murderer Erin Patterson because they were an invasion of her 'distress/privacy'.
The photos showed an emotional Patterson as she arrived at court in the back of a prison transport in Morwell, Victoria, on May 12.
After the mushroom killer was convicted of murdering her in-laws on Monday, ABC staff were eager to broadcast the pictures, which they had not been able to show during the course of her 10-week trial for legal reasons.
But ABC editorial policy boss Mark Maley put the kibosh on the images being published, according to emails seen by The Australian.
Joel Tozer, who is executive producer for the flagship program 7.30, soon questioned Maley's decision.
'No one has been able to see (Patterson) for the past 10 weeks. It is a visually poor story and the pics really do help with doing a TV story,' he wrote in an email on Monday.
'What's the reason not to use?'
Maley then fired back: 'Because it's a gratuitous invasion on her distress/privacy.'
But ABC Victorian news editor Sarah Jaensch also took issue with Maley's stance.
'I would like to be able to use pic 2 (of the series) as well,' she said in the group email.
'While it's far from a flattering picture, she is now a convicted triple murderer who was photographed while being conveyed to court for her murder trial.
'If we are not using any vision of her distressed, we wouldn't use the vision of her crying on her doorstep, which was used many times before she was a convicted murderer.
'That was also invading her privacy but the public interest argument won over.'
Within 15 minutes, ABC digital boss Grant Sherlock then emailed the group to say he had discussed the issue with Maley and they were now 'comfortable' using photos 1, 2, 5 and 6 from the series - but not pictures 3 and 4.
ABC sources told The Australian they were astonished that it had taken so long for staff to agree to use the images.
'It's just another example of our priorities being completely off,' one staff member said.
An ABC spokesman told Daily Mail Australia it was 'common and expected practice' to have discussions about what was appropriate to publish.
'Good editorial discussion is a feature of robust journalism,' he said.
Patterson's father-in-law and mother-in-law Don and Gail Patterson and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson died after eating a beef wellington laced with death cap mushrooms at her Leongatha home, in south-east Victoria, on July 29, 2023.
Following a 10-week trial and seven days of deliberation, Patterson was found guilty of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, as Heather's husband, Pastor Ian Wilkinson, survived the deadly meal.
The mother-of-two sat defiantly throughout her 10-week trial, glaring at the media, members of the public and the family of the people she murdered.
Prosecutors argued Patterson had intentionally sourced the poisonous mushrooms with the intent to kill or seriously injure her four guests.
