An example of the watermarked images released by News Corp
Police have contacted legal representatives of David Gyngell and James Packer over Sunday’s scuffle, and indicated News Corp watermarks on the first images released of the incident made it hard for officers to see exactly what they showed.
This afternoon acting assistant commissioner Mark Walton held a press conference reiterating yesterday’s appeal for anyone with information about the incident, which has been widely reported across the media, but stressed no decision had been made on whether an offence had been committed.
He said whilst police had contacted their legal representatives neither man had been questioned over the incident at this stage.
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Yesterday morning News Corp titles published the first unedited images along with a video on their website showing the set-to between the Nine Entertainment Co CEO Gyngell and billionaire Crown Casino boss Packer, and Walton indicated that had been looked at, but added “there are rules of evidence in regards to whether that can be tendered and be admissible”.
AC Walton indicated the first images released by News Corp, which paid a reported $210,000 for them, were so heavily covered with watermarks they made it hard for officers to see what was going on and decide whether to start an investigation.
He told the press conference: “We first became aware of it (the incident) as it was released in the media. We did review our holdings to see if there was anything we missed. And we have subsequently and as the concerns were raised and the material became more apparent, in the earlier material it was so difficult to see what was going on because of the branding of it, I certainly wasn’t expecting police to rush out there.
“As the material has become available and the police have started to form a view of what occurred, that is the appropriate time to hold our inquiries.”
He said the investigation had not been given priority treatment adding “I’m not going to escalate it just because of who these people are.”
He confirmed some people had come forward to raise concerns over the incidents, adding he would not describe any as “official complaints”, adding they had invited both men to provide them with any relevant information over the incident.
The heavily watermarked images produced a number of parody memes over the incident, and were even referenced in a pastiche of the incident by the infamous Taiwanese animators TOMO.
No arrests have been made or charges laid over the incident on Sunday.
Alex Hayes