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Ten drops Bachelorette injunction saying Daily Mail has been judged in ‘court of public opinion’

Network Ten has ditched the injunction it had imposed on The Daily Mail ordering it to take down a spoiler story and photos posted ahead of last night’s finale of The Bachelorette.

bachelorette episode 1In a statement this afternoon the network said it had taken the decision as the injunction had “completely served its purpose” adding the Daily Mail had been “appropriately sanctioned…in the court of public opinion”.

A legal stoush appeared set to play out on Monday after the Daily Mail announced it would fight the injunction imposed by the court last night, with a spokesman for Daily Mail Australia this morning declaring: “We were served with an injunction by Network Ten, but we have not had sight of the reasons for the judge’s decision.

“We swiftly abided by the terms of the injunction, however, but shall be challenging the terms of that injunction immediately as we do not consider that such a decision is either fair or right.”

However it has been avoided by Ten’s decision this afternoon. If the network had chosen to fight to keep the injunction it may have ended up facing a hefty legal bill.

“Network Ten applauds the decision of the Supreme Court to grant the injunction last night,” it said in its statement. “At Ten’s initiative we have sought the injunction be discharged given that it has completely served its purpose.

“The outstanding success of The Bachelorette Australia finale confirmed the action. The Supreme Court has appropriately sanctioned The Daily Mail, as has the court of public opinion.”

The move comes as the TV Network confirmed it would do a second season of The Bachelorette after last night’s finale drew a metro audience of 1.52m for the winner announcement.

The fight began yesterday after a paparazzi photographer discovered the location of an exclusive photoshoot for News Corp’s The Daily Telegraph with Sam Frost and Sasha Mielczarek who won the dating show, and shot pictures through the window of the hotel room while the shoot was in progress. The Daily Mail then published the photos and a headline featuring the names of the winner as its main story, without warning fans of the spoiler.

Daily MailThat led to a strong reaction from The Daily Telegraph last night who posted the initial headline: ‘Dear Daily Mail: F*** you. Sincereley, Everyone.”

There was also an outpouring of criticism from fans of the show aimed at the Daily Mail, which is a joint partnership with Ten’s rival Nine Network in Australia, while Ten’s lawyers were straight off to court to get the injunction ahead of the finale airing on Ten last night.

The Daily Mail Australia is understood to be seeking costs for court proceedings.

Network Ten is also expected to make a claim for damages with Justice Rowan Darke expected to hear arguments on Monday.

Nic Christensen 

Timeline of The Bachelorette spoiler:

Thursday, October 22

Midday – Channel Ten invited Sydney’s Daily Telegraph to the Darling Hotel to watch an episode of the finale and interview the couple for a story that would run on the front page of today’s newspaper.

The hotel is the same one Ten used for the Bachelor and a photographer for Matrix Media was in another building alongside with a long lens taking photos.

Yesterday afternoon – The Matrix photos were then sold to Daily Mail which is known among the media for paying top dollar for exclusive rights to digital photos.

5.09pm – The Daily Mail runs the photos in a story written by senior reporter Danielle Gusmaroli in a story headlined “Bachelorette Sam Frost and Sasha Mielczarek are spotted kissing and cuddling hour before show finale”.

5.20pm – The story quickly bring an angry social media reaction with fans of the show denouncing the decision to reveal which bachelor Frost had chosen.

6.00pm – Ten was quick to dispatch its lawyer Bruce Burke from Banki Haddock Fiora seeking to get an interim injunction and the story removed from the web.

8.00pm – Within hours Ten had been successful in getting the Supreme Court to grant the injunction with Ten understood to have cited the potential damage the story could cause to the show’s audience.

The story is taken down from the Daily Mail just before 9pm.

9.07pm – The winner of The Bachelorette is revealed with Sam Frost choosing to give the last rose to Sasha Mielczarek going to air just after 9pm.

Friday, October 23

7.53am Daily Mail announces it will challenge the Ten injunction with the case expected to go to court on Monday.

9.15am – OzTam reveals the Bachelorette announcement was watched by a metro audience of 1.52m and a national audience of 1.92m.

9.52am – Ten announces it will do a second season of The Bachelorette in 2016.

2.00pm – Ten withdraws injunction

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