News outlets and ‘mummy blogger’ warned over mushroom trial coverage
Several news outlets including the ABC and Crikey, as well as a popular ‘mummy blogger’, have had to amend their online coverage of Erin Patterson’s mushroom murder trial, following suppression order breaches or inappropriate commentary.
The ABC is the latest to have breached a court-ordered suppression order in its Mushroom Case Daily podcast, per Lamestream. The series, which is currently sitting at number one on Apple Podcasts’ top shows chart, covers the daily goings-on in the trial of the alleged triple-murderer.
The ABC reportedly breached the order that aims to protect certain witnesses, in this case, Patterson’s children. The unedited episode was live on Youtube for over 24 hours, before the national broadcaster removed it.
The ABC’s Mushroom Case Daily podcast is topping the charts
Meanwhile Crikey’s story, which called the mushroom trial a “media circus”, also breached a suppression order. The piece was later amended online, however, the independent news outlet did not make any mention of the amendments.
It pointed out that media from “around the world” had descended on Latrobe Valley, where the trial is taking place, including Reuters and the BBC, as well as “wild and unsubstantiated rumours swirling of alarmingly high numbers of ABC staff on the ground (at one point, 19???)”.
Per The Australian, Channel 10 and Mamamia were also warned about elements of their coverage.
As the worlds of media and influencers continue to converge, popular ‘mummy blogger’ Constance Hall was also warned about her coverage.
She was subsequently open about having to remove a post, indicating that the comments of her followers rather than her own content may have been the problem.
Constance Hall. Source: Facebook
“FYI you guys, I had to remove the post about the mushroom trial because I received an email from the Vic government telling me to immediately delete it,” she wrote in a post to her 1.3 million Facebook followers.
She said numerous comments on the post breached “the principles of sub justice [sic] contempt” which she admitted she was “not quite sure what that means bit [sic] it sounded legit”.
In the post, Hall said she was proactive in seeing how media was approaching leaving comments on, “and they did”. Contrary to that statement, the ABC, Crikey and other outlets have disabled comments on stories covering the trial. Mumbrella understands the ABC’s lawyers have issued an edict to that effect, along with strict guidelines concerning other aspects of coverage.
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the agency beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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Media have to be extremely careful in covering such a high profile case as the mushroom trial.
Continuous online coverage these days means extra care is required in ensuring the defendant has a fair trial.
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Be so pleased when this court case if finished. And that I never have to hear ‘Beef Wellington’ again.
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