Lisa Wilkinson throws Channel Ten under bus after Brittany Higgins interview and rape allegations

Lisa Wilkinson has pointed the finger at her Ten colleagues after Bruce Lehrmann brought a libel action against her, claiming it was his job to verify Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations before her award-winning interview aired.

Ms Wilkinson and Channel Ten are being sued by Mr Lehrmann over a television interview on The Project in February 2021, when Ms Higgins first alleged she was raped by a ‘male colleague’ inside the House of Canberra Parliament in March 2019.

Lehrmann is also suing News Life Media, an umbrella company of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation that runs news.com.au, over coverage by journalist Samantha Maiden who made the same allegations as Higgins.

The former political staffer has always maintained his innocence and strongly denies having sexual contact with Ms Higgins.

According to his claim statement filed in Federal Court last month, Mr. Lehrmann says he was defamed because Ms. Wilkinson and Ms. Maiden were “recklessly indifferent to truth or falsehood.”

She alleges that the journalists went ahead with the interview and the online article believing that the rape allegations against her were true. He was not named in any of the stories, but says he was identified as the alleged rapist by friends and former colleagues.

Ms Wilkinson’s defense was presented in Federal Court by her lawyer Sue Chrysanthou SC on Wednesday, and she says it will be based on a defense of the truth.

That means his legal team must show that Lehrmann was more likely to have raped Higgins.

Ms Higgins has indicated that she would be willing to testify at the trial, if it takes place.

Ms Wilkinson’s defense will argue that it was her colleagues’ job to verify the allegations before publication. At no time does the court record say that she conducted her own checks on her, beyond looking at the consistency of Ms. Higgins’ accusations and her reactions.

In the legal document, Ms Wilkinson named more than eight of her Channel Ten colleagues as the people she believes verified the validity of Ms Higgins’ allegations.

They included The Project executive producer Craig Campbell, co-executive producer Chris Bendall, senior producer Angus Llewellyn, senior news and current affairs executive Peter Meakin and Laura Binnie, the show’s head of feature reporting.

Ms Wilkinson says that, to the best of her knowledge, the experienced team of news and current affairs professionals reached a consensus that Ms Higgins was a credible witness.

Furthermore, Ms Wilkinson noted that Samantha Maiden’s story on news.com.au was published 12 hours before her TV interview aired on 15 February 2021.

Brittany Higgins (pictured outside the ACT High Court in October) alleged that Bruce Lehrmann raped her. He denies the accusations

Thus, he believed that Ms. Maiden and News Corp had conducted their own fact-checking and legalization before the article was posted online, and were not aware of any complaints about the article online when The Project’s interview came out. in the air.

The TV presenter also says she ‘closely observed’ Ms Higgins’ behavior whenever she saw her and ‘carefully reviewed the recordings of the interviews before broadcast’, and generally believed the allegations.

Other sections of the archive describe Ms Wilkinson’s extensive journalism career, spanning from 1978 when she started as an editorial assistant at Dolly magazine to 2017 when she became a presenter on The Project.

He says he has interviewed more than ten prime ministers and world leaders and reported on disaster areas, along with his awards and accolades, including the 2022 Logie he won for his interview with Higgins.

Despite her long career in journalism, the document notes that Ms Wilkinson “is not familiar with the details of defamation law.”

A spokesperson for the network told Daily Mail Australia that Ms Wilkinson “remains an employee of Channel 10”.

Last month, Ms Wilkinson hired her own legal team rather than using lawyers provided to her by Channel Ten, meaning she would be personally liable for any damages awarded should she lose the case.

His defense claims that the recklessness charges against him are “unfounded, unjustified, unsupported by any facts and should be withdrawn.”

The TV presenter does not deny that the central defamatory accusation of rape was broadcast, but does not admit that Mr. Lehrmann was identified.

Mr Lehrmann was not named in the TV interview or in the online article, but claims that his friends, family and former colleagues at Parliament House were able to identify him as the alleged rapist.

The trial against Bruce Lehrmann (pictured) was derailed by juror misconduct

He argues that the coverage invited viewers and readers to “speculate” and seek comment online.

Another part of Mr. Lehrmann’s defamation suit is that Ms. Wilkinson may have sought to use the allegations for her personal and professional gain, which she denies.

Lehrmann was accused of raping Higgins in August 2021, six months after his allegations were published.

He was subsequently the subject of a month-long rape trial by jury in the ACT Supreme Court in October last year, but was aborted due to misconduct by a juror.

Shane Drumgold SC, the Director of Public Prosecutions, dropped the matter entirely due to concerns about Ms Higgins’ mental health.

Ms Wilkinson then resigned from The Project and hasn’t appeared on TV since November, but is still reportedly drawing a seven-figure salary thanks to her watertight contract.

When he resigned last year, he said it was due to “targeted toxicity” from sections of the media.