"Very poor journalism": Lisa Wilkinson called out in defamation case
Lisa Wilkinson has been forced to defend the journalistic decisions of The Project, as she took to the stand as part of Bruce Lehrmann's defamation case against Wilkinson and Channel Ten.
During court proceedings on Friday, Wilkinson admitted that during her bombshell report on Brittany Higgins' rape allegations, the program left out key information.
The Project allegedly edited out important details about what happened in Parliament House the morning after Brittany Higgins was allegedly raped.
In an uncut version of the episode which aired in February 2021, Wilkinson asked Ms Higgins if any security guards had asked if she was "okay" after the alleged incident.
Ms Higgins replied, "No, no. I mean, besides one who called into the office in the morning, and said ‘Is everyone okay?’ and that was it."
In the final cut, the words "...besides the one who called into the office in the morning" were not included.
Bruce Lehrmann's barrister Matthew Richardson SC quizzed Wilkinson about the edit, saying, "That's very poor journalism, isn't it?"
Wilkinson replied, "I'm disappointed to see that. It is a detail which escaped my attention."
Elsewhere during the court proceedings, Wilkinson bit back at Lehrmann's lawyer for challenging her journalistic abilities.
On Thursday, Wilkinson was asked why she didn't ask to see the metadata on a photo of a bruise on Brittany Higgins' thigh, which she claimed was from the alleged rape.
Wilkinson told the Federal Court that she was not "tech-savvy" and did not know what metadata was, saying, "I didn't know photos had metadata."
Lehrmann's lawyer Mr Richardson was quick to ask in response: "You describe yourself as a serious investigative journalist?"
She bit back, stating she only refers to herself as a "journalist".
Mr Richardson said, "You were emphatic yesterday when you said you were not a tabloid journalist.'
She repeated: "I describe myself as a journalist, Mr Richardson."
He said given she had been a journalist for 40 years, "it was most improbable that you did not know what metadata was."
She replied, "I disagree."
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