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No charges against Seven on AFL records

No charges will be laid against Seven Melbourne sports reporter Dylan Howard after an investigation over the stolen medical records of AFL players.

Seven Melbourne sports reporter Dylan Howard has been cleared by a police investigation over the stolen medical records of two AFL players in 2007.

Seven’s News Chief Steve Carey and Howard were interviewed by detectives following the broadcast but have been told charges will not be laid.

Seven’s story including unnamed players’ drug use, which led to a player and viewer backlash and a media snub by the players association. Seven’s Melbourne newsroom was also raided by Victoria Police. Carey later acknowledged the incident had hurt the news during a fierce network war in 2007.

Two people approached Seven with the files after finding a manila folder containing the records on an Ivanhoe street in August 2007. They approached the network to buy them for $300 with a promise of $2700 more from Howard.

They were convicted and sentenced to a 12-month good behaviour bond and fined $300.

Source: The Age

9 Responses

  1. I hear that Dylan Howard was given his marching orders from Channel 7 this morning. It seems his blind ambition and unethical behaviour has cost him his TV career.

  2. tim watson asked if the afl gave him the aok to report story and the afl didnt even get a call from him and howard said they gave him the aok to report the story. than the next day on radio he said he never said that and it was on national tv. i am tipping he wouldnt want medical record splurged all overr the news

  3. I remember when this “story” broke – Channel 7’s news ratings crashed in Melbourne, eventually leading 7 to apologise for the story.

    But is an apology enough? Charges against Howard would have been a good way of deterring such gutter journalism.

  4. Again, the call of ‘freedom of the press’ by the tabloid press grinds every persons privacy into the dust, and again, the courts let them get away with it with a slap on the wrist, or no penalty at all.

  5. Whilst it might have sounded like a groundbreaking idea when thought of, Seven’s news directors should have had far more hinesight to predict what would occur – publically naming and shaming will never work with the AFL

    I would say the incident has, to some degree, forever damaged the relationship between the AFL & Seven,

  6. Those idiots did not find a file containing AFL Player’s medical records in a gutter. That is complete bull. They almost destroyed careers, .. did they have any idea what they were doing? I dont think so… Charge them loads of money and jail time 🙂

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