Nine rushes 60 Minutes story to air after court win

Nine rushed to air its 60 Minutes story on a prominent cosmetic surgeon last night just hours after Dr Joseph Ajaka lost his second legal attempt to have the program hand over draft copies.

The New South Wales supreme court dismissed a second application from Ajaka for Nine Entertainment to hand over copies of its investigation by the award-winning journalist Adele Ferguson.

The executive editor of the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age, Tory Maguire, said yesterday, “We’re very pleased with this afternoon’s judgement in the supreme court dismissing this unorthodox and concerning attempt to curb press freedom.

“Adele’s story is important public interest journalism and Australians deserve to know the findings of her investigation.”

In a brief hearing on Thursday, justice Stephen Rothman handed down his decision and ordered Ajaka pay Nine’s costs. The court has not yet published the reasons.

It followed Wednesday’s judgement by the NSW court of appeal that the supreme court did not have power to make its initial document discovery order on 13 May which said 60 Minutes should hand over a draft copy of the story.

Nine made the extraordinary decision to rush the story to air just 3 hrs after the court ruling.

Source: Guardian