Dial M for mayor

The plot would make even the scriptwriters for Frontline blush. But it wasn’t Mike Moore the police were after last week, but the very real personalities of A Current Affair reporter Ben Fordham and producer Andy Byrne, along with former Liberal Waverley mayor James Robert Markham.

The ACA journalist and producer, along with their employer Channel 9, were charged last Thursday with publishing a private conversation under section six of the Listening Devices Act, and concealing a serious offence. If convicted, they face up to two years in jail, while the network faces fines of up to $55,000.

Fordham and Byrne are due to appear in North Sydney Local Court on May 26 to answer the allegations. Meanwhile, Markham, 71, was granted conditional bail and is expected to appear in Waverley Local Court on March 17 to answer allegations of one charge of solicit to murder and two charges of recruiting persons to engage in criminal activity.

The charges relate to two stories aired on May 28 and 29 last year, in which Fordham and Byrne filmed Markham allegedly outlining a plan to kidnap, torture and murder male escort Paul Dunshea, known as ‘Alex’.

As reported in the View last year, it is alleged that Byrne was approached by Markham’s nephew, Sean Tolme, who said he had been asked to arrange the hit but did not want to be a “patsy” and did not want to report the incident to police. He offered to take the A Current Affair reporter along as his ‘assistant’ to prove the truth of his claim.

ACA screened a report on May 28 which purported to show the three men sitting in a car discussing the hit, for which the nephew alleged he had already been paid $12,000. It also screened footage showing Fordham informing the escort of the alleged $12,000 bounty on his head. A follow-up report was screened the following evening, which made further serious allegations.

According to last Thursday’s The Daily Telegraph, it is understood Fordham notified media adviser to NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione, Tony Ritchie, of the story as it went to air.

Chris Warren, from the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, said the laying of charges represented a change from former police policy, which he described as “a realistic application of the laws up until now”.

“This case is clearly a matter of public interest. Journalists need to make a judgment as to what is appropriate under the circumstances,” he said. “Police should have better things to do with their time than prosecute journalists for doing their job.”

A media adviser to Commissioner Scipione said police were acting on the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to press charges.

But a spokeswoman at the DPP said the decision to press charges was in the hands of police. “We provide advice to police on the sufficiency of evidence to charge people – we don’t pressure for prosecutions per se,” she said.