A television news reporter has delivered a strident defence of his use of anonymous sources in investigating South Island food production company Talley’s.
Thomas Mead, TVNZ’s Christchurch reporter, told the High Court at Auckland he believed his work covering Talley’s was fair and in the public interest and his extension of source confidentiality was justified.
“I have been very careful to protect my sources throughout this litigation. I made them a promise, and I have kept it. In 13 years in this job, I have never seen anything like the fear that I saw while reporting on Talley’s,” he said.
“Fundamentally, I believe that Talley’s workers should have an opportunity to have their voices heard, because they were the ones facing the safety risks.”
Talley’s, a major South Island employer and food processor, has filed proceedings alleging the company was defamed by six stories reported by Mead in 2021-22 that led the 6pm news bulletin and were critical of the company’s health and safety practices.
Mead has been flagged by Talley’s and TVNZ as the critical witness in the four-week trial and is expected to face searching cross-examination in the coming days from Talley’s.
The public gallery was packed for the first day of this trial, with overflow seating required.
Talley’s was represented in court by the company’s chief executive Tony Hazlett and director Andrew Talley.
A large contingent from TVNZ, headed by chief executive Jodi O’Donnell, was also in court to support Mead as he began giving evidence today.
In his address opening TVNZ’s defence, Davey Salmon, KC, said Mead would considerably bolster the broadcaster’s claims that the complained-about articles were the practice of responsible journalism.
“This is a detailed investigation before reporting. It is one where he gave Talley’s the opportunity to respond and quoted their responses. It is one where, as we will see, multiple points the Talley’s were concerned about in the letters he wrote to them, he chose not to publish certain photos,” Salmon said.
“An active journalist at mind, making editorial judgments, doing them responsibly.”
Mead, dressed in a dark blue suit and with a voice trained for broadcast, began taking the court through his investigation into Talley’s.
He said the initial tip had come in May 2021 from a journalism student, who said a contractor working at Talley’s Ashburton plant had concerns about health and safety standards there.
He made contact with the contractor, Luca Milani, who was shrouded in anonymity at the time of the reporting but who has since elected to waive that to give evidence in TVNZ’s defence.
Mead said Milani, who provided him with a series of photos showing allegedly dangerous and dirty machinery at the factory, also sent an email concerning a serious injury that occurred at the site earlier that year.
“I noticed that the email emphasised that workers should not share any details about the injury outside the business on the basis it was extremely important that rumours about the accident were not allowed to take hold,” Mead said.
By July 1, Mead was preparing to publish his first story on health and safety concerns at Talley’s Ashburton factory. Hazlett, the company’s chief executive, had flown from Nelson to lead a Talley’s delegation meeting Mead.
“Hazlett did most of the talking. He started by trying to convince us to drop the story. He said our information was wrong and that the photos that Milani had provided to us were taken out of context,” Mead said.
“I told the Talley’s representatives in the room that I thought it was in the public interest and that they were welcome to make comments in response, should they want to. After a while, Hazlett threatened legal action. He said that he didn’t want the photos out there, and that Talley’s owned copyright on them.”
Mead began working through his dozens of sources for reporting, including at least 14 of whom he continues to extend source confidentiality protections to.
In pre-trial skirmishes, Talley’s unsuccessfully tried to force Mead to reveal the names of all his sources.
His reasoning for granting anonymity – and steps taken to interrogate motives and ensure their concerns were legitimate – were also canvassed.
“This is something I think about, and respect of every source but especially anonymous sources because it is important to consider whether their reasons for wanting to be anonymous are genuine.
“However, there were several things that made me believe that they both were genuine, and that their stories were credible,” Mead said of one pair of sources.
He said one in particular had serious concerns.
“Source E particularly appeared terrified during the interview. Out of all sources I interviewed during my investigations into Talley’s in 2021 and 2022, source E appeared the most nervous during the interview, and afterwards they also told me that they did not even want close family members to know that they were speaking to me,” he said.
Mead outlined his investigation into Talley’s Injury Management Unit (IMU), a division set up under the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) to effectively subcontract the management of, and pay compensation for, workplace injuries.
Mead outlined the concerns of another anonymous source, who believed the operation of the IMU saved Talley’s $4m each year compared to operating within ACC.
“Source K also raised concerns about the general culture of Talley’s and the way that the company dealt with workplace injury claims, suggesting that some in the business side of Talley’s management had influence over the outcome of claims,” Mead said.
Given what he believed to be genuine fears held by his sources, Mead defended his granting of them anonymity.
“Fundamentally, I believe that Talley’s workers should have an opportunity to have their voices heard, because they were the ones facing the safety risks and dealing with the injury management daily,” he said.
“As a journalist, I considered that it was my role to hear both sides of the story. I also believe that we had given Talley’s a reasonable opportunity to respond.”
Salmon said former Herald editor Dr Gavin Ellis would be giving expert evidence on TVNZ’s practice of responsible journalism.
The court heard Talley’s had earlier indicated former TVNZ Close Up host Mark Sainsbury would be called to respond to Ellis, but he had been withdrawn as a witness.
“The plaintiffs have not called a witness to speak to apparent editorial irresponsibility,” Salmon said.
Salmon’s written opening submissions flagged 21 witnesses would be called over the remainder of the trial.
These include a number of former Talley’s employees – some of whom were key sources for Mead but who have since waived anonymity like Milani – and unionist Michael Wood, who was Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety at the time of some of Mead’s reporting.
The submissions said a considerable focus of TVNZ’s defence concerned Talley’s poor reputation for health and safety and employment relations that existed before Mead’s reporting.
“Part of the defendants’ case in respect of the harm threshold is that the plaintiffs already had a reputation for being dangerous places to work, and for being hostile to both government and union intervention to increase safety measures and expand the rights of their workforces,” Salmon wrote.
The trial is set to continue for at least two more weeks before Justice Pheroze Jagose.
Matt Nippert is an Auckland-based investigations reporter covering white-collar and transnational crimes and the intersection of politics and business. He has won more than a dozen awards for his journalism – including twice being named Reporter of the Year – and joined the Herald in 2014 after having spent the decade prior reporting from business newspapers and national magazines.