Long-time producer Stephen Rice has been sacked following an internal review by the Nine Network over the botched 60 Minutes abduction of Sally Faulkner’s two children in Lebanon last month.
Ex-60 Minutes boss Gerald Stone, former A Current Affair chief David Hurley and Rachel Launders undertook the investigation, and passed their report onto the Nine Entertainment board on Monday.
‘Regrettably this has been the gravest misadventure in the program’s history,’ said Mr Stone in a statement on Friday.
Nine announced that Stephen Rice, the producer of the Sally Faulkner story and veteran of 32 years with the network, would leave ‘the company effective immediately’.
‘Other staff involved in the planning and execution of this story have received formal warnings.’
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Tara Brown was arrested alongside senior producer Stephen Rice, cameraman Ben Williamson and sound recordist David Ballment. The 60 Minutes crew is pictured with Nine news boss Darren Wick (second right) after their release from jail last month. Mr Rice (second from left) has been sacked after 32 years with Nine
High-profile 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown is bundled into a police car in Beirut on April 18
Stephen Rice (right) pictured with Tara Brown on their return to Australia on April 21 after being released from jail in Beirut after facing kidnapping charges over the botched child ‘recovery’ operation. Mr Rice has been sacked, according to a statement by the Nine Network
‘The manner in which we produced Sally Faulkner’s story exposed our crew to serious risks, and exposed 60 Minutes and Nine to significant reputational damage,’ said Nine CEO Hugh Marks.
‘We got too close to the story and suffered damaging consequences.’
The actual review panel did not recommend to the board that any staff member should be singled out for dismissal among 13 recommendations.
‘It’s clear from our findings that inexcusable errors were made,’ added Mr Stone.
Among the recommended actions was ‘that management censure, in the strongest terms, those most directly involved in the events’.
‘The staff of 60 Minutes has been thoroughly traumatised by the circumstances which confronted four of the team in Beirut, and by the steady barrage of hostile comment,’ the report stated.
The recommendations were considered by board members, including non-executive chairman Peter Costello, Nine CEO Hugh Marks and former CEO David Gyngell.
Rice, 58, was a writer on the Sydney Morning Herald before joining Channel Nine’s Willesee program in 1984 and later became executive producer of A Current Affair.
In 1994 he became executive producer of Sunday and 12 years ago joined 60 Minutes. He is a twice Walkley Award winner for journalism.
The 60 minutes crisis is believed to have cost the network over $1 million and saw the crew, including Rice and veteran reporter Tara Brown, detained in a Beirut prison for two weeks.
Nine insiders have revealed that the budget for 60 Minutes has been cut after the report on Sally Faulkner’s broken family incurred huge costs, including compensation to Faulkner’s estranged husband Ali Elamin.
Former 60 Minutes executive producer and now head of Nine sport, Tom Malone (left), who commissioned the story. New EP Kirsty Thomson (right) was chief of staff when the Lebanon story was approved
Nine Network’s review of the failed ‘recovery’ of Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner’s (pictured) two children has been completed and made public on Friday
The budget for 60 Minutes has reportedly been cut after the report on Sally Faulkner’s broken family incurred huge costs, including compensation to Faulkner’s estranged husband Ali Elamin (pictured centre) with children Lahela (right) and Noah (left)
60 Minutes staff admitted to ‘some soul searching’ since the botched story and conceded mistakes had been made in the abduction of Sally Faulkner’s children.
The botched child recovery operation in Lebanon left four 60 Minutes employees facing kidnapping charges.
Tara Brown was arrested alongside senior producer Stephen Rice, cameraman Ben Williamson and sound recordist David Ballment.
The in-house review was made public on Friday.
Former executive producer Tom Malone, who is now head of sport, commissioned the story and Kirsty Thomson, who was chief of staff when it was approved, is now EP of the program.
The ratings are also causing concern, with a loss of 19 per cent of the audience compared to figures at this time last year. The show dropped more than 200,000 viewers in 2015, down from 2014’s 1,207,000 and averages about 790,000 viewers a show.
This comes as 60 Minutes producers admit they are struggling with a lack of stories as the team behind the botched child retrieval have remained on leave since their return from Beirut.
Veteran reporter Tara Brown pictured with producer Stephen Rice on arrival in Sydney on April 21 – she has returned to work at Channel Nine’s Willoughby studios while Mr Rice has been sacked from the Nine Network after 32 years
The board has responded to an internal review over the 60 minutes crisis in Lebanon last month which cost the network over $1 million and saw the news crew detained in a Beirut prison for two weeks