Mark Willacy

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Mark Willacy is an Australian investigative journalist for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). He, along with ABC Investigations-Four Corners team, won the 2020 Gold Walkley for their special report Killing Field, which covered alleged Australian war crimes.[1] He has been awarded six other minor Walkley awards and two Queensland Clarion Awards for Queensland Journalist of the Year.[2] Willacy is currently based in Brisbane, and was previously a correspondent in the Middle East and North Asia.[3] He is the author of three books. In 2023, Willacy was found to have defamed Heston Russell, a former special forces commander, after making unproven allegations of war crimes.

Career[edit]

Willacy was a Middle East region correspondent based in Jerusalem from 2002 to 2006. He covered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and spent 93 days in and around Iraq reporting on the 2003 Iraq war with cameraman Louie Eroglu.[4]

From 2008 to 2013 he was a North Asia region correspondent based in Tokyo, where he covered the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. He also reported from the Korean peninsula and had an exclusive interview in 2013 with former North Korean agent Kim Hyon-hui who is known for the bombing of Korean Air Flight 858.[5]

Awards[edit]

Willacy has won an Australian Walkley Award seven times for his journalism.[6] This includes awards for coverage of the Iraq War in 2003, the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011, Australian environmental contamination in 2015 (with producer Mark Solomons), a Four Corners report into the Tham Luang cave rescue, and for an investigation with producer Alexandra Blucher into local government corruption.[7]

In 2010, he was awarded local Queensland Clarion Awards' Journalist of the Year for his investigation into the Mindanao massacre in the Philippines,[8] and again in 2019, for his Four Corners investigation into children being locked up in adult watch houses.[2]

Willacy was awarded a Eureka Prize in 2011 for Environmental Journalism in reporting of alleged systemic corruption inside Japan's scientific whaling program.[9]

In 2019, Willacy was part of the Four Corners team that won the Logie Award for Most Outstanding News Coverage or Public Affairs Report for their Thai cave rescue story.[10] In 2020, Willacy and the ABC Investigations-Four Corners Team were awarded the Gold Walkley and the Investigative Journalism Walkley for reporting alleged war crimes in Afghanistan by Australian Special forces and broadcasting helmet camera footage showing the apparent unlawful killing of an unarmed Afghan man.[1] He also won Scoop of the Year at the 2020 NSW Kennedy Awards for the same story.[11]

In 2021, Mark Willacy and Rory Callinan, on behalf of ABC News Online, were awarded a Queensland Clarion Award for Investigative Journalism.[2]

Writing[edit]

In 2007, Willacy wrote his first published book about his experiences covering the conflict in the Middle East, entitled The View From the Valley of Hell, published by Pan Macmillan.[12]

Willacy's second book, Fukushima: Japan's Tsunami and the Inside Story of the Nuclear Meltdowns, on the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami disaster, was published in 2013.[13] Fukushima was long-listed for the 2013 Walkley Book Award.[14]

Willacy's third book, Rogue Forces, was published by Simon and Schuster in August 2021.[15][16] The book describes alleged Australian Special Forces war crimes in Afghanistan, self-described as an insider account of alleged unlawful killings and cover-ups by SAS patrols. It was published shortly after the official Brereton Report in 2020 which investigated these and other allegations made against Australian forces in Afghanistan.[17][18] Rogue Forces won the 2022 Prime Minister's Literary Award for non-fiction.[19]

Complaints and defamation over alleged war crimes[edit]

In October 2020, Willacy co-authored an ABC Investigations article that alleged in 2012 commandos from 2nd Commando Regiment had killed an Afghan prisoner after a US Marine helicopter crew member told them that there was no room for him on board the helicopter.[20][21][22]

Following a complaint, an ABC internal review found that readers could have misinterpreted that November platoon was alleged to have killed the prisoner.[20][23][24] The commander of November platoon at the time Heston Russell has said the unlawful killing never happened.[25][26][27] The ABC added a clarification to the article as a particular platoon had not been identified by their source.[20][23] Heston sued for defamation. Willacy denied claims in court that he had been "irresponsible" or had reported on allegations of war crimes he had "failed to corroborate".[28]

On 16 October 2023, Russell was award $390,000 in damages for defamation as Justice Michael Lee found in his favour. The judge said the 2021 article "overstated the cogency of the evidence in the ABC's possession" and was published following several "missteps", including the failure to seek a response from the veteran.[29] Justice Lee also noted a motivation for the creation and then urgent publication of the story was an eagerness for Willacy to prove wrong those who, in his terms, had ‘come after [him]’ and his reporting, and to vindicate Willacy’s reporting and ABC Investigations.[30] The defamatory articles were removed from ABC publication.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "ABC's "Killing Field" wins the 2020 Gold Walkley Award". The Walkley Foundation. 20 November 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "Queensland Clarion Awards". MEAA. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  3. ^ "Mark Willacy". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 20 January 2009. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  4. ^ Willacy, Mark (30 June 2006). "Mark Willacy looks back on his time in Jerusalem". AM. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  5. ^ Willacy, Mark (10 April 2013). "North Korean Super Spy". The 7.30 Report. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  6. ^ "Walkley Winners Archive". The Walkley Foundation. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  7. ^ WalkleyMag (22 November 2018). "Hit podcast The Teacher's Pet wins the 2018 Gold Walkley Award". The Walkley Foundation. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  8. ^ Willacy, Mark (6 April 2010). "Philippines - Pet Monsters". Foreign Correspondent. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  9. ^ Willacy, Mark (10 June 2010). "Japanese Whaling accused of corruption". Foreign Correspondent. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  10. ^ Idato, Michael (30 June 2019). "ABC, Ten win big, Tom Gleeson takes gold at Logie Awards". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  11. ^ "The NRMA Kennedy Awards – Excellence in Journalism". Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  12. ^ Bruce Elder; reviewer (20 August 2007). "The View from the Valley of Hell". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  13. ^ Fensom, Anthony (27 July 2013). "Incredible stories that should not be forgotten". The Japan Times. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  14. ^ "Walkley Book Award". The Walkley Foundation. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  15. ^ "Rogue Forces". Simon and Schuster. 18 August 2021. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  16. ^ Kelly, Fran (19 August 2021). "New book reveals details of alleged war crimes by Australian forces in Afghanistan". Radio National. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  17. ^ Doran, Matthew (19 November 2020). "SAS soldiers made to shoot prisoners to get their first kill, 39 Afghans 'murdered', inquiry finds". www.abc.net.au. ABC News. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  18. ^ Inspector General of the Australian Defence Force (2020). "Afghanistan Inquiry Report" (PDF). Commonwealth of Australia. ISSN 2207-6069. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  19. ^ Burke, Kelly (13 December 2022). "Prime Minister's Literary awards 2022: Nicolas Rothwell and Mark Willacy win major prizes". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  20. ^ a b c Mark Willacy; Alexandra Blucher; Dan Oakes (21 October 2020). "Australian soldiers killed prisoner because he could not fit on aircraft, American marine says". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  21. ^ "ABC statement on Mark Willacy's reporting on war crimes allegations". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. March 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  22. ^ Paul Barry (6 December 2021). "November platoon". Media Watch. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  23. ^ a b Audience and Consumer Affairs (29 March 2022). "Audience and Consumer Affairs Report on ABC Investigations story about Australian Special Forces in Afghanistan". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  24. ^ Fordham, Ben (29 March 2022). "ABC apologises over sloppy war crimes reporting". 2GB. Nine Entertainment. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  25. ^ Peter van Olsen (1 November 2020). "Australian Army Commando Hits Back At Allegations Of Misconduct In Afghanistan". YouTube. The Project. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  26. ^ Fordham, Ben (6 December 2021). "Media Watch humiliates ABC journalist over unproven war crimes claim". 2GB. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  27. ^ "Letter to the ABC". Veteran Support Force. 25 October 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  28. ^ ABC case opens as it fights defamation claim by former Special Forces commando, news.com.au. Accessed 1 August 2023.
  29. ^ McKinnell, Jamie (16 October 2023). "Former commando Heston Russell awarded $390,000 in damages in ABC defamation case". ABC News Australia. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  30. ^ Neilson, Naomi (17 October 2023). "What went wrong with ABC's public interest defence?". www.lawyersweekly.com.au. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
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