I should start this page by just putting the record straight. If you have been an unwitting participant on Today Tonight be aware that they do not care about the damage done to you, your family, your business, your relationship with friends, the smeer left on your name or any other damage caused by a report aimed at doing just that... maximum damage. They justify their actions by claiming to be there to "help Australians" by outing the conmen. So if you are reading this because you believe that you have been unfairly "outed" and are not a "conman" then you should read on.
You are not alone - there are many other innocent victims like you who did not know where to turn.
Today Tonight is pocket book and sensational journalism - yes they regularly pay people to get up there and talk to them to secure a "scoop". The more sensational the story they carry and promote the more their advertisers will pay in the future because of better ratings. The foundation of each evening's ratings for Channel 7 is the six o'clock news and Today Tonight. So if you were ambushed and unfairly targeted by Today Tonight they obviously found the ingredients that they published on you as being good for their ratings - and they could not give a continental about what damage they have done to you.
You can write letters to Today Tonight, you can phone them, send them emails but you might as well go and hit your head against the nearest brick wall because they DO NOT WANT TO KNOW and will treat you with contempt - after all they ARE the media. You are simply the victim of a rating statistic... and if your story pulled in viewers that night well that's good for Channel 7's bottom line, their shareholders and the future careers of the reporters and producers who work for Today Tonight.
Today Tonight already have a very bad track record with the ABA, the body empowered to investigate allegations of breaches of the code of conduct by all television programmes aired in Australia. To understand just how bad consider that about one in every three breach findings by the ABA in the last couple of years has been made against Today Tonight. I believe, if more people who had been unfairly targeted by their form of gutter journalism complained to the ABA then Today Tonight would be forced to lift its game and in the future the lives of many innocent people would not be devastated by their actions. So this page is a simple guide to help you turn your own bad experience with Today Tonight around and make them start answering questions and to stop other innocent people from becoming their victims.
Follow the numbered points below and you will be able to submit a formal complaint to the ABA about the report that Today Tonight did on you. It might take you a couple of hours but, believe me, it is going to take the reporter, producer and their team a lot more time and expense because their legal department will have to ensure that they use every legal loophole in the book to try and weasel out of yet another black mark which will be recorded against Today Tonight on the ABA breach pages if the ABA agree with you.
This is what I suggest you do:
If you get a breach ruling from the ABA against Today Tonight you have a powerful document. Whether you include it in a defamation action (which should be taken out against Channel 7 as well as the reporter and producer personally), you can post it on your wall in your office or mail it to your clients who have lost faith in you - you have official notification that Today Tonight DID NOT run the programme within the ABA's code of ethics.
And the best part is that Today Tonight will feature prominently on the breaches of the ABA code as more an more findings are made against them. The end result is that these breaches will put Channel 7's television license in jeopardy if they continue to flaunt the code of conduct - they would never let that happen.
Go to it - every dog has his day!