Regrettably, this was to be yet another hostile media assault upon Schapelle Corby and her family, this time based upon a source which had already been shown to be fictional and was ultimately proved to be defamatory. Further, the prime subject of those source fabrications was Schapelle Corby's deceased father, thus benefitting from a loophole in Australian law: dead men cannot sue.
As the disturbing nature of the intended telemovie had been established before it was filmed, Nine Network, and the producers, FremantleMedia, were approached by a variety of individuals. Various investors and associates were also approached, including Oaktree Capital Management, CVC Capital Partners (CVC Group), the RTL Group, Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA, and Apollo Global Management.
One such individual was media analyst, Dennis Corbett. Mr Corbett submitted a lengthy and formal explanation to each of these enterprises, to ensure that each was fully aware of the situation, and its gravity. Further, he collected digital read receipts to evidence this. He has provided each of them with an opportunity to exercise both an ethical, and a humanitarian, influence. We join him in hoping that at least one of them will do so.
A version of his email is re-reproduced below. The read receipts can be viewed on the following pages: Nine Entertainment Co (Nine Network), FremantleMedia Ltd, Oaktree Capital Management, CVC Capital Partners (CVC Group), the RTL Group, Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA, and Apollo Global Management.
THE CORE VERSION OF THE D.M. CORBETT EMAIL
Please read this email very carefully. It reveals the truth about some of the news reporting, and entertainment, produced or broadcast by your employer, Nine Network. It won't be a pleasant read, but it is the truth, something which Nine Network’s executives appear to have a problem in recognizing. Whilst I am sure that you will be as appalled as I am, I hope that you will understand the gravity of this situation, and forward this email to your colleagues. I am sorry to have to bring this to your attention, but there comes a point at which such a situation has to be confronted. Similar information is also being circulated on the internet, and to Nine Network’s investors and advertisers. THE NINE NETWORK & AGENDA The reporting, broadcasting, and publishing, stemming from Nine Network’s divisions, on the Schapelle Corby case, have frequently been characterized by a lack of substance and fact. Since 2005, they have, on a number of occasions, included disparaging content or fabrication, with some, particularly through the broadcast medium, being extremely hostile to Schapelle Corby and her family. I will refer to this in more detail shortly, but first, it is important to understand what they have NOT been reporting. Further, it is important to realize that this censorship is not accidental. It is absolutely intentional. Over the last year, Nine Network has been notified of the existence of material which can only be described as jaw dropping, yet it has not referred to it once, in any broadcast or publication. It is not alone in refusing to bring this to the public's attention, as other media corporations also have their own agenda, largely based upon previous false reporting. However, Nine Network now stands alone in taking this to a new level. THE NINE NETWORK CENSORSHIP For the last four years an international group of academics has been researching this case. They have obtained thousands of government documents, gained access to classified material, and spent many man years meticulously studying and cross referencing. They have become known as The Expendable Project. You won't have heard of them, because in Australia, the media do not refer to them. What they found, however, has been published over the last 12 months, and it is astonishing. I will provide just a couple of examples.
The Expendable Project obtained a sequence of correspondence between former Justice & Customs Minister Ellison, and Former AFP Commissioner Keelty. In this, they confirmed that Schapelle Corby's boogie-board bag was the ONLY one not scanned at Sydney airport. STOP! Think about that for a moment. Yes, that ONE bag was diverted around the scanning machine at Sydney by baggage handlers; handlers now known, through another case, to have been corrupt. Yet, here was Schapelle Corby, before a foreign court, pleading interference and tampering to her bag. But Keelty, Ellison, and a small number of others, including Prime Minister John Howard, withheld this vital primary evidence. They never told her, her lawyer, or the Bali court. Indeed, her lawyer, Paris Hotman, asked Ellison just four days later about scanning. Ellison blanked him, and fobbed him off elsewhere. The clear implication is that the government of Australia prioritized self interest politics, the commercial interests of Qantas and the airports, and the reputation of the AFP (whose officers were involved in syndication), above the life and welfare of a citizen. This is staggering, of course, but it has never been reported in the media. It is embargoed in Australia, presumably because of the huge political fallout it would cause, and the potential for damage to the media itself. See image 01.jpg, which is attached to this email, for a snapshot of the actual correspondence. To see the entire string, read The Transit Report on the Expendable Project website. Nine Network has known all about this since September 2011. It has never reported it, or referred to it. Not even once. EXAMPLE 2: WITHHOLDING VITAL EVIDENCE - WEIGHT Can it get any worse? It can get much worse. Schapelle Corby checked her bags in underweight. There was no excess charge, and no problem. However, subsequently, Qantas records showed that her bags were a handy 5kg OVERWEIGHT on their system. Handy for the addition of 4.2kg of marijuana, for example. That's correct, according to Qantas, 5kg must have been added to the weight of her bags after they were checked in. Again, this constitutes absolutely critical primary evidence for Schapelle Corby. And you can predict what happened next. Neither Qantas, the AFP, or the government, ever told Schapelle Corby, her lawyer, or the Bali court. This was only discovered, by The Expendable Project, in 2011. See attached image 02.jpg for a snapshot of the documentation. Again, you can see the detail in The Transit Report. Nine Network has known all about this since September 2011. It has never reported it, or referred to it. Not even once. These are just two of the many examples documented on The Expendable Project’s website. And it is still unfolding today. For example, just two weeks ago The Expendable Project published its most recent set of documents. These showed that the AFP had spent over a $1million preventing Mercedes Corby from accessing information on her sister, under Freedom Of Information legislation. That's over $1 million taxpayer dollars spent by the AFP to hide its own conduct with respect to Schapelle Corby. The Expendable Project published receipts paid to the AFP’s legal firm (see the attached image 03.jpg for an example), and a myriad of other information. Yet, despite notification, there was total silence from Nine Network on this huge investment of public money. At the same time, The Expendable Project also published a document from the CIA in the United States. This stated that information on Australia's approach to them in 2004, on the Schapelle Corby case, was a classified US State secret. But the Australian government had already spilled it via internal emails obtained by The Expendable Project (see the attached image 04.jpg for an example). In itself, the information being hidden is staggering, but in addition, the breach of US security information by Australia is another significant story. Yet, again, despite notification, there was total silence from Nine Network on any of this. It just goes on and on. Do you want more? How much would you like? There are hundreds of examples. Read the reports on the following website: www.expendable.tv See how, having initially taken this path, the government was forced to cover it up. Watch the documentary film on the front page. I am sure that you will be absolutely appalled at some of the activities which have been undertaken against Schapelle Corby, in your name. All unreported. THE CONCLUSIVE FACTS & THEIR POLITICAL SIGNIFICANCE These are all facts, not theory or allegation. They are proven. You can see them with your own eyes. You can read the government's own words. You can see the position of the politicians, what they were deciding, and what they were doing. It is in black and white: cast iron. No narrative is needed. Just your own eyes. But, by Nine Network, they remain hidden. They have never been reported or referred to at all. They do not exist. Let's be clear on this before moving on. The significance of the information extends well beyond Schapelle Corby. This is indisputable proof that an Australian government withheld vital primary evidence from a court of law. It is proof that ministers misled Parliament and the public. It is a serious political scandal. But it is being censored, from YOU, and from the public. REPLACING FACTS WITH (PROFITABLE) FICTION Of course, in human suffering and misery, some people only see opportunity for themselves. They see revenue potential. Some have, therefore, derived considerable sums of money from spinning utter fabrication. But how has this happened? The short answer is that Schapelle Corby's father died. In Australia dead men cannot sue, so anyone can say anything at all about the deceased, without fear of litigation. They can tar and feather others by association. This can subsequently be presented by the media as credible, becoming a vehicle to change opinion, and to effectively overwhelm the truth with smears. Eamonn Duff of Fairfax Media has been prominent in this type of journalism. He has been reporting false allegations against a dead man for SMH and other Fairfax titles for years, with impunity. He even collected them together and called them a book. As objectionable as this is, to the gutter media, it was gold dust. A free shot at the Corby family, and a plethora of stories selling under Schapelle Corby's name, was there for the taking. He was therefore provided with a national media platform to promote this appalling fiction across almost all mainstream channels. But, let's have a look at it in more detail. Let's actually see what those he has represented in his book have to say about it for themselves. Read their own comments, and listen to the interviews with them. No hearsay, or third hand rumour, listen and see for yourself, straight from the horse's mouth: http://www.expendable.tv/2012/02/eamonn-duff-allen-unwin-and-fairfax.html If that doesn't sicken you, it is difficult to know what will. A handful of petty criminals spinning proven lies for money, a growing list of those referenced within telling you exactly what it is, and even the police pulling the rug from under the story, calling it "laughable". But hey, why allow fact and truth to get in the way of revenue? Why allow the terrible damage to Schapelle Corby, and her desperate family, to get in the way of profit? It should also be remembered that these sorts of stories began when she was still in legal process in Indonesia, and that they were indeed, re-produced there, as she fought desperately for her life. Perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised, bearing in mind that the Australian media, notably a Nine Network TV crew, burst into her cell when she was so paranoid and traumatized that she had taken the eyes out of her teddy bear, because she thought they were cameras. You can imagine the impact of this upon her, which no doubt contributed to the attempt on her own life last year. Apparently, this is fair game reporting. THE NATURE OF NINE NETWORK The long history of Australian smear broadcasting is about to sink to another new level. Nine Network is about to show a dramatized version of Duff's proven fiction. It has already been debunked for what it is, as Nine Network is well aware. It is also well aware of Schapelle Corby's perilous mental state, as she desperately hopes on hope that she may get parole sometime. But, again at a vital time, Nine Network is about to inject the public, and Indonesia, with another pack of hostile smears and fabrications. It is about to further besmirch a dead man, and by association, Schapelle Corby and her family. Even, apparently, as defamation claims against the publishers of the squalid fiction are initiated. This is what passes for entertainment at Nine Network. PLEASE LOOK DIRECTLY FOR YOURSELF Finally, I cannot stress enough: don't take my word for any of this. Look for yourself. Look at the documentation that The Expendable Project has uncovered. Look at the correspondence. Look at the government cables. Stop being told by others, and start looking directly at what the media, and Nine Network in particular, will not show you. If you do, and you put the misinformation and innuendo which has been laid upon you for years to one side, you will feel as sickened and angry as I do. But you will be wiser for it. You will never look at your employer in the same way again. Indeed, you may never look at those who govern us in the same way again. Please pass this email on to others. Thank you for your time. D.M. Corbett |
Other than the digital read receipts referenced above, no response was forthcoming from any of these organizations.
.