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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n The ABC has warned of a risk to investigative journalism after three professional sportsmen got a court order barring the broadcaster from publishing a story revealing their group chat messages sharing \u201ccrude descriptions of sexual acts and domestic violence\u201d.<\/p>\n The three athletes, who are described as \u201chighly credentialled in their sport\u201d but cannot be identified, sued the ABC in the NSW Supreme Court after one of their ex-partners leaked a series of messages to a journalist at the broadcaster.<\/p>\n Last week, the men successfully obtained temporary orders barring the ABC from publishing the messages and prohibiting any mention of their identities, occupation or employer on the basis that the messages had been obtained via a breach of confidence.<\/p>\n The messages in question \u201cprincipally contain shared jokes, insults of named other people known to AB, CD and EF [the plaintiffs] in their sport and crude descriptions of sexual acts and domestic violence\u201d.<\/p>\n In a statement, an ABC spokesperson noted that Justice Anthony McGrath\u2019s decision was only in effect until a final hearing on the case could happen, but said the broadcaster was unable to comment further as the matter was subject to a suppression order.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ABC stands by the conduct of its journalists acting in the public interest. The ABC is also concerned about the broader ramifications this decision may have on investigative journalism and the public\u2019s right to know.\u201d<\/p>\n But the case could also test the national broadcaster\u2019s editorial practices, with the judge ruling there was a serious question to be tried about whether the circumstances in which the messages were obtained by the ABC were \u201cimproper\u201d or \u201creprehensible\u201d.<\/p>\n Two of the men in the group chat are married with children, and one of the married men also \u201cholds many high-profile ambassador roles, commercial sponsorship arrangements and media roles\u201d.<\/p>\n The court heard that revealing his messages \u201cwill be devastating to the important work that he performs as an advocate within and outside his sport\u201d.<\/p>\n All three men said the messages are \u201clikely to lead to serious harm to their reputations and standing as well as their financial interests\u201d.<\/p>\n Related Article The athletes also admitted that they are potentially in breach of their contracts with their sporting clubs and could face disciplinary punishment from their sport\u2019s governing body for bringing it into disrepute.<\/p>\n The ABC obtained the messages after the ex-partner of one of the athletes, known under the initials \u201cGH\u201d, had taken a photograph of the group chat while the couple were still together. Following an \u201cacrimonious\u201d end to their relationship, GH saw the photograph in her camera roll and felt she had a \u201cstrong moral obligation\u201d to speak up about the messages in the group chat.<\/p>\n The court heard that GH and two other people referred to in the group chat showed the messages to Marnie Vinall, a sports reporter at the ABC, who previously worked at this masthead. GH later said she found her partner\u2019s old mobile phone in a moving box after their relationship had ended, which she used to show Vinall messages in the group chat. She claimed that her partner, referred to as AB, had previously given her his phone password. AB denied doing this, and told the court that he was \u201chorrified\u201d to find that his former partner had possession of the old phone.<\/p>\n GH also showed the messages to the ABC\u2019s managing editor of national news, Sam Clark, who took photographs of them. She then took the messages to an executive at her former partner\u2019s club, threatening to release the information unless they stopped him from playing. The club later told GH they considered the matter formally closed.<\/p>\n Last month, Vinall contacted the athletes, as well as executives at their clubs and the sport\u2019s governing body, with questions about the group messages. The players responded by bringing an action against the ABC and Vinall for breach of confidence, which is a legal claim that prevents the publication of some information that people trust will be kept confidential.<\/p>\n Last week, their request for an interim order barring publication of the messages was granted by NSW Supreme Court Justice Anthony McGrath.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no urgent news need in the public interest for the ABC to publish any story about the text messages,\u201d the judge wrote.<\/p>\n His honour rejected the ABC\u2019s argument that the messages should not be protected because they amounted to \u201ctrivial tittle-tattle\u201d and said there was a serious legal issue to consider.<\/p>\n \u201cThe evidence suggests that the text messages in the group chat are the private thoughts of the plaintiffs (in some instances expressed in vulgar and offensive terms), shared with each other and not beyond, and were never intended by the plaintiffs to be made public,\u201d McGrath ruled.<\/p>\n Related Article The injunction is set to continue until a final hearing, which may not take place for several months.<\/p>\n Vinall referred a request for comment to the ABC. Lawyers for the athletes declined to comment.<\/p>\n The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6971d6e591c22ff588d7c4aa91cc178637fd2627.jpeg\")
The ABC says it is concerned about the NSW Supreme Court decision\u2019s impact on investigative journalism.The Age<\/p>\n![\"Justin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c8509160722479dcf9d2873c606e7b0444f113c5.jpeg\")
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<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Kishor](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767923054_864_d5caa734967eb213b2f2e2a5a051fd787a32a624.png\")
Kishor Napier-Raman<\/a> is a senior business writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Previously he worked as a CBD columnist and reporter in the federal parliamentary press gallery.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-782501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=782501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=782501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=782501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=782501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}