SBS denies reporter’s criticism linked to contract ending

SBS has denied that a sports reporter has had his contract ended because he criticised SBS soccer boss Les Murray in an interview on ABC’s 7:30.

The Australian reports that last week Davidde Corran was advised via email that his services would not be required “for the foreseeable future” once he finished his current assignment reporting on the FIFA under-20s World Cup in Colombia. He has been reporting for TV and radio, most recently producing and co-hosting a weekly 15-minute sports show for SBS Radio.

Earlier this month he appeared in a 7.30 report over a perceived conflict of interest between Les Murray’s position as editorial supervisor of SBS sport and his role as a member of the ethics committee of international football governing body FIFA.

He told the programme: “The issues I have personally had trouble with have all related to essentially the World Cup bid, Australia’s World Cup bid for the 2022 World Cup and before that the 2018 World Cup. In particular, the issues – the trouble I’ve ran into is when covering what other consultants, Football Federation Australia, hired, Peter Hargitay.”

He claims when he wrote a piece for the online blog The Roar questioning why SBS Sport had done a positive profile piece on Hargitay, when others were criticising his employment by FFA, he received a scathing email from Les Murray accusing him of publicly discrediting SBS.

SBS director of strategy and communications Bruce Marr said, “He has been employed on a freelance basis . . . and his arrangement is on a project-by-project basis.”

He denied Corran been told he will not be used again.

7.30 reported that a number of SBS journalists, some speaking anonymously, had said they had been pressured to produce pieces supporting Australia’s World Cup bid, or at least not criticising it.  Corran and former SBS contract football journalist, Jesse Fink, were the only ones who appeared on 7:30.

An SBS statement on the allegations claimed: “SBS refutes the suggestion that Les Murray instructed SBS staff to have no regard for impartiality in relation to the Australian bid to host the World Cup, nor did he instruct staff to report negatively on other nation’s bids.

“SBS refutes the suggestion that Les Murray’s position on the FIFA ethics committee conflicts with his position as SBS’s editorial supervisor, sport. Mr Fink, during his time with SBS, has expressed a range of views on matters relating to FIFA, the FFA and football generally, none of which were curtailed at the direction of Les Murray.”