The ever-growing cluster of self-immolation surrounding the Lehrmann case has now remorselessly spread to journalism, thrusting it into the unaccustomed role of a guilty bystander while besmirching a profession vitally important to a fairer society.

Seven, Seven West Media, Kerry Stokes, Ben Roberts Smith, Bruce Lehrmann Credit: Marija Ercegovac

The culture exposed inside the Seven’s Spotlight program is of such unredeemed squalor that, if true, the network’s owners, Seven West Media Limited, have turned some of journalism’s most lauded tenets – guarding democracy, speaking truth to power and following a code of ethics that includes not allowing personal interest, or any belief, commitment, payment, gift or benefit, to undermine accuracy, fairness or independence – into something both rotten and corrosive.

The defamation trial brought by former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann against Network Ten and its journalist, Lisa Wilkinson, was reopened to hear evidence from former Seven producer Taylor Auerbach, who told the court his network had paid for sex workers, dinners and even cocaine in an effort to secure an exclusive interview with Lehrmann. Lehrmann’s barrister attacked Auerbach’s credibility and motivations.

In an era when opinion, shoddy opinion polls and surveys sometimes counterbalance news and analysis, the Lehrmann matter has highlighted the media’s role in bringing alleged injustice and wrongdoing to light and the unethical lengths some journalists go to for scoops in a competitive environment.

The Herald’s Jacqueline Maley has noted how the Brittany Higgins-Lehrmann case has turned into a litigation superstorm and done the journalistic profession few favours while underscoring the dichotomy of doing her job: “The rest of us can only look on and weakly protest that we are not all like that. Even as we report on this ghastly saga.”

Journalism historically suffers from a poor reputation and rarely receives good press. It is a cross to bear that in no way inhibits or lessens the need to aim high and continually strive for the highest standards in ethical journalism.

The words “Yellow Journalism” entered everyday language towards the end of the 19th century when two New York publications that emphasised sensationalism over facts fought a bidding war over a cartoon character known as the Yellow Kid. The pejorative term became shorthand for the style of journalism they purveyed.