Australian Broadcasting Corporation chair, Ita Buttrose, has promised a full investigation to determine if any ABC staff were involved in a prank that resulted in the collapse and admission to hospital of News Crap Australia columnist Gerard Henderson.
I understand Mr Henderson remains in intensive care in St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney (main picture) where he was rushed from The Australian’s office in Surry Hills last night.
Medical staff said at this stage there was no firm diagnosis of the cause of his collapse but also said Mr Henderson would undergo further tests and would remain in intensive care at least for the next few days.
Meanwhile Ms Buttrose told me she wants the ABC to investigate suggestions that corporation staff may have caused Mr Henderson’s health crisis.
“I understand that Mr Henderson collapsed after receiving an email purporting to be an official news release from ABC’s publicity department,” Ms Buttrose confided in me.
“I am advised that what was in fact a fake news release noted Stan Grant’s final decision earlier this week to permanently vacate the position as host of Q&A.”
Ms Buttrose said the bogus news release went on to claim that the ABC has decided to replace Grant with a rotating list of Q&A hosts including (clockwise below) trade unionist, Thomas Mayo; lawyer and longstanding social activist, Noel Pearson; University of Melbourne academic Marcia Langton; filmmaker Rachel Perkins; and author of the Dark Emu book, Bruce Pascoe.
Staff at The Australian told me that Mr Henderson opened the email and within seconds was heard screaming obscenities, then falling to the floor shaking and frothing at the mouth.
Most of those in the newsroom didn’t worry because they are very accustomed to Mr Henderson behaving that way when working on an ABC story.
But when he didn’t resurface from the floor and start banging at his keyboard – the one with the A,B, and C keys missing – they checked on him and called an ambulance.
Ms Buttrose says she wants a “totally independent, outside investigator” to determine the extent, if any, of any ABC staff member’s participation in what she describes as “a regrettable incident”.
When I rang St Vincent’s Hospital this morning staff there told me Mr Henderson was critical.
“The miserable old fart has been critical of every fucking thing since the whining shithead was wheeled through the front doors of the ED,” one anonymous hospital staffer said.
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