Lucie Morris-Marr hits out at Herald Sun on Twitter, alleging she was forced out after she complained about a column

A former News Corp journalist says she was forced out of the Herald Sun and put through “absolute hell” after Andrew Bolt attacked her story revealing that police were investigating Cardinal George Pell.

Reporter Lucie Morris-Marr hit out at News Corp on Twitter on Monday, alleging it deliberately chose not to renew her contract after a dispute between her and Bolt this year.

News Corp has refused to comment on Morris-Marr’s allegations, while Bolt has denied all of her claims, describing them as “complete nonsense”.

Morris-Marr revealed in February that Victoria police, through Taskforce Sano, were investigating Pell over allegations of child abuse. Pell has strenuously denied those allegations.

Andrew Bolt lashes out at Herald Sun reporter over George Pell story Read more

The story was publicly trashed by Bolt, her colleague, who labelled it a vicious smear that formed part of a “sinister” campaign against Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric.

Morris-Marr lodged an internal complaint regarding Bolt’s column, saying it threatened to expose her and her sources by implying she had received leaks from within Victoria police. Victoria police later referred the “leak” to Victoria’s anti-corruption commission in an attempt to find Morris-Marr’s source.

Morris-Marr’s complaint also alleged Bolt’s column breached News Corp’s editorial guidelines because he had allowed his friendship with Pell to influence his editorial position.



Bolt exclusively interviewed Pell for Sky News about a week later, in which he declared the pair were not friends, while Morris-Marr took time off to deal with the stress of the anti-corruption commission investigation and the dispute with her colleague.



Lucie Morris-Marr (@luciemorrismarr) After I broke Feb 2016 scoop @theheraldsun on Pell abuse allegations Bolt said in all @newscorp tabloids it was a witch hunt smear. Why?? https://t.co/FaSpWPNlZh

Lucie Morris-Marr (@luciemorrismarr) Here's the key; due to Bolt column, ibac probe Etc I became quite unwell. I was broken, embarrassed & doubted myself. Not now. #stronger

She soon began to question her decision. “I thought, ‘Oh god, I’ve risked my job,’ I actually apologised to them when I went back to work … I said, ‘I was angry,’” she told Guardian Australia.

She told her bosses she wanted “to move forward” and thought they wanted to do the same thing. “I had six weeks left on my contract. Then literally the day before my contract expired, they met with me and said there’s no money.”

Morris-Marr was told her contract would not be renewed. She was instead offered a freelance contract, which she rejected, fearing it would silence her. She was later offered intermittent shifts as a casual, which she said were impossible to accept because of her need to book childcare far in advance.

“I thought, ‘I’ve just broken a world-important story and I’m crying in the toilets of the Herald Sun. This is wrong.’”

The Weekly Beast: criticism of George Pell is Andrew’s bolt from the blue Read more

Morris-Marr believes News Corp pushed her out after the Pell story and the complaint about Bolt’s column. “This has nearly destroyed me … it’s been hell, absolute hell.”

Bolt has denied any knowledge that he was the subject of a complaint from Morris-Marr. He described any assertion that he had anything to do with her departure as nonsense.

“I did not know Lucie had left the paper until months later,” he said. “I did not know she was on a one-year contract or was in any negotiations to renew it.

“I did not know she had left on bad terms. I did not know she had made any HR complaint. This is the first I have heard from anyone of any unhappiness on her part.”

Bolt said he remained unconvinced about the allegations against Pell, which he described as flimsy. He said the leaking of the allegations was “deeply unfair” and said the cardinal should have been afforded procedural fairness.