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Do not fill this in! ==Controversies== In February 1988, ''60 Minutes'' collaborated with [[James Randi]] to create a fictional psychic called "Carlos", played by JosΓ© Alvarez, for an elaborate investigation into how much free publicity a fraudulent medium could garner through the Australian media, and how such people could manipulate the gullibility of vulnerable people.<ref name=carlos>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN54PDwNa6s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211219/qN54PDwNa6s |archive-date=2021-12-19 |url-status=live|title=The great Carlos hoax: the 'spirit channeller' that fooled the world|last=Carleton|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Carleton|date=1988|website=Official 60 Minutes YouTube channel|publisher=[[Nine Network]]|access-date=5 August 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Carleton|first=Sharon|date=14 November 2020|title=Revisiting the great Carlos hoax |url=https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/revisiting-the-great-carlos-hoax-of-1988/12875836|work=[[Radio National|The Science Show]]|access-date=5 August 2021}}</ref> However, during their investigation and successful attempt at convincing the Australian media that "Carlos" was a genuinely notable medium who had a strong following in America, other Channel 9 programs were caught out reporting on the fake "Carlos" who appeared on ''[[Today (1982 TV program)|Today]]'' and ''[[A Current Affair (Australian TV program)|A Current Affair]]'' and was featured on ''[[Sunday (Australian TV program)|Sunday]]'' and ''[[Nine News]]''.<ref name=carlos/> An orchestrated incident where his assistant threw water on [[George Negus]] during a second appearance on ''Today'' garnered even more attention for "Carlos".<ref name=carlos/> When the sting was revealed on ''60 Minutes'', anger at the network was palpable and reports soon circulated about staff sackings as a result.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Clark|first1=David|last2=Samuelson|first2=Steve|date=2006|title=50 Years: Celebrating a half-century of Australian television|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aE35PQAACAAJ|publisher=Random House Australia|page=214|isbn=1-7416-6024-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.-->|title=Journalist denies sacking over hoax|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/101979999|work=The Canberra Times|date=2 March 1988|access-date=5 August 2021}}</ref> In April 2016, Tara Brown and eight other people (including three other staff members of Nine, David Ballment, [[Stephen Rice (journalist)|Stephen Rice]], and Ben Williamson)<ref>{{cite news|last1=Miranda|first1=Charles|title=Kidnapping charges filed against 60 Minutes crew over botched child recovery mission in Lebanon|url=http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/kidnapping-charges-filed-against-60-minutes-crew-over-botched-child-recovery-mission-in-lebanon/news-story/88f1eb659cb15c60a1b5185fc3bb62a5|access-date=13 April 2016|date=13 April 2016}}</ref> were arrested on allegations of child abduction in [[Beirut]]. According to [[Lebanon|Lebanese]] authorities, ''60 Minutes'' allegedly paid $115,000 directly to the Child Abduction Recovery International Agency, despite claims that the exchange was made by the mother of the children. The abduction agency used has also been widely discredited, with fake recovery stories being posted on Facebook and their operators having been arrested all over the world. The recovery involved the team waiting in a parked car on the street and then snatching the children from their grandmother and nanny before driving away. "A Lebanese judicial source" told ''[[The Guardian]]'' that the group were to be charged with "armed abduction, purveying threats and physical harm" β crimes which carry sentences of twenty years' imprisonment with hard labour.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Shaheen|first1=Kareem|last2=Safi|first2=Michael|last3=Elgot|first3=Jessica|title=Suspects in alleged Beirut kidnapping face jail and hard labour|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/12/suspects-in-alleged-beirut-kidnapping-face-jail-and-hard-labour|access-date=13 April 2016|date=12 April 2016}}</ref> The group were released from custody only after Nine paid a substantial money settlement to the father of the children the subject of the abduction attempt. This operation sparked wide debate about the ethics of the journalism being conducted. In May 2019, a [[jury]] ruled that a ''60 Minutes'' story aired in 2015 about the [[2010β11 Queensland floods|2011 Grantham floods]] [[Defamation|defamed]] four members of the Wagner family, from [[Toowoomba|Toowoomba, Queensland]], by implying they were responsible for the 12 deaths that occurred during the disaster. In November, a [[court]] ordered Channel Nine to pay $2.4 million plus $63,000 in [[interest]] to the family. [[Nick Cater]], a journalist featured in the program, was ordered to pay an additional $1.2 million in [[damages]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://tvtonight.com.au/2019/11/60-minutes-case-leads-to-3-6m-defamation-payout.html|title=60 Minutes case leads to $3.6m defamation payout|last=Knox|first=David|date=22 November 2019|work=[[TV Tonight]]|access-date=5 December 2019}}</ref> Justice Peter Applegarth, who was in charge of the case, stated that while Cater had information contradicting the program's allegations, he did not include them in the story. Applegarth also concluded that Channel Nine failed to inform the Wagners of the allegations until after the program had been publicised, and when the family did send a statement to Nine, they did not include it in the program.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-22/channel-nine-to-pay-wagner-family-over-60-minute-flood-report/11729162|title=Channel Nine ordered to pay Wagner family $2 million over defamatory 60 Minutes report|last=Chen|first=David|date=22 November 2019|publisher=[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]]|location=Australia|access-date=5 December 2019}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). 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