How are we to understand the pervasive journalistic arrogance of the Bruce Lehrmann imbroglio?

Brittany Higgins and media outside court in 2022. ‘Objectivity is not an innate characteristic of journalists,’ Margaret Simmons writes. ‘Rather, it is a difficult but essential discipline. It requires some sacrifices.’ Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

It’s a depressing time for those who care about the quality of journalism in this country.

In the ongoing “omnishambles” of the Lehrmann defamation case against Network Ten, we have seen most media organisations engaged in a kind of truculent mediocrity.