Is this citizen journalism at its worst?

MARK COLVIN: Channel Nine says it's still employing the former Labor leader Mark Latham to report on the federal election campaign despite his run-in with the Prime Minister.

Mr Latham confronted Julia Gillard in Brisbane on Saturday. The Nine Network's chief executive David Gyngell has apologised to the PM for the encounter in which Mr Latham claimed she'd complained about his presence. She denied it.

Nine's political editor Laurie Oakes said on air last night that Mr Latham was only posing as a journalist and that he was concerned about damage to the network.

Brendan Trembath reports.

BRENDAN TREMBATH: Channel Nine's newest news and current affairs recruit scored an impromptu television interview with the Prime Minister in Brisbane on Saturday.

MARK LATHAM: Julia!

JULIA GILLARD: Hello Mark how are you.

BRENDAN TREMBATH: It started well but ended badly.

MARK LATHAM: Can I just ask you why the Labor Party's made a complaint about me working for Channel Nine?

JULIA GILLARD: I don't know anything about that, Mark. If you want to work for Channel Nine, that's a matter for you.

MARK LATHAM: Well, you've made a complaint and I think I should be allowed to make a living. If you'd agree to the request to have an interview there would have been no need to make any complaint about anything.

JULIA GILLARD: Well, ah…

MARK LATHAM: So if you want to make complaints, you really should make them about Rudd. He's the one who's sabotaging your campaign.

JULIA GILLARD: Well, Mark …

MARK LATHAM: So have a dig at him instead of having a dig at someone trying to do a job.

JULIA GILLARD: Ah, nice, nice to see you and I hope you enjoy your life as a journalist now.

BRENDAN TREMBATH: Prime Minister Julia Gillard kept smiling and wished Mark Latham luck. But she wasn't impressed.

Later, in an interview on the ABC's Insiders program, Ms Gillard described the former Labor leader's conduct as inappropriate.

The Nine Network chief executive David Gyngell has apologised to the PM. Mr Gyngell says in a statement that the Prime Minister of Australia, whomever that might be and whatever their political stripe, deserves to be treated with a due level of respect.

The network's political editor, Laurie Oakes, was offended by Mark Latham's interview too. Mr Oakes let it be known in a live cross with news reader, Peter Overton.

PETER OVERTON: Now Mark Latham continues to be a major distraction for Julia Gillard. He was in Brisbane today. How damaging is he, do you think, going to be for Labor?

LAURIE OAKES: Well, Peter I'm more concerned with how damaging he is for the Nine Network. That was an ugly incident yesterday with Julia Gillard and Nine's CEO, David Gyngell, was right to say Mark Latham crossed the line and to apologise.

The trouble is I'm not sure that Mark Latham knows where the line is. He's not a journalist. He's still full of bile and settling old scores. I don't really think it does 60 Minutes or the network much, much of a favour really to have him posing as a journalist.

BRENDAN TREMBATH: A spokeswoman says the Nine Network is entirely relaxed about Laurie Oakes' comments because he, like all journalists should, operates without fear or favour.

Veteran journalists who analyse the media agree with Laurie Oakes.

Ian Richards is a professor of journalism at the University of South Australia.

IAN RICHARDS: There's an obvious conflict of interest for someone operating as Latham was operating. With the history he's had for the Labor Party it's a bit farcical to have him up the front speaking to the current Prime Minister. And I also think it's an issue around his training. Obviously he's not a trained journalist.

BRENDAN TREMBATH: But he showed a certain brashness. He got the interview with the Prime Minister. Sometimes that's rewarded in journalism.

IAN RICHARDS: On the other hand though, I mean, the media has a major role to play in a democracy and I guess if it's going to be, have any claim to impartiality and to reporting fairly and accurately and independently then I don't really think this sort of thing helps that image.

BRENDAN TREMBATH: Mark Latham playing a guest role as a reporter is also a worry for David Salter, a former executive producer of the ABC's Media Watch. He now edits a news magazine called The Week.

DAVID SALTER: It's a mug lair act of Latham's part. He's trying to do as much damage as he can. He's enlisting the power of 60 Minutes behind him and he's also pretending to be a journalist. I mean, it's citizen journalism gone mad, isn't it?

It's like, I mean he can be a journalist if he wants to. Maybe I could be a politician or a brain surgeon. I mean I find it very distressing that Nine have given him this kind of power.

They're trying to have it both ways too aren't they? They, he goes and does something plainly destructive so the boss of Channel Nine apologises but that's not going to stop them running it on 60 Minutes next Sunday night. They're hypocrites in this one.

BRENDAN TREMBATH: But to be a brain surgeon, you need to have a medical degree, you need to have passed exams, you need to have met some sort of professional standards. Does journalism have those?

DAVID SALTER: That's a different issue altogether. You can say that anyone can be a journalist, even Alan Jones can be a journalist, but the point is that if you're going to enlist the power of a big masthead like 60 Minutes or put yourself suddenly forward as a reporter for the ABC or The Age or something like that, I think you've got to have some credentials. You have to have some sort of track record as having respect for the truth.

BRENDAN TREMBATH: The executive producer of 60 Minutes, Hamish Thomson, says in a statement that Mark Latham has been hired as a guest reporter/commentator for a one-off campaign story.

Mr Thomson says Mark Latham is well qualified for his role. He's thoughtful, highly intelligent and has an intimate knowledge of federal politics. During his time in Parliament he was renowned for his contribution to policy debate.

MARK COLVIN: Brendan Trembath.

Article from ABC's PM: view here