An internal survey of employees of the ABC’s news division has found 25% of staff surveyed experienced bullying at work and 13% had faced sexual harassment.
The ABC news director, Justin Stevens, told staff on Wednesday the survey revealed “an important and overdue conversation is taking place across the media industry”, apparently a reference to reports of inappropriate behaviour towards women at Nine Entertainment.
Stevens said it was an independent and confidential survey conducted by the social research centre at the Australian National University designed to examine the incidence of sexual harassment and bullying and equity and inclusion in the workplace.
“To those who engage in these behaviours, it is unacceptable and we will not tolerate it,” Stevens said in an email seen by Guardian Australia. “Anyone who engages in such behaviour, or who justifies it in any way, is not welcome at the ABC.”
A total of 745 news employees completed the survey (29.1% ) and 65% of them were women.
The number of respondents indicated a reluctance among staff to take action after experiencing or witnessing instances of bullying and sexual harassment, a common behaviour in workplaces, Stevens said.
The recommendations would form part of the division’s response to Terri Janke’s review into racism at the ABC.
The corporation is undergoing a systems review led by Dr Janke, as recommended by an internal group of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff.
The Janke report will be made public in coming months.
In 2022 Stevens apologised to staff after a “disturbing” report found some Indigenous and culturally diverse staff had experienced racism at the national broadcaster.
Last year Indigenous journalist Stan Grant resigned from the ABC, several months after receiving “grotesque racist abuse” after he spoke on the King’s coronation coverage. He said he felt unsupported and Stevens apologised to him.
Stevens said bullying behaviour and sexual harassment “continue to be shockingly prevalent in the modern workplace” and the media industry, at an estimated 64%, was double the national average.
“The Australian Human Rights Commission’s fifth national survey on sexual harassment in Australian workplaces found 19% of people said that they had been sexually harassed at work in the prior 12 months and 33% in the past five years,” he said.
The ABC’s managing director, David Anderson, told staff bullying behaviour and sexual harassment was unacceptable in any workplace.
“If anyone doesn’t understand or accept this, then the ABC is not the working environment for them,” he said. “There will be consequences for those staff who are found to have behaved in an unacceptable manner, no matter what their role is at the ABC.”
Nine has commissioned an independent review after acknowledging alleged inappropriate behaviour and broader cultural issues in Australia’s largest locally-owned media company.
Nine’s former news and current affairs director Darren Wick abruptly left the company in March after 29 years following a formal complaint from a staff member.
