The “sexy Santas” who danced in short skirts at a Seven West Media staff meeting were “incredibly cringe”, an unnamed employee said, as one of Australia’s largest media companies defended the performers as a Perth institution.
The revelation by Nine newspapers that four women in Santa hats did high kicks at Seven’s Western Australian town hall on Friday was unfortunate timing for the media company, coming just weeks after it faced allegations from the national broadcaster of a toxic work culture.
In response to this month’s ABC Four Corners report, Don’t Speak, Seven said it was “clearly concerned about allegations of poor behaviour and any mistreatment of employees” and warned that “unacceptable behaviour is not tolerated”.
The Seven West Media editor-in-chief, Anthony de Ceglie, has recently overhauled the entire news executive and his appointment of the first female editor of the West Australian newspaper was seen as a step in the right direction.
But the announcement on Friday of Sarah-Jane Tasker’s elevation at media mogul Kerry Stokes’ West Australian paper was overshadowed by media coverage of the dancers and attracted global attention.
News station under fire over dancing ‘sexy Santas’ at staff meeting https://t.co/JsVujefPlN pic.twitter.com/pL9D5PLN9p
— New York Post (@nypost) August 26, 2024
“I definitely raised my eyebrows and thought it was incredibly cringe,” one attendee, who declined to give their name, told Guardian Australia. “I don’t know if I was necessarily offended but it was cringe.”
Tasker told Guardian Australia the media reaction to the event was “way over the top” because it was not a standard staff meeting but “an upfront-style presentation”, complete with fireworks and sizzle reels.
“I understand the focus from Nine, clearly they want to score points against Seven and will do so in any way possible,” Tasker said.
“But I take this personally because what these stories are describing is not the workplace I love and am proud to work in and now lead alongside Chris Dore.”
The Seven West Media WA chief executive, Maryna Fewster, who hosted the town hall, praised Tasker’s “brilliant leadership record” and highlighted her “groundbreaking promotion” as the first female leader of the West.
The unnamed staffer said it was even more surprising the dancers were chosen because the event was hosted by a woman.
“I mean, technically a woman does run the West and she drove the whole presentation session,” they said.
Seven said the dancers, who performed to Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You, were part of the cast of Perth’s annual Christmas Pageant, which airs on Channel Seven on 7 December.
Fewster introduced Dore, who has been acting in the position as the new editor-in-chief of the West Australian, saying: “Dorey is the best editor in Australia.”
After the Four Corners episode, the company said the actions of some individuals “do not reflect the values, behaviour and attitude of the business as a whole, which is home to some of the best, hardest-working and most passionate media professionals in Australia”.
“Our focus is to build a stronger culture that enables our great people to thrive, and where unacceptable behaviour is not tolerated,” a spokesperson said.
After Seven West Media’s full-year profits plummeted 69% to $45m, chief executive Jeff Howard conceded it was “a tough year” for the conglomerate.
Stokes’ media empire, which operates the Seven Network, a suite of West Australian newspapers and new addition the Nightly, also faced scrutiny during Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation trial.
The court heard claims the network reimbursed Spotlight interviewee Lehrmann for money allegedly spent on cocaine and sex workers. Seven and Lehrmann denied the claims.
In June, the company was restructured into three divisions: television, digital and the West, and more than 100 redundancies were handed out across the company. There was an exodus of top executives including chief executive James Warburton, legal counsel Bruce McWilliam and longstanding news chief Craig McPherson.
