Australia’s biggest media company, Nine Entertainment, has a systemic issue with the abuse of power and authority, bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment across the company, an independent report has found.
“Driving these behaviours is a lack of leadership accountability; power imbalances; gender inequality and a lack of diversity; and significant distrust in leaders at all levels of the business,” the company said in a statement after receiving the report on Thursday.
The report, based on 122 interviews, concluded that “known perpetrators” of inappropriate workplace behaviours were not dealt with. Instead, staff who were victims of the perpetrators were simply warned to just avoid them.
The report does not name individuals, but it found some “leaders” attempted to cover up inappropriate workplace behaviours or discouraged the reporting of incidents.
The review is a comprehensive examination of workplace culture in the television news and current affairs division specifically, following allegations about the inappropriate behaviour of the former Nine News director Darren Wick, who left the company abruptly in March after a staff complaint. Wick has not publicly commented on the complaint.
The broadcast division of Nine makes up 35% of the 5,000-strong workforce. Publishing, which houses the legacy newspapers including the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age and the Australian Financial Review, makes up 18% of employees.
While the focus of the report was on the culture in the news division, the company’s entire workforce was surveyed about the prevalence of inappropriate workplace behaviours.
The Nine board has apologised to affected staff and pledged to implement all 22 recommendations in the report for a “reset of culture at Nine”.
More than half of all employees in the broadcast division (57%) also reported experiencing bullying, discrimination or harassment.
Experiences of public humiliation, “white-anting”, belittling comments or conduct, and aggressive or intimidating behaviour were found to be commonplace and normalised. These behaviours are perpetrated by leaders and peers alike and are often not addressed, the report said.
The report found an organisation where “accountability is lacking, where decisions in the workplace are made based on personal gain or preference, and where an individual’s role or status can be used to bully, harass or to ‘punch down’”.
The report describes “an ecosystem of inequity” where poor performers are largely left alone while high performers carry a more significant workload.
Those who are not perceived to be “in favour” are given the bad shifts and denied career opportunities.
The Nine chair, Catherine West, said Thursday was an incredibly difficult day for the media company.
“The behaviour outlined in the report is unacceptable,” she said.
“Abuse of power, bullying, sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct is not OK. This behaviour has no place at Nine.
“We acknowledge that too many of our past and present employees have been harmed by poor workplace culture, the prevalence of inappropriate workplace behaviours, and an inadequate response in the past from Nine to those behaviours.
“To any individual who has experienced inappropriate conduct that does not meet the values of Nine, we are deeply sorry. On behalf of the board, I unreservedly apologise.
“The strength and courage these individuals have shown in sharing their stories as part of this process will allow us to move forward as an organisation with a clear understanding of where we went wrong and their insights will help strengthen Nine’s culture for the better. For that, we thank them.
“Despite the proactive culture change agenda already under way, the reality is much more needs to be done and a cultural reset is required. Nine’s board and leadership team are united in their commitment to accelerating and driving the required change.”
Nine’s acting chief executive officer, Matt Stanton, said the report made for hard reading.
“It was personally distressing for me to read these stories from our people. The behaviour experienced by many of our people right across the business is not acceptable in any workplace and falls well below what our people should expect in the work environment.
“While it is important that today all of us at Nine take a moment to reflect, we also move forward with a resolve to do better. We have a responsibility to our people to create a safe and respectful work environment to ensure they can perform at their best. Our people deserve nothing less.”
