How many non-disclosure agreements has Nine Entertainment imposed on female employees over years of allegations of sexual harassment by former news and current affairs director Darren Wick?
It’s not a hard question. No-one is asking Nine to unilaterally breach the NDAs and reveal details. Just say whether they exist (NDAs have a place in areas like remuneration and contract terminations for legitimate reasons, but we’re not talking about normal commercial confidentiality here).
Nine’s legal area will have copies of each NDA — ready to hand if any of the victims of the alleged harassment dare to reveal what they claim happened to them, to enable litigation to be unleashed. It’s likely Nine’s HR department, which would have done the paperwork for each agreement, would have copies, or at least drafts, as well.
It’s not merely an easy question to answer; it’s central to Nine’s reputation as a provider of credible news and current affairs, and the owner of one of Australia’s last sources of credible corporate journalism, the Fairfax papers.
Let’s put it bluntly: you can’t be a news organisation and gag victims of sexual harassment with NDAs. They are mutually exclusive. Either you believe in transparency and holding the powerful to account, or you believe in secrecy and preventing the powerful from being held to account.
All the guff about external investigations and getting legal advice and staff confidentiality and due process is irrelevant. Has Nine gagged female employees with NDAs?
Instead of answering that question, either in the extraordinary email CEO Mike Sneesby sent to Nine staff yesterday or when Crikey directly put the simple question to Nine, all we’ve had is dodging and weaving.
“As CEO at Nine,” Sneesby told his staff, “I have never signed any NDAs for any employee relating to a complaint or behavioural issue. In particular, I did not sign any NDAs with Nine staff in relation to Darren Wick’s alleged behaviour.”
Which is so far from being definitive it’s not funny. Of course Sneesby hasn’t signed any NDAs. He’s only been CEO since mid-2021 (when he arrived from Stan, a content delivery vehicle; Sneesby has no experience in journalism). And why would a CEO sign an NDA? That’s wholly unnecessary — the head of the legal department or the head of HR, at best, might sign it. Whose signature adorns the gagging mechanism is irrelevant — it’s whether it exists that is the problem.
When Crikey asked Nine about the NDAs, all we got was “we take all allegations of inappropriate conduct seriously. There is a review in place. We encourage anyone with concerns to come forward”, none of which even vaguely relates to the abuse of NDAs. The review mooted by Sneesby relates only to “the behaviours and concentration of power that has damaged trust and fairness within our television newsrooms.” I.e. anything and, potentially, nothing.
The possibility that Nine has relied on NDAs to shut down allegations about the behaviour of one of its most important executives is increased by what Nine currently demands of employees in its employment contracts. Nine demands of staff that
4.4 — During and after your employment, you must not make any written or oral statement (including on social media), which disparages, or could damage the reputation of the company or any group company and/or any of their employees, officers, customers, suppliers, external stakeholders, corporate partners and any other third parties related to the group.
Does that include revealing you’ve been sexually harassed or bullied by an executive?
Until Nine’s management and board come clean about who knew about the allegations against Wick, and whether NDAs were used to shut down accountability about them, the entire credibility of Nine is at stake. How many senior journalists, executives or producers made editorial decisions about the coverage of sexual harassment, workplace cultures, the rape of Brittany Higgins or violence against women while knowing about what was going on within Nine’s newsrooms? How should that journalism now be viewed, given the environment in which it was produced?
The response from the company’s management so far suggests that the answer is very, very negative.
Have the Darren Wick allegations altered your trust in Nine? Let us know your thoughts by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
