Nine Entertainment has moved to assure staff that bullies and alleged abusers will be held accountable as management attempts to quell the backlash among employees to its anonymised culture review.
Australia’s biggest media company released an independent report on Thursday which said Nine Entertainment has a systemic issue with the abuse of power and authority, bullying, alleged discrimination and sexual harassment, but the report did not name individuals.
Nine’s former chief executive Mike Sneesby and news director Darren Wick have left the company. Sneesby, who commissioned the review, stepped down in September after acknowledging “this year has been one of the most challenging in my career”. Wick left Nine abruptly in March after 29 years with the company.
One former news staffer who participated in the review said while she appreciated the review, “the messaging is just platitudes until they actually get rid of those [alleged] predators”.
On Monday, the acting chief executive, Matt Stanton, said he knows the revelations have been “tough” to hear and the board and management now understood the “need to accelerate change” and would provide regular updates in future.
“As we said on Thursday, there is no place at Nine for the abuse of power, bullying, sexual harassment or inappropriate conduct outlined in the Intersection report or for people who behave that way,” he said.
Stanton confirmed there were a number of active investigations into individuals, as reported by Guardian Australia last week.
“There are a range of outcomes that might come from a formal investigation process, depending on whether the claims can be substantiated,” Stanton said in an all-staff email. “If a complaint is upheld, the consequences will be appropriate and proportionate, ranging from counselling, formal disciplinary action, to termination of employment.”
Sources say in the rush to release the Intersection report last week, staff were not properly briefed on the process for individual accountability, which is separate from the cultural review.
At staff briefings on Thursday, Guardian Australia understands some attenders felt their concerns about consequences for inappropriate behaviour were not heard.
“I know it’s been a tough couple of days for many people since the release of the Intersection report, and that there are still a number of questions you may have,” Stanton said.
“From this week, you’ll begin to hear regular updates on our action plan to reset the workplace culture at Nine, and we’ll also continue to address your questions from last week’s live stream.”
Stanton referred to “conjecture within and outside Nine” and said it was crucial investigations remained confidential.
“No two cases are the same, and I’m sure you can appreciate these investigations need to be conducted in a manner that follows a just and proper process, which can take time,” he said. “This will not be influenced by outside interest or public scrutiny.”
The 82-page report found those inappropriate behaviours had been “underpinned and enabled” by a “lack of leadership”, “power imbalances” and “gender inequality and a lack of diversity” in the television news and current affairs broadcast division in particular.
“Power imbalances, a high-pressure environment, and a workplace culture that tolerates inappropriate workplace behaviours were identified to be the drivers for inappropriate workplace behaviours at Nine,” the report found.
The three most cited forms of abuse of power or authority within the broadcast division were: favouritism; ignoring poor performance and putting professional gain before the interests of the staff or the organisation.
The report said in one case a manager was shown vision of an alleged perpetrator “creeping on a woman. He laughed and said ‘that’s just him’.”
