WIN investigates alleged social media abuse
WIN Corporation has launched an investigation into an employee’s social media accounts after receiving questions from Crikey.
An X (formerly Twitter) account seemingly linked to a WIN Corporation employee, who Crikey has chosen not to name, appears to have abused sporting and media personalities dating back to October 2023.
Following questions from Crikey to WIN, the X account was deleted, and a related Instagram account, which referenced WIN in the handle, was scrubbed to remove references to WIN and renamed to the same handle as the dead X account. It was also later deleted.
The since-deleted X account contained disparaging references to a host of sporting and media figures, including inferences of paedophilia directed at a prominent sports reporter. It also used ableist, fatphobic and transphobic slurs.
The account also made a number of derogatory and negative remarks in relation to women’s sport, and, in an apparent reference to allegations of sexual assault reported in January against former WWE CEO Vince McMahon, asked whether “the woman was making it up to try and get a payout”.
Crikey contacted the employee at the centre of the allegations for comment. They did not respond and instead blocked us on one social media site used to contact them. Crikey has provided details of the posts to WIN.
A WIN spokesperson told Crikey that the company takes “allegations of abuse and harassment very seriously”.
“WIN is committed to maintaining a safe and respectful environment and has no tolerance for this language or behaviour. It does not align with WIN’s values. We will be investigating this immediately and will take the appropriate actions based on the findings of the investigation,” the spokesperson said.
Chapman at the bit
Veteran journalist Colin Chapman passed away this week at the age of 87. Chapman was described as a “legendary broadcaster” who worked for the BBC, The Sunday Times, The Washington Post and many other places. But his obit, run on news.com.au from syndicated copy from The Sun, left one part of his resume off: his blink-and-you’ll-miss-it-period as The Australian‘s editor. Indeed, even the sub at News, who sprinkled references to his time at the Oz into the excerpt and some picture captions, seems to have forgotten that he made it to the top job in 1982.
He “may have left as editor of The Australian because of the continuing influence of Sir Larry Lamb, editor-in-chief” reported The Guardian at the time. Indeed, it was a tumultuous time for the paper under Sir Lamb, as noted in the Oz‘s recap of 1982:
Chapman was to make it into the Guinness Book of Records as the shortest-serving editor of an English-language newspaper up to that time.
Chapman says he felt it was essential that international reporting resources were controlled by the editor, rather than management, and negotiated an agreement to that effect which would have allowed him to appoint a new Tokyo correspondent.
Appearing on breakfast television the day after his appointment, Chapman was asked what he planned for The Australian and spoke of his enhanced international coverage and the appointment of a Tokyo correspondent. But when he arrived in the office he was told that agreement had been rescinded.
‘I decided to take a walk around the block and think about it,’ he says. ‘I left my car keys on the desk and as I walked I decided to take a week off to think further. I never went back.’
Pretty cold then that, unlike news.com.au, the Oz didn’t find space for any acknowledgement of Chapman’s death.
Spotted
Former Liberal staffer and prolific litigant Bruce Lehrmann recorded what might well be his first-ever public win yesterday. The Federal Court found that he could proceed with his appeal against the result of his failed defamation case against Network Ten earlier this year. And whether he was celebrating or attending to more practical concerns, according to a tipster, he was spotted at the Tasman Hotel in Hobart in the aftermath of the decision with two people our tipster couldn’t identify.
Spotted II
Meanwhile, a different tipster also got in touch to mention that they bumped into Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson getting off a flight in Hobart — and was surprised to find that she had actually been seated behind them, among the plebs in economy. Our tipster asked her a few questions — regarding her choice of seat and progress on the frequent flyer lounge in that airport — that she gave cheerily diplomatic answers to. We wonder if the general good humour was preserved partly because she breezed away before anyone could inquire about the other matters that might be occupying her at the moment.
