A Channel Nine boss has acknowledged that staff are ‘hurting’ in an after-hours email sent to TV employees as the network attempts to quell growing discontent over the handling of a scathing review into its workplace culture.
Nine Entertainment television news and current affairs head Fiona Dear, who took over from former news boss Darren Wick following his sudden departure earlier this year sent the email at 8.29pm on Monday.
The email was sent four days after an independent report found Nine’s workplaces had ‘a systemic issue with abuse of power and authority; bullying, discrimination and harassment; and sexual harassment’.
Ms Dear, who is yet to schedule an all-staff meeting to discuss the report findings compiled by workplace consulting firm Intersection wrote that she was ‘proud’ of the way her team had told the ‘incredibly painful story’
‘I wanted to say how proud I have been at the professionalism you’ve all displayed in the telling of this incredibly painful story last week and how you’ve handled yourselves since the release of the report,’ her email to staff states.
‘You have continued to deliver high-quality journalism despite what we are going through as a team and a broader business.’
Some insiders told News Corp that Dear’s late-night email had similarities in terms of the timing of Wick’s resignation note, sent at 7.36pm on a Friday back in March.
The Australian has reported that multiple insiders from Nine’s newsrooms across the country has condemned ‘terrible leadership skills’ by the company’s managers in the wake of the report and say they feel ‘betrayed’.
Nine Entertainment television news and current affairs head Fiona Dear has sent an after-hours email to staff addressing a scathing report into Nine’s culture
More than 120 past and present Nine employees took part in the review and reported experiences of inappropriate workplace behaviour within the company.
Although alleged culprits were named, no action against them is planned, despite staff claiming they were told the names would be given to Nine’s board.
It’s understood staff were subsequently told that because the review had been conducted by an external company, none of the complaints would lead to action being taken against individual perpetrators without a separate internal investigation.
Insiders reportedly told News Corp mastheads that names of staff accused of bullying were named on an open chat thread.
Daily Mail Australia revealed last week that 60 Minutes reporter Dimity Clancey, Melbourne newsreader Tom Steinfort and weekend A Current Affair host Deborah Knight were some of the most outspoken critics of management at a staff meeting.
Sources said Clancey was incensed by the company’s lack of action and complained that many Nine staffers had ‘poured their souls out’ for hours, complaining about specific people, only for Nine to once again fail to act.
60 Minutes star Dimity Clancey was outraged by Nine’s response to a damning independent investigation that found the media empire has ‘a systemic issue with abuse of power and authority; bullying, discrimination and harassment; and sexual harassment’
Nine’s board said that the report had made 22 recommendations to overhaul its culture and has committed to implementing all of them.
The recommendations included reviewing and updating the company’s code of conduct, investigating an external complaints management system, establishing a best practice process for recruitment and updating mandatory training on inappropriate workplace behaviours.
But angry staff said the recommendations did little to address the deeply personal complaints made during the investigation and failed to take action against those who had behaved inappropriately.
Nine’s acting chief executive officer Matt Stanton said on Monday that ‘active investigations’ were underway into allegations of bad behaviour.
Nine’s publishing boss Tory Maguire sent an email to staff on Monday afternoon, saying ‘the headline findings in the report are distressing to read.’
‘Nine’s leaders are working through what needs to be done to embed the changes required to ensure everyone at Nine is guaranteed a safe, respectful and positive work environment,’ she said.
More than 120 past and present Nine employees took part in the review that reported a toxic workplace culture
‘The first step was an unequivocal apology from our chair Catherine West on behalf of the board, acknowledging the prevalence of inappropriate workplace behaviours, the harm to our people and the inadequate response in the past from Nine to those behaviours.’
Nine Radio managing director Tom Malone, who oversees 2GB, 3AW, 4BC and 6PR, held a meeting with staff on Tuesday to discuss the review’s findings.
The review found 57 per cent of staff in the media company’s broadcast division had experienced bullying, discrimination or harassment over the past five years, with a third saying they had been sexually harassed in the same timeframe.
The company’s toxic culture had been enabled by ‘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 report said.
