EXCLUSIVE
Terrified Nine staff fear they will be identified and punished by network bullies in an internal ‘witch hunt’ after they came forward with harrowing allegations about the network’s toxic newsroom culture.
There is wide-spread outrage throughout Nine after an independent investigation into rampant bullying and harassment at the company failed to recommend the axing of any of the alleged perpetrators.
The damning report, by workplace culture firm Intersection, concluded Nine had ‘a systemic issue with abuse of power and authority; bullying, discrimination and harassment; and sexual harassment’.
But network bosses said employees would need to relive their traumatic experiences once again and go through a second, internal complaints process before any action was taken.
Sources said those who had chosen to speak up gave lengthy, personal interviews as part of the investigation and were now worried the senior executives involved would be tempted to exact revenge.
Although complainants’ names were anonymised – along with those of the alleged perpetrators – extensive, candid details were littered throughout the Intersection report when it was released publicly on Thursday, leaving many feeling exposed.
‘Everyone is ropeable – first we were told that this investigation was going to change Nine’s culture,’ one insider told Daily Mail Australia. ‘Then we are told that no action is actually going to be taken.
‘And now, everyone is reading personal details from our complaints – which have completely re-traumatised many of us – and playing a guessing game to see who they’re about and who made them.
‘There are heaps of quotes in the report that give away who’s involved.
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’
‘The people we complained about are still in power, so there is a very real fear that there’s going to be a witch hunt or some form of retribution against those who spoke up.
‘Terms like ‘Punishment Island’ aren’t used by everyone … but everyone knows who uses them – those sorts of things are dead giveaways.’
One Nine employee told Intersection it was a phrase used to describe the practice of being frozen out by their manager for perceived workplace failures.
‘I have been on ice [by my manager] for speaking up about a story,’ one staffer told the investigators.
‘Everyone calls it ‘Punishment Island’. When I was younger I would be in tears about something like this.
‘I have now became disengaged. I am exhausted by the games.’
Another described ‘Punishment Island’ as ‘typically … picking on one employee for a period of time and moving onto someone else.
‘If you’re not on Punishment Island that month, seeing your friends and colleagues there is just as distressing.’
60 Minutes star Amelia Adams was among those to raise concerns about the lack of action
Another Nine source said there had also been widespread speculation about the parties involved in an incident in which a manager allegedly offered to let a couple have sex in his office during a work function.
‘I’m not sure why anyone would think it is a good idea to be releasing these sorts of details to the public in this fashion,’ the insider told Daily Mail Australia.
In the account, the complainant said: ‘There was a work function… known for plenty of heavy drinking. At one point in the evening, [Individual] was standing in a circle with myself, my boyfriend at the time… and a few other newsroom colleagues.
‘There were a few harmless jokes about the relationship etc., before [Individual] said to my partner … “You can f*** her in my office if you want … just tell me when you’ve done it”. I don’t need to comment on how disgusting this is.’
Nine has repeatedly reassured complainants they would be protected and has vowed to support everyone who came forward and participated in the review.
Although the media giant has committed to implementing 22 recommendations listed in the report, they largely involved superficial responses, such as re-writing the business’s ‘code of conduct’, establishing a ‘best practices’ recruitment process and committing to further reviews.
In the meantime, many aggrieved Nine staff members who gave horror accounts of the abuse they had encountered at the network will be forced to continue working for the very people they complained about.
Melbourne newsreader Tom Steinfort raised questions about the lack of accountability at the network in the wake of the confronting revelations
60 Minutes stars Dimity Clancey and Amelia Adams, Melbourne newsreader Tom Steinfort and weekend A Current Affair host Deborah Knight were among the most outspoken critics of the network’s lacklustre response at a nation-wide staff meeting about the company’s response to the review.
The investigation found 57 per cent of employees 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 time frame.
It is understood the complaints involve inappropriate behaviour stretching as far back as the mid-90s, although a large number of incidents reported to the investigators related to senior executives still working within the company.
The report said 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’.
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 during two-hour interviews with investigators, complaining about specific people, only for the network bullies to be given a free pass.
Steinfort demanded to know whether anyone would be held accountable in the wake of the findings, while Knight also queried whether perpetrators would be held to account.
Staff were 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.
Many of the complaints related to both male and female managers in the network’s television news and current affairs division, with staff describing horrific examples of rampant bullying.
In an internal email to all employees on Wednesday afternoon, Nine announced additional support staff would be on hand to console them in the wake of the findings being announced
‘[She is a] toxic bully. I would cry in my car when I arrived at work because I knew I had to deal with her,’ one network employee told the investigators.
‘She would set you up to look stupid. She would constantly undermine you … She had a real disregard for people’s wellbeing. She would say: “A thousand people would kill for this job”.’
There were repeated complaints about unwanted sexual advances made by predominantly senior male executives towards younger female colleagues.
Some of the perpetrators’ behaviour was so well-known that newcomers were warned about them soon after joining the company.
‘I had been warned about him… I was in my 20s… his comments about my body were constant,’ one female staffer told the investigation.
‘He made me feel like I was just a piece of meat to be ogled at… and that he was the credible one just because he was the older man… over time, this eroded my confidence… it just chipped away at it.’
Another said: ‘[My supervisor] said to me “don’t let him touch your boobs”. He mainly targeted young women. Women were constantly in tears about their interactions with [Individual]. Younger women were scared to speak up.’
A third recalled: ‘When I was in [location] [Individual] tried to groom me. He also touched me on the bum at the Xmas party and at other times he would rub my legs under the table. In [location] I saw him do it to other women.’
Respected Nine star Deborah Knight also wanted more answers at the meeting
Yet another employee said: ‘On my first day working in the… newsroom, I overheard some of the other female reporters talking about [Individual]. One of them said “Have you even worked at Nine News … if [Individual] hasn’t grabbed your a**?”‘
Almost as bad, some claimed, was the company’s culture of cover up with senior executives deployed to ensure no one spoke out about the bullying and harassment.
‘The day after it [the inappropriate workplace behaviour] happened, [individual] came up to me to talk about it,’ one staffer said.
‘I thought she wanted to see if I was OK or if I wanted to do anything about it, but no. She was there to make sure that I didn’t say anything, that I didn’t complain.
‘She made it very clear that it would not be in my best interests to make an issue out of it.’
Nine’s employees said the toxic culture at the network was so engrained ‘we used to talk about being bullied, harassed or publicly humiliated like you’d talk about the weather’.
‘Now when I look back it horrifies me how normalised it had become,’ one staff member told the investigation.
Recently departed Nine chief Mike Sneesby commissioned the review in June but quit the company last month for unrelated reasons five weeks before it was released.
His decision to launch an investigation was sparked by a string of allegations against former head of news and current affairs Darren Wick.
Mike Sneesby commissioned the independent report into Nine’s workplace culture in June but ended up exiting the company five weeks before the findings were finanlised
The company’s chair, Catherine West, issued an unequivocal apology to the company’s 5,000 employees for being forced to endure the systemic bullying and harassment.
‘Today is an incredibly difficult day for Nine as we confront these findings and reflect on serious cultural issues as an organisation,’ she said.
‘The behaviour outlined in the report is unacceptable. Abuse of power, bullying, sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct is not okay. 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.’
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