Channel 10 BOYCOTTS Australia Day: Read the astonishing email TV boss sent to all staff telling them to WORK on the public holiday because it’s ‘not a day of celebration’
- 10’s chief content officer, Beverley McGarvey, emailed staff about Jan 26
- Ms McGarvey said the national public holiday was ‘not a day of celebration’
- She told staff they could work through the day if they chose to do so
- She urged those taking the day off to ‘respect the viewpoints of all Australians’
The boss of Channel 10 has told staff the network will not be celebrating Australia Day and has told staff to come to work instead of taking the day off.
The station’s chief content officer, Beverley McGarvey, refused to refer to January 26 as Australia Day in an email sent to editorial and programming staff last week.
Ms McGarvey, who is the executive vice president of Paramount Australia and New Zealand, told staff it was ‘not a day of celebration’, and encouraged staff to work instead of taking the day off.
‘At Paramount ANZ we aim to create a safe place to work where cultural differences are appreciated, understood and respected,’ she wrote in the email, The Australian reported.
The boss of Channel 10 has told staff the network will not be celebrating Australia Day (pictured are Channel 10 stars Waleed Aly and Sarah Harris)
‘For our First Nations people, we as an organisation acknowledge that January 26 is not a day of celebration. We recognise that there has been a turbulent history, particularly around that date and the recognition of that date being Australia Day.’
Ms McGarvey said staff could choose to work through the national holiday if they didn’t feel comfortable celebrating it and could take another day of leave instead.
‘We recognise that January 26 evokes different emotions for our employees across the business, and we are receptive to employees who do not feel comfortable taking this day as a public holiday,’ the email read.
The network’s boss was adamant that those who did wish to celebrate Australia Day ‘reflect and respect the different perspectives and viewpoints of all Australians’.
Channel 10 was applauded for its use of traditional Indigenous names for capital cities during a weather report amid NAIDOC week in July.
Staff at the network have been told they’re welcome to work over the Australia Day public holiday (pictured is newsreader Sandra Sully)
Instead of Sydney, the presenter read out the forecast for Gadigal, and for Melbourne, the city was referred to by its traditional name of Naarm.
The network first changed its weather map to include traditional names last year, and was immediately commended on the choice by many Aussies.
Meanwhile, Channel 10 has been struggling in the ratings with questions now being raised about the station’s viability.
Things are so bad the network was forced to cancel its annual Christmas Party, as first revealed by Daily Mail Australia.
The struggling organisation is now officially Australia’s fourth free-to-air network after being placed behind the ABC in the ratings race.
Channel 10 has been struggling in the ratings with questions now being raised about the station’s viability (pictured is The Project host Hamish Macdonald)
10 has just recorded its lowest commercial share since OzTam ratings began with a network share of just 22.1 per cent, well behind its rivals at Nine and Seven.
While spin doctors sprout the network has a younger audience than its competitors, Nine and Seven both beat 10 in total people and their key under 50 demographic.
A string of failures has only added to its woes. Shows like The Real Love Boat, The Challenge Australia and The Traitors were all flops.
The Bachelor franchise has failed to fire over the past few years and the newest edition, The Bachelors, was considered so bad by programming bosses it has been bumped to January.
The Bachelor franchise has failed to fire over the past few years and the newest edition – The Bachelors – was considered so bad by programming bosses it has been bumped to January
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