Reports of sexual harassment by Channel Nine staffers ‘will come out,’ CEO Hugh Marks has claimed.
Addressing the Screen Forever conference audience on Tuesday, Marks said he was ‘sure’ there was sexual assault problems at the network ‘twenty years ago.’
‘I’m sure there are things that will come out in the public that will talk to those problems,’ he confirmed.
‘There are things that will come out’: Reports of sexual harassment by Channel Nine staffers ‘will come out,’ CEO Hugh Marks has claimed at Tuesday’s Screen Forever conference
‘But from where I sit right now, I feel like we’ve got an excellent culture that supports equality.’
Marks believes the historic instances of sexual misconduct that dogged the network are non-existent under his current regime.
The CEO also said he’s confident there’s no Weinstein-type abusers on the payroll ‘at the moment,’ according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
‘I’m very confident that our culture at the moment is a very positive and supportive one,’ he noted.
‘Public will talk to those problems’: I’m sure there were problems 20 years ago, I’m sure there are things that will come out in the public that will talk to those problems,’ he added
Several staff members at some of the network’s biggest shows have been at Nine for more than twenty years.
Earlier in the week, Marks also addressed the storm of criticism leveled at the network following Lisa Wilkinson’s defection to Channel Ten.
Marks said on Monday that he has no remorse about letting the veteran journalist walk away.
‘I don’t regret it at all. It was exactly the right decision for us to make,’ he told The Daily Telegraph.
He reiterated his previous claims that Wilkinson’s salary demands ‘weren’t viable,’ because of her conflicting commercial commitments with other companies.
‘For the level of work she did for the rights we were able to access for Lisa, we weren’t able to come to a commercial agreement,’ he explained.