Insiders have revealed that before she was sacked, ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie made it clear she rarely watched the news.
The national broadcaster’s chairman Justin Milne and seven other board members deposed the ABC’s $891,000-a-year managing director following a clash over its direction and a series of controversial calls.
Not long after she was hired, Ms Guthrie told colleagues she was fond of the popular reality show Gogglebox over any of the broadcaster’s programs, according to The Australian.
ABC journalists told the publication that Ms Guthrie’s interest in news and current affairs were minimal – despite managing the public broadcaster.
ABC boss Michelle Guthrie (pictured) was sacked halfway though her five-year term
Ms Guthrie made it known from the start that she was fond of the popular reality show Gogglebox (pictured) over any of the broadcaster’s programs
Staff told the publication that her lack of understanding of basic journalism was ‘astounding’.
They also claimed she didn’t understand that the ABC didn’t thrive off lifestyle programs.
‘She rarely watched the news. This was the woman who was head of the public broadcaster for f**k’s sake,’ a former ABC executive producer said.
ABC insiders said in the past five months Ms Guthrie had effectively become ‘dead woman walking’.
The former media lawyer was welcomed to the ABC in the hopes that she had a clear understanding of what was needed to target a younger audience.
It quickly became clear that Ms Guthrie wasn’t prepared to step into the demanding position, staff told the publication.
‘There was total bewilderment over at Google when Guthrie got the job,’ another Insider said.
The insider said that Ms Guthrie was also no longer welcomed at her role at Google, saying she had been sidelined on special projects in the company.
Ms Guthrie, a former Foxtel and Google executive, was hated by sections of the ABC for controversially axing 200 positions
Six months after she began her role as managing director at ABC, Ms Guthrie sat in on a meeting for Four Corners and was asked what she would like to see on the popular program, according to The Australian.
Reporters said the former 53-year-old former Foxtel and Google executive said she was keen on more positive stories about successful business leaders.
They claim she then shared her thoughts on a story that had previously run on the program revealing the horrifying ordeal children were enduring in Nauru.
Ms Guthrie told the reporters that the story should have included ‘happy children’, the publication reported.
‘There was a really long pause until one reporter said, “Um, there are no happy children on Nauru.” It was scary,’ a veteran reporter said.
The national broadcaster’s chairman Justin Milne (left) and the board moved against the ABC managing director (right)
Her management, which has been described by staff as ‘corporate Google cult-style’, saw newsrooms across the country revolt.
Ms Guthrie’s time as the ABC’s managing director will be remembered for low staff morale, redundancies and budget cuts, says the national journalist’s union.
She expressed that she wanted the network’s website to be the most viewed in the world – with many believing that she didn’t care for quality or content produced, only the reach.
Workers also told The Australian that the network was shocked that head of news, Gavin Morris, eventually fell in line with ‘the Guthrie strategy’ rather than ‘defending his turf’.
Under her leadership last year, 200 middle-management staff were retrenched, with the savings put into a new $50 million Great Ideas Grant, in which different divisions could bid for funding.
The former 53-year-old former Foxtel and Google executive said that she was keen on more positive stories about successful business leaders for the network’s show ‘Four Corners’
Under her leadership in March, 200 journalists were controversially retrenched from newsrooms to create a $50 million new Content Fund, where different divisions with new ideas could bid for funding
Another 20 capital-city newsroom journalists were sacked in April to make way for new digital and regional reporters.
Ms Guthrie’s digital-first strategy has been hated by commercial media, with revelations in May the ABC had spent $2 million promoting its online stories on Google and Facebook.
Ms Guthrie posted a statement two hours after the ABC announced she had been sacked and added that ‘at no point have any issues been raised with me’ about her staffing changes.
‘I am devastated by the board’s decision to terminate my employment despite no claim of wrongdoing on my part,’ Ms Guthrie said in a statement on Monday.
‘I believe there is no justification for the board to trigger that termination clause.
‘I am considering my legal options.’