Nine staff have refuted executives’ claims that the findings of the company’s bombshell independent report into workplace culture, were “not about individuals”.
Nine released the findings of the long-awaited review, conducted by consulting firm Intersection, on Thursday following allegations of toxicity, sexual harassment and bullying at the company across its newsrooms.
The all-staff briefing, delivered on Thursday afternoon, featured acting CEO Matt Stanton, Nine Entertainment chair Catherine West, people and culture lead Vanessa Morley, and Intersection principal Natasha De Silva.
In an internal email sent to staff ahead of the briefing, seen by Crikey, West said the review found Nine has “a systemic cultural issue with abuse of power and authority; bullying, discrimination and harassment; and sexual harassment”.
“No department is immune and the results are concerning across the company,” she said.
The briefing, which Crikey had access to and went for over an hour, included a top-line summary of the report before executives took questions from staff.
The very first question was directed to Stanton: “Why won’t you commit to firing people who have harassed, bullied or assaulted people? There needs to be real consequences to show this behaviour is not tolerated?”
“Today is not about individuals,” Stanton responded.
“This is about the Intersection report, which is about systemic issues in the organisation.”
A Nine papers staff member told Crikey that Stanton’s response prompted “widespread cringe” among staff.
“Widespread scepticism is the vibes around the newsroom,” they said.
A question about the report being a “damning look at Nine’s culture”, and whether “people and culture [were] asleep at the wheel” brought Morley to tears — her voice can be heard breaking on the audio but multiple sources confirmed she was crying — prompting Stanton to step in with a more forceful tone.
“I have heard those comments before,” said Stanton.
“I think we need to really realise this is an organisation. People doesn’t come from people and culture, okay? Culture comes from us,” he said.
“We are responsible for the culture,” Stanton said, continuing to speak on how the people and culture department had been “pushing a lot of recommendations, but it has been a little bit optional, whether people take those recommendations and implement them. It is not optional any more, alright? Making sure you follow policies, procedures [and] do your training is mandatory”.
“I feel really strongly about this … it’s just wrong that people think that culture is driven by the people and culture team. It’s not, it’s by us, it’s the leaders, it’s the team.”
Another Nine papers source told Crikey that Stanton’s position “kind of negates the entire point of the report, which is the systemic failings of management to do anything about the rotten culture in broadcasting”.
“It made it seem like absolutely nothing will change,” they said.
They added that West appeared “genuinely gutted” during the briefing.
The report (which can be read in full here) found 62% of broadcast division employees had experienced or witnessed abuse of power or authority in the past five years, with 49% of Nine employees as a whole experiencing bullying, discrimination or harassment.
The radio division, which operates Melbourne’s 3AW and Sydney’s 2GB, as well as Brisbane’s 4BC and Perth’s 6PR, reported the highest level of abuse of power or authority, with 66% of respondents experiencing it.
A total of 934 responses were received by Intersection, which was a response rate of 19% of Nine’s total staff. Broadcast division staff specifically were invited to one-on-one interviews, and 122 were conducted including 85 women and 37 men.
The report interviewed staff who said women in the broadcast division were considered on the basis of their “fuckability”, more commonly, euphemistically referred to as their “star power”.
One staffer in the report referred to being sidelined by a particular manager after speaking up over a story, claiming other staff knew of the manager’s tendencies and called it “Punishment Island”.
A Nine broadcast staffer told Crikey they were “actually surprised that our sexual harassment rate ended up lower than the industry average considering everything that led to this.”
It follows a turbulent period for the company, with former news director Darren Wick at the centre of a number of allegations of “drunken, lecherous” behaviour towards women in the workplace.
One Nine source told Crikey that they “didn’t see or hear anything until Darren Wick got fired. I don’t know who he is or what he did. But there were no problems on my end that weren’t immediately dealt with”.
A former Nine source, on reading the report, however, said they “relate to the humiliation that many of those respondents felt when I was employed there.”
“I have little faith that Nine will be able to rectify these issues anytime soon. I feel sorry for former colleagues and staff who are left with little choice to continue working there,” they said.
In May, it was reported that former head of communications for Nine-owned streaming service Stan, Adrian Foo, left the company following allegations he bullied and inappropriately touched staff.
Wick resigned in March after a period away from the company, taking with him a reported settlement of close to $1 million. Wick’s departure was followed by chair Peter Costello, who resigned after allegedly shoving a News Corp reporter who was asking him questions about Wick at Canberra Airport. Costello served as treasurer under John Howard for the entirety of Howard’s 11-year term, making him Australia’s longest-serving treasurer.
Nine’s journalists then went on a five-day strike during the Paris Olympics after failing to come to a pay agreement. CEO Mike Sneesby resigned in September, telling staff in a note that 2024 had been “one of the most challenging [years] in his career”. On the announcement of his departure, Nine’s share price was down 57% relative to its position at the beginning of Sneesby’s three-and-a-half-year tenure.
Earlier this week, Nine’s communications boss Victoria Buchan was made redundant, although The Australian reported it understood Buchan’s departure was not linked to the findings of the review.
Nine’s board apologised to staff and has committed to implementing all 22 recommendations of the report, with a response plan to be presented to the board in November.
