Damning report on toxic culture at Nine finds ‘systemic’ abuse of power, bullying and sexual harassment

TV bosses at Nine Entertainment bullied, harassed and belittled staff as part of a toxic culture that “normalised” and ignored inappropriate workplace behaviour and objectified female journalists, according to a bombshell cultural report.

The outside review found the Channel 9 owner has “a systemic issue” with abuse of power, bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment, and that management failed in its responsibilities to protect staff driven to the point of self-harm.

“Today is an incredibly difficult day for Nine as we confront these findings and reflect on serious cultural issues as an organisation,” Nine chair Catherine West said.

“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,” she said.

Nine has vowed to implement all 22 of the report’s recommendations, including overhauling its HR department, reviewing its code of conduct and appointing external parties to investigate workplace complaints.

Commissioned by former chief executive Mike Sneesby, the review by consultants Intersection involved a company-wide survey and 122 interviews with current and former TV staff, including 87 women.

“The report found that Nine has a systemic issue with abuse of power and authority; bullying, discrimination and harassment; and sexual harassment,” Nine said.

“Driving these behaviours is 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.”

While Intersection looked at Nine in its entirety, including the publishing and radio arm, the broadcasting business had the highest prevalence of inappropriate behaviour.

Some 62 per cent of broadcast employees had experienced or witnessed abuse of power, 57 per cent reported bullying, discrimination or harassment, and 30 per cent had experienced sexual harassment.

Intersection found the division littered with management failures, with senior leaders - both men and women - publicly humiliating underlings, sharing confidential information about staff with other employees, promoting or appointing employees based on their status or relationships and covering up inappropriate workplace behaviour.

One anonymous complaint quote in the report said: “I have endured thousands of microaggressions over time. It is death by a thousand cuts ... there was a point when I wanted to kill myself.”

“They intentionally and repeatedly belittle individuals, who are always below (them) in the workplace structure, until they can’t take it anymore,” said another participant.

Employees spoke about a sexualised atmosphere in some TV offices, describing their workplace as “misogynistic”, a “boys’ club culture” and “hostile to women” with profanity and sexualised and inappropriate comments common.

One female worker spoke of a work function where a fellow employee :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 before (the individual) said to my partner: ‘You can f..k 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.”

Mr Sneesby followed his chairman Peter Costello out of the door last month after a horror few months at the helm, marred by an ill-timed Paris junket during strike action by hundreds of print journalists and allegations of inappropriate behaviour against the network’s former top news man, Darren Wick.

“This year has been one of the most challenging in my career — one where our resilience has been tested,” he told staff before his exit at the end of September.

Those tests began in earnest in May when revelations about the alleged inappropriate behaviour of long-time TV news boss Darren Wick exploded to the surface.

Mr Wick walked out — with a $1 million golden handshake signed off by Mr Sneesby — after a wave of allegations from female staff about alleged verbal or physical misconduct.

He has denied the allegations.

A month later, when a journalist attempted to ask then-chairman Mr Costello about the culture within his organisation, he was accused of assaulting the reporter while refusing to answer the questions.

Mr Costello initially said the reporter fell over an advertising placard. The former Federal treasurer fell on his sword and quit days later.