Committing career suicide

An off-hand comment or the airing of an unpopular opinion could be all it takes to halt your journey up the corporate ladder. But can the act of career suicide actually lead to bigger and better things and if not, is it possible to resurrect your career? In a feature that first appeared in Encore, Lee Zachariah finds out.

It took just two words for radio presenter Howard Sattler to end his career: “Tim’s gay.”

Interviewing then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Sattler, the drivetime host of Fairfax-owned Perth radio station 6PR, gave voice to a rumour concerning the sexuality of the PM’s de facto partner, one that was based solely on his profession as a hairdresser. The baselessness of the rumour, his refusal to move on, and the public outrage over a question that would never be asked of Kevin Rudd, Tony Abbott or John Howard, culminated in the station firing Sattler.

Sattler was no stranger to controversy, and given his position in the Australian media as a “shock jock”, controversy is his area. So how far is too far? Why did this end his career when comments made by other shock jocks – think Kyle Sandilands – didn’t?