‘It’s an industry-wide issue’: Top lawyer says ‘more people coming forward’ after Four Corners’ Seven investigation
For a number of years now, Joshua Bornstein has been representing “a number of women in the commercial TV news industry” pursuing claims of sexual harassment and unlawful discrimination.
The principal lawyer at Maurice Blackburn appeared on Four Corners’ recent investigation of Seven’s workplace culture, where he said the “brutal workplace culture” at the network was the worst he’s seen in 25 years.
In early June, Maurice Blackburn put out a call to women in the commercial television industry who have been affected by sexual harassment and unlawful discrimination: “We believe that there may be many other women who have been affected, either by witnessing such conduct or by experiencing it. If you have information that could assist our clients, or if you wish to get advice about your own experience, please contact us.”
Having worked in Broadcast Media from the early 80’s, I’d suggest that the “boys club” and predatory behaviour towards younger staff is not particularly new, the difference is that it seems that the highest levels of management seem to turn a blind eye until the unpleasant truth is revealed in other media.
There is also a whole level of questionable conduct with stripping land and other assets from TV stations, loading up networks with more recurrent expenditure and outsourcing traditional in house production and broadcasting operations to outside companies, at the cost of Australian jobs.