‘There will be change at Nine’: CEO addresses workplace review as law firm reportedly set to investigate allegations
The chief executive officer of Nine Entertainment has addressed the company’s workplace report, as a law firm has reportedly been engaged to investigate allegations of misconduct.
In a note sent to staff on Monday afternoon, seen by Mumbrella, Matt Stanton confirmed an “action plan” is being put in place after the findings of last week’s report from external consultancy Intersection, which put forward 22 recommendations to improve the workplace.
“As we said on Thursday, there is no place at Nine for the abuse of power, bullying, sexual harassment or inappropriate conduct outlined in the Intersection report or for people who behave that way,” Stanton’s note reads.
“There will be change at Nine and individuals will be held to account for behaviour of this nature. The Board and management are united in the need to accelerate change to support the workplace reform program.
“Given some of the conjecture within and outside Nine, I also wanted to be clear about what we are doing to hold people to account. We currently have a number of active investigations underway into issues raised by employees, some of which are being led by an external investigator whom we have partnered with. No two cases are the same, and I’m sure you can appreciate these investigations need to be conducted in a manner that follows a just and proper process, which can take time. This will not be influenced by outside interest or public scrutiny.”
As reported by the Australian Financial Review, the external investigator that Nine Entertainment has engaged with is law firm Enterprise Investigation, which will look into the claims made by employees.
Nine declined to comment when contacted by Mumbrella.
The note comes after chief executive officer of news publication Capital Brief, and former chief digital and publishing officer at Nine, Chris Janz, weighed in on last week’s report while appearing on a panel at SXSW Sydney.
The long-time journalism and media figure claimed that the “biggest challenge in [his] career” was navigating Nine’s toxic culture.
“I joined Nine as a result of a takeover of the business. So I was working in Fairfax [when it] effectively took over the business,” Janz said.
“And it’s now out in the open, you know, pretty toxic culture… Like, terrifically toxic culture. And one in which there are [power] games like you’ve never seen.”
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