Seven Workplace Culture: “These types of behaviors need to be addressed and changed.”

Last night, explosive allegations of bullying, sexism, sexual assault and exploitation were made against Seven Network. Four corners report by Louise Milligan.

They included interviews with both former and current employees, naming news executives who have since left the network.

Most serious were claims that some staff members had attempted suicide and been hospitalised.

Several of the 200 people who spoke to Milligan were forced to sign nondisclosure agreements (one of them, Anber Harrison, did not appear in the final edit). Four corners criticized the media company for engaging in news and journalism but silencing its own staff from whistleblowing.

Key allegations included:

• A young Queensland journalist became so upset by her treatment at work that she ran in front of a car outside a Seven office, ending up in the bush of Mt Coot-tha.
• Former Seven presenter Mark Gibson was among Perth staff who complained about news boss Shaun Menegola, claiming he was followed by private investigators while Menegola stayed.
• Current seven Sunrise Producer Matthew McGrane filed a workers’ compensation claim after an accident with his wheelchair while returning home. It was denied when the network said it had no formal agreement to allow him to spend some of his work hours at home. McGrane is suing Seven for disability discrimination.
• Allegations of ‘anti-Semitic’ and offensive texts sent by former In the spotlight executive producer Mark Llewellyn to producer Taylor Auerbach.
• An investigation into former Seven reporter Robert Ovadia after alleged unprofessional conduct. He denies the claims and is suing Seven for unfair dismissal.
• Olivia Babb, the current reporter for Seven Toowoomba, spoke of intimidation and bullying and complaints about pay.
• A former Human Resources employee alleged she was directed to comb through emails to create false or misleading charges against employees in order to terminate their contracts.
• A journalist on In the spotlightwho is suing the network for sexual discrimination, describes it as a deeply sexist workplace. Her legal claim cites an example from 2022, when she entered an edit suite and saw a pornographic photo on the wall (she does not suggest the executive producer was aware of this).

The Queensland journalist, who worked extremely long hours for a basic salary and struggled with severe anxiety, told Seven she was leaving but was told she had to stay with the network for another six months.

“The only way I can describe it is I felt like there was a noose around my neck,” she said Four corners. She said she felt like she was “in a domestic violence relationship with (Seven news)”.

“I went into a spiral,” she said, “I saw a car coming towards me on the road, I ran out of it and hoped it would hit me. It stopped. I kept running to find another car. I saw the edge of the cliff at Mt Coot-tha and I jumped. I tumbled down the hill, through the bushes.”

A In the spotlight journalist said: “I reached a point where I was suicidal, and I remember a particularly dark moment when I had been working all weekend.

“I called Lifeline and made an appointment with the doctor because I knew I was so close to taking my own life. And I had a child that I couldn’t do that to because I was a single parent.”

Reporter Olivia Babb, who currently makes less than $60,000, said: “It’s one of the most degrading, soul-destroying places you can work… We did a story the other day and one of my (interviewees) said, ‘We’re all one or two paychecks away from homelessness.’ That’s me.”

#notspeaking #4Corners photo.twitter.com/EtsCwU7cww

— Olivia (@oliviababb88) August 12, 2024

Mark Gibson, now at ABC, said: “The phrase ‘It’s the Sunrise family, it is the Telethon family, it is the Seven news family… It’s a very dysfunctional family.”

He said he was speaking out now because “I don’t want to be the person who continues to be silently complicit in this type of behavior. This type of behavior in the workplace needs to be called out and it needs to be changed.”

Four corners made only a passing reference to the allegations made to the Nine newsroom and ABC News (in June 1997, ABC News staff reported experiencing sexual harassment and 25% had personally experienced bullying).

According to the Daily Telegraph, Mark Llewellyn claimed that “the messages shared on ABC’s programs, Four corners program are selectively chosen. For context, Taylor and I shared a mutual love of absurd wordplay. This included a silly game he and I devised where he would speculate on the most ridiculous or unpolitically correct thing you could get away with… he was not only in on the joke, he was the instigator of it.”

In response to the claims, a statement from Seven said:

“Seven West Media (SWM) takes note of the issues raised by the ABC Four corners program in tonight’s episode. While we are clearly concerned about allegations of employee misconduct and abuse, a number of the matters raised represent old issues that have been properly discussed and dealt with, in some cases many years ago.

“A number of people who exhibited behavior that was inconsistent with SWM values ​​have already been removed from the organization.

“We encourage all Seven West Media team members to speak up about any behaviour that does not reflect our values. Whistleblower protections are in place and are regularly re-emphasised to all employees.

“We have a great team at SWM and the actions of some individuals do not reflect the values, behaviours and attitudes of the company as a whole, which is home to some of the best, hardest working and most passionate media professionals in Australia. Our focus is to create a stronger culture that enables our great people to thrive, and where unacceptable behaviour is not tolerated.”

Last month, Seven West Media was named to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s WGEA Employer of Choice for Gender Equality list for the second time.

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