Former newsreader Tracey Spicer says TV journos scared to speak up amid cost of living crisis

Former newsreader Tracey Spicer says most of the TV news journalists are too afraid to speak out about bullying and harassment “for fear of losing their jobs”.

Former newsreader Tracey Spicer says the television news industry is still testosterone-fuelled.

Tracey Spicer says the television news industry is still the “Wild West” when it comes to sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace.

Speaking ahead of International Women’s Day, the journalist and motivational speaker said the majority of those in the industry were still too frightened to speak out about bullying and harassment “for fear of losing their jobs, during a cost-of-living crisis”.

Ms Spicer, who mentors several women working in the media industry, said the culture was still “quite testosterone-fuelled”.

“While there are certainly a few more women in leadership positions in the media these days, there’s a ‘hangover’ from the 1980s and ’90s,” she said.

“The culture is still quite ‘testosterone-fuelled’, with women sexually harassed and men bullied. Improving workplace culture seems to be a ‘tick a box’ exercise.

“I’d like to think the workplace reviews currently under way will change things.”

Ms Spicer said recent allegations of bullying, sexism and harassment at Channel 7 and Channel 9 broke her heart.

“It broke my heart to read about the kind of treatment many women (and some men) are still enduring,” she said.

Ms Spicer, who has also been a vocal proponent of the #MeToo movement, said the industry needed to create “a safe workplace for all”.

“While this is happening in corporations, the media and technology sectors are home to remnants of the ‘Wild West’,” she said.

Tracey Spicer famously took on her former employer

Ms Spicer famously took on her former employer, Network 10, in 2006, just six weeks after she had returned from maternity leave.

She received an email telling her the network was “moving in a new direction” after 14 years in the job.

Ten issued a statement at the time in which they claimed Ms Spicer’s departure had nothing to do with her age or gender, with a settlement reached in early 2007.

“This lit a fire in my belly that burns to this day,” Ms Spicer said.

“After giving birth to my first child Taj, I was told I was no longer welcome back to my old job.

“I went to HR and remarkably my boss was sidelined, while I returned to my previous role.

“When they terminated my contract a few years later, weeks after the birth of Gracie, I decided to take the matter to the Federal Court and start a national conversation about maternity discrimination, which at that time affected one in two women.”

Years later, Ms Spicer released her first book and in 2018 was awarded an Order of Australia for her work as the national co-founder of Women in Media.

During her time as a newsreader, Ms Spicer said she was subjected to comments such as: “I want two inches off your hair and two inches off yer arse!” and “You need to stick your tits out more”.

She was also referred to as “that chubby girl from Queensland” by a fellow journalist.

“The sexual harassment was systemic and relentless,” Ms Spicer said.

A young Tracey Spicer The Good Girl Stripped Bare images

“I witnessed and experienced it at Channel 9 and Network Ten, but colleagues elsewhere in the media had the same kind of stories. In a way, your body was not your own. It had become a commodity.”

Ms Spicer, who now works as a motivational speaker and MC, said the #MeToo movement “helped many victim-survivors to realise they were not alone”.

“After I posted a tweet in 2017 requesting stories from the media and entertainment sector, I was overwhelmed by thousands of disclosures,” she said.

“One of the most moving was from a woman aged in her 70s who had been sexually assaulted by her boss as a teenager on her first day of work.

“She never returned to the workforce and didn’t even tell her husband, who’d died the previous year.”

Ms Spicer said she wanted other victim-survivors to know “it’s not your fault”.

“We now have legislation, regulation and guidelines around appropriate workplace behaviour,” she said.

“No one can fight this alone.”

Ms Spicer will be a guest panellist for the sold-out Act for Kids 2025 International Women’s Day lunch, which has been postponed due to Cyclone Alfred.

“When we empower women, it lifts entire communities out of poverty and hardship,” she said.