Catherine West stays on as Nine chair, but faces grilling at AGM

Nine Entertainment chair Catherine West has been re-elected to the media company’s board, despite facing a barrage of questions at its AGM about her failure to act on the organisation’s rotten workplace culture.

Nine chair Catherine West.

Nine Entertainment chair Catherine West has been re-elected to the company’s board, despite facing a barrage of questions at the media group’s annual shareholder meeting about her failure to act on the organisation’s rotten workplace culture.

Ms West, who was appointed chair of Nine in June following her predecessor Peter Costello’s ignominious exit, was forced to defend her own record on Thursday when asked by several disgruntled shareholders why she hadn’t sought to address the widespread bad behaviour of staff during her eight years on the board.

“I wish I had known, and we really did look for it,” Ms West said on Thursday, referring to the entrenched culture of bullying and sexual harassment at Nine which was uncovered by the recent Intersection report into the company’s workplace.

“What we really have found out is that the reporting levels were really low because people didn’t trust those systems, and there was a very severe imbalance of power,

“I would say to the people, please, trust me now that we know, I am determined, absolutely determined, to work with the rest of the board. And you can’t do things that you can’t see, so it’s when it’s in the shadows, you can’t do anything.

“So part of this is exercising the muscle to hold people to account. Not walking past anything that you see, and that is a big cultural challenge for a lot of industries, and particularly our industry. People have accepted things that are not acceptable for far too long.”

West was re-elected to the board for another three-year term, as was fellow board member Andrew Lancaster.

Nine Entertainment non-executive board director Andrew Lancaster at the company's annual general meeting on Thursday.

Earlier, Nine’s acting chief executive Matt Stanton promised that “individuals will be held to account” for inappropriate conduct at the media company as it continues to deal with the fallout from the damning findings of the independent review.

Addressing shareholders, Mr Stanton conceded it had been “a tough few weeks for many people at Nine since the report was released, and in retrospect, for a small number, a tough few years”.

“I want to make it clear that there is no place at Nine for the abuse of power, bullying, sexual harassment or inappropriate conduct outlined in the report, and no place for people who behave that way,” he said.

“I have delivered that message directly to our people.

“It is still early days, but there will be change at Nine and individuals will be held to account for behaviour of this nature.

“The board and management are absolutely united on the need to accelerate change to support workplace reform”.

In October, Nine released its independent review – conducted by external consulting firm Intersection – into the company’s workplace culture.

It found the media organisation was rife with systemic bullying, sexual harassment and misconduct in all divisions of the media company.

The review was launched after revelations by The Australian in May that former TV news and current affairs boss Darren Wick left the company after a complaint was made by a female employee.

On Thursday Fiona Dear, who took over from Wick in June, announced Nine’s Brisbane news director Amanda Paterson had left the company.

Dear gave no details about the reasons behind Paterson’s departure.

She said a permanent replacement will be made in due course.

In a trading update released to the sharemarket on Thursday, Nine revealed its total television revenues rose by about 15 per cent during the September quarter, due largely to the success of the Olympics and Paralympics broadcasts.

But the total television advertising market has declined by about 10 per cent compared to the same period in 2023, and the outlook remains grim.

Mr Stanton said another $50m in cost cuts could be expected in the 2025 financial year.

“We have committed to take a further $50m of underlying costs out in FY25 – equating to a two-year total of around $100 million,” he said.

Nine’s shares closed at $1.10 on the ASX on Thursday afternoon.

Originally published as Catherine West stays on as Nine chair, but faces grilling at AGM