Is the Nine Entertainment board really up to the challenge needed to change?

There is little confidence the same board that fundamentally allowed an appalling corporate culture and poor leadership to thrive, can also fix it.

Nine Entertainment had a corporate culture that allowed bullying, sexism and poor management to thrive. Picture: AFP

Nine’s board led by Catherine West now has a road map to fix the media company. The question is whether the same board that was fast asleep as culture was getting worse is also the right one to fix it.

The board-commissioned investigation into Nine marks a seminal moment for the broadcast and publishing company exposing a toxic culture where junior female employees were fearful and a culture of bullying and harassment thrived.

And in a worrying sign, Nine missed every moment created by a crisis that it needs to rebuild.

Nine kept the release of the 82-page report prepared by workplace consultants Intersection to an internal staff briefing.

Nine chair Catherine West.

The company isn’t owning it publicly. Acting chief executive Matt Stanton has ruled out accountability for those involved, nor is there full-throated public commitment that the behaviour uncovered is unacceptable and perpetrators will be sent packing.

It was only in an internal email West said the company had “undeniable problems with our workplace culture”.

She also apologised to employees including those who no longer worked there who had “experienced unacceptable conduct in the workplace”.

West only recently took over from Peter Costello who was forced to resign, but she has been on the Nine board for nearly a decade. (Nine and its publications are a competitor to this masthead across several markets).

What is so damning about the report is the behaviour was not just across isolated incidents – which unfortunately can exist in any workplace – rather, it shows evidence of systemic issues right through Nine.

And there is almost no willingness at a corporate level or any basic processes in place to deal with bad behaviour or complaints. At times managers actively discouraged the reporting of incidents. And when it came to workplace culture or even decent behaviour, red line after red line was crossed.

The report paints a picture of an unsophisticated company where management was weak or no one had the authority to rein in the perpetrators.

Its shows poor or little governance in place and a board simply lacking any awareness.

Think of tolerating any workplace where those in positions of power were actively sharing confidential information including complaints they made about others. Or think of a workplace where bosses were weaponising sensitive pay and other information by leaking it publicly to undermine top talent. Imagine if a bank allowed staff to be harassed where managers routinely humiliated those with less power.

Think of any workplace where a senior male leader would repeatedly bully female staffers. Or imagine tolerating an accounting firm where for years young female staffers would be warned to stay away from senior managers who were known gropers.

With all the tech systems available and avenues for communication there is simply no excuse for a modern workplace to tolerate the behaviour that was taking place. Worse still, it was allowed it to thrive.

Over the past two decades corporate Australia has become well aware it needs to evolve along with community expectations about men and women and safety in the workplace. There are serious legal impactions for failing to do so and poor companies with poor governance get marked down by investors. Any company with global operations, particularly in Europe or the US, is acutely aware of their obligations. This includes compliance, repeated training and, importantly, consequences for perpetrators.

Former Nine chief executive officer Mike Sneesby stepped down this month.

For this to continue right up to now at Nine sends deeply worrying signals to investors.

It shows a company that has failed to evolve. This means it is increasingly out of touch with its two biggest revenue drivers – audience and advertisers. So too it means the best talent and smartest management material will simply move on to other opportunities rather than stay in the sandbox stuck in the 1980s.

The Intersection report has bigger implications for Nine as a corporate entity which now faces years of disruption.

And it comes as its two key divisions – broadcast television and Stan streaming – are facing massive structural change. So too its 66 per cent-owned property listings site Domain, which represents much of the value in Nine’s market capitalisation, is underperforming and is the source of much tension inside the Nine boardroom.

Nine is already undergoing a major reset. It has launched a search for a new CEO, following last month’s exit of Mike Sneesby. It is unlikely Sneesby could have survived a report that showed the top executives tolerated a culture of cover-up in the newsrooms.

Stanton’s relative outsider status, having only joined 18 months ago, helps his case as a front runner. But he needs to prove he is the one to drive cultural reform.

CEOs say real cultural change takes three to five years. And that’s in an environment when everything goes right. Nine is in an industry where the goalposts are constantly shifting and doesn’t have that luxury of time.

For investors, reports such as these don’t get filed and forgotten. Nine’s own big shareholders beyond cornerstone investor Bruce Gordon will push the company to come clean on how they intend to fix the culture and what they’re doing to get the perpetrators out.

The failure to get on the front foot on day one means Nine’s board has already fallen at the first hurdle.

Originally published as Is the Nine Entertainment board really up to the challenge needed to change?