Four Corners investigation alleges culture of fear, misogyny, bullying at Seven Network

A series of women have told an ABC investigation of bullying, harassment and misogynistic treatment they experienced at the Seven Network, which drove some to self-harm and hospitalisation.

A Four Corners episode on Monday night reported a number of staff had brought formal legal complaints against Seven alleging discrimination, including three employees in its Sydney newsroom.

Seven has been accused of discrimination against women in its newsrooms. Credit: Viki Lascaris

According to the ABC, one young female reporter in the commercial network’s Brisbane newsroom ran in front of a car outside the network’s office at Mt Coot-tha, before throwing herself down a hill because of her treatment.

“She says she was working extremely long hours and constantly rostered on weekends for a base salary just above the minimum wage. She says she began to suffer from crippling anxiety and decided to resign, but she was told the company wouldn’t allow it,” ABC reporter Louise Milligan said, recounting the woman’s experience.

The episode painted a picture of Seven Network operating under a culture of fear dominated by senior male staffers, which one former employee described as a place the #MeToo movement had passed by.

The ABC spoke to more than 200 people for the story, which featured on-air interviews with current and former staff, as well as employment lawyer Josh Bornstein, who is representing several women in cases against Seven.

The ABC said many more former staff could not share their stories after signing non-disclosure agreements.

Another former Seven regional reporter, Olivia Babb, who formerly worked for the ABC for five months, said in the episode she had been harassed and bullied while working for Seven.

“It is one of the most degrading, soul-crushing places you can work,” Babb said.

Babb said she was paid so little that she and other colleagues were often “one or two paychecks from homelessness”.

Following the show’s airing, a statement from the network said while it was clearly concerned about the allegations, a number of matters raised represented old issues that have been well aired and dealt with, in some cases many years ago.

“A number of people who have displayed behaviour not reflective of [Seven West Media’s] values have already been removed from the organisation.”

One former journalist, who was not named due to an ongoing legal case against Seven, said she ended up in hospital due to her treatment by Seven, which included being forced to hand over her story to a male reporter on 23 separate occasions, and working significant hours.

Bornstein, who is also acting for the former journalist, told the ABC there had been a noticeable pattern of hostility towards women at the network.

New Seven chief executive Jeff Howard.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Seven’s new chief executive, Jeff Howard, pre-emptively apologised to staff on Friday ahead of Monday night’s broadcast.

The ABC investigation follows a historical clear-out of senior talent and executives at the Kerry Stokes-controlled media group and aired two days before Seven’s full-year financial results, with its share price sitting at a near four-year low.

The program also covered some already established poor behaviour at the network, including the well-documented culture at news and current affairs show 7News Spotlight.

Howard’s note to staff on Friday said it was unfortunate that a few employees took up an offer to participate in the ABC’s investigation.

“If any of the issues they call out weren’t appropriately addressed, that disappoints me; we should have done better – and for that I’m sorry to those affected. Once we have seen the full story, we’ll provide everyone with some additional context if needed for clients/partners etc,” Howard wrote.

“Once this is behind us, I want us all to focus on how we move forward.”

In six months of executive overhaul at the media company, Howard replaced James Warburton as chief executive in April. Alongside Warburton, commercial director Bruce McWilliam also left.

Three more members of the executive leadership team were made redundant in June as part of a culling of about 150 staff: company veteran and chief revenue officer Kurt Burnette, chief marketer Melissa Hopkins, and Lewis Martin, the head of sport and Seven Melbourne’s managing director.

News and current affairs boss Craig McPherson departed the network after revelations about members of the Spotlight team’s efforts to secure an interview with alleged rapist Bruce Lehrmann were made public.

Anthony De Ceglie, formerly The West Australian editor-in-chief, has since taken responsibility for Seven’s news and current affairs output and reshuffled almost all the senior producers reporting to him.

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