Another head rolls at Nine: Sydney news director Simon Hobbs to depart

The departure of Simon Hobbs follows the release last month of the independent review into the media company’s workplace culture.

Nine’s Sydney news director Simon Hobbs is exiting the company.

Channel Nine is losing another senior executive, with Sydney news director Simon Hobbs set to leave the company this week.

Hobbs’ departure, which was announced at an all-staff meeting on Wednesday afternoon, follows the release last month of the independent review into the media company’s workplace culture, and comes just a week after his Brisbane-based counterpart in that city’s newsroom, Amanda Paterson, was abruptly sacked.

The report into Nine, which was conducted by consultancy firm Intersection, found bullying and sexual harassment were commonplace within the organisation.

Hobbs, who has worked at Nine for 12 years, was a close associate of the company’s former news boss Darren Wick, who announced his resignation in March, citing exhaustion.

Two months later, The Australian revealed that just prior to his departure, Wick had been the subject of a complaint from a female staff member, who had alleged that the news boss had behaved inappropriately towards her.

Since the circumstances of Wick’s departure were revealed, a slew of senior figures have left the company, including chair Peter Costello, who resigned after barging into a journalist from The Australian at Canberra Airport in June; chief executive Mike Sneesby, who exited the media organisation in September; and communications director Victoria Buchan, who was made redundant in October.

Peter Costello. Picture: David Beach

The departure of Paterson and Hobbs in consecutive weeks leaves a gaping hole in Nine’s news division, which is overseen by Fiona Dear, who served as newsroom chief-of-staff under Wick for many years.

On Wednesday, Dear issued a matter-of-fact email to staff about Hobbs’ departure.

“Simon Hobbs will be finishing up as … news director with Nine at the end of this week. Current deputy news director Margie McLew will assume the responsibilities of news director until a permanent replacement is finalised. Simon will be supporting Margie from home to ensure a seamless transition and handover in leadership, before finishing with the business on Friday 15 November.”

A spokesperson for Nine said: “Nine can confirm further leadership changes were communicated to its TV news division today. An internal and external recruitment process is now underway for news directors in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.”

In the days following the release of the Intersection report last month, Nine Entertainment’s interim CEO Matt Stanton revealed multiple “active investigations” were underway following reports by staff of inappropriate conduct at the media company.

“Since the release of the report, we can appreciate the strong desire to understand accountability for inappropriate behaviour that has occurred in our workplace,” Mr Stanton said in the correspondence, seen by The Australian.

“We currently have a number of active investigations under way into issues raised by employees, some of which are being led by an external investigator whom we have partnered with. No two cases are the same, and I’m sure you can appreciate these investigations need to be conducted in a manner that follows a just and proper process, which can take time.”

Mr Stanton also reiterated that: “There is no place at Nine for the abuse of power, bullying, sexual harassment or inappropriate conduct outlined in the Intersection report or for people who behave that way. There will be change at Nine and individuals will be held to account for behaviour of this nature.”