Nine Entertainment’s newspaper arm aims for 50/50 gender split for columnists

Former Liberal leader John Hewson has been dumped as a regular newspaper columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald because he is a man.

Nine Managing director – publishing James Chessell and SMH editor Lisa Davies. Picture: Getty Images

Former Liberal leader John Hewson has been dumped as a regular newspaper columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald because he is a man.

The 74-year-old, who has penned opinion pieces for the mastheads for almost two decades, was told on the weekend that his services were no longer required, as Nine Entertainment seeks to reach a 50/50 gender balance among its stable of opinion writers.

“We are committed to refreshing and diversifying our rotation of columnists, especially in line with our pledge for 50/50 gender balance,” SMH editor Lisa Davies posted on Twitter on Saturday, as she thanked Dr Hewson for his contributions.

Thank you for your contributions to debate over a number of years John, our readers have valued your insights. However we are committed to refreshing and diversifying our rotation of columnists, especially in line with our pledge for 50/50 gender balance. https://t.co/Gi6y1Vgkgb

— Lisa Davies (@lisazdavies) July 17, 2021

Davies told The Australian the masthead was revamping its columnist line-up and would focus on striking an even split between male and female columnists. “Among our many considerations when doing so (refreshing columnists) is encouraging more women to write for us, as per our pledge on International Women’s Day,” she said.

Former Liberal leader John Hewson. Picture: Aaron Francis

She would not disclose what percentage of its opinion line-up was held by women and men.

Curiously, on the same day that it was publicly announced Dr Hewson was being let go as part of the company’s gender recalibration, the editor of The Age, Gay Alcorn, announced that former Coalition minister Amanda Vanstone had also been shown the door.

“We have recently let go Amanda Vanstone after 10 years of column writing for us. Again, we have greatly valued her contributions but @theage needs to refresh our opinion offering and we are in the process of doing so,” Alcorn wrote.

We have recently let go Amanda Vanstone after 10 years of column writing for us. Again, we have greatly valued her contributions but @theage needs to refresh our opinion offering and we are in the process of doing so. https://t.co/aSLiMuX7iX

— Gay Alcorn (@Gay_Alcorn) July 17, 2021

Earlier this year, Nine also ended its partnership with longstanding columnist Wendy Squires.

Dr Hewson had his own take on why Nine — which is chaired by his one-time Liberal colleague Peter Costello — severed ties with him. “They’ll have all sorts of reasons like ‘we need to get some new blood or we need diversity or we will hire somebody else’,” Dr Hewson told The Australian on Sunday.

“But the real reason, I could see over a long period of time, was the increasing concern I was being too critical of the government and the strategy of Nine is definitely to be supportive of the government.”

In a tweet that attracted a flurry of online attention, resulting in more than 4000 retweets and 14,000 likes, Dr Hewson said the Morrison government had managed to muzzle a complicit mainstream media.

“Sad Nine terminated my regular SMH/Age column this week. Neither Morrison Govt nor MSM (mainstream media) actually believe in free press (noun) not controlled or restricted by govt or their sycophantic mates censorship in political or ideological matters.”

Sad Nine terminated my regular SMH/Age column this week. Neither Morrison Govt nor MSM actually believe in free press(noun) not controlled or restricted by govt or their sycophantic mates censorship in political or ideological matters

— John Hewson (@JohnRHewson) July 16, 2021

Nine Managing director – publishing James Chessell also responded to Dr Hewson’s ­criticism of Nine. “Great take John. Guess the SMH & Age will have to muddle though (sic) with those sycophantic ideologues”, and went on to list 21 of their newspapers’ columnists — 13 men, and 8 women.

On International Women’s Day in March, SMH opinion editor Julie Lewis wrote that the paper was trying to overhaul its opinion pages by ensuring most pieces would not continue to be dominated by male voices.

“We’ve been consciously trying to change that and seek out women when we are commissioning and selecting pieces,” she wrote. She cited a report by the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia in 2019 that showed 70 per cent of columnists and contributors were men.

Ms Lewis said, “we’re aiming for 50 per cent in print, which should flow online”.

“So to women everywhere I say: pitch, write and repeat,” she said. “We want to hear you roar.”