Nine journalist Airlie Walsh settles sex discrimination case

Sydney television reporter Airlie Walsh has reached a confidential settlement in a complaint launched against Nine, saying she is ‘relieved’ the legal process has concluded.

Sydney television reporter Airlie Walsh. Picture: airliewalsh/Instagram

Sydney television journalist Airlie Walsh has reached a confidential settlement in a sex discrimination complaint launched against Nine, saying she is “relieved” the legal process has concluded.

Walsh, who worked across Nine’s Canberra press gallery and the Sydney newsroom with the network’s Today program, filed a complaint with the Federal Court last year, which The Australian understands alleged misconduct amongst senior figures at the besieged company.

In a statement announcing the matter had been finalised, Walsh praised the women who “bravely” came forward to expose alleged wrongdoings at Nine.

“After 15 years with Nine Entertainment, in October 2023 I made the difficult decision to engage lawyers and try to right a number of wrongs,” she said. “During this time, more women bravely came forward, Nine conducted a culture review, and many of my broadcast colleagues contributed their experiences. In doing so, I was buoyed. It turns out, courage IS contagious.”

A damning report into Nine’s culture released in October last year showed 57 per cent of current employees in the television news and current affairs division claiming to have “experienced bullying, discrimination or harassment”.

The review found 49 per cent of staff in the radio division – which includes 2GB, 3AW, 4BC and 6PR – experienced bullying, while 43 per cent of employees in Nine’s publishing arm, which includes The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, also claimed to have been bullied.

The company’s former chief executive, Mike Sneesby, commissioned the independent review into misconduct at the network following the revelation of misconduct allegations against former Nine news director Darren Wick.

Walsh said she would be leaving Nine “filled with gratitude towards those who made me a better journalist and person”.

Airlie Walsh.

Maurice Blackburn principal Josh Bornstein, who represented Walsh, said her decision to pursue the case “took a lot of courage”.

“It also both spurred other women to take action and Nine to institute major change,” Mr Bornstein said. “I hope that the settlement of this important case is a further catalyst for the commercial news media to clean up its act. It is well overdue.”

Nine has been contacted for comment.

Walsh’s claim came following a spate of misconduct allegations within the Nine newsroom, including a fair work claim lodged by former Nine Brisbane boss Amanda Paterson who alleged she was unlawfully terminated by the media company during a seven-minute videolink meeting with director of news and current affairs Fiona Dear.