Nine news boss Amanda Paterson was ‘boned in seven minutes’

Amanda Paterson – who was sacked via video call and escorted from the newsroom immediately – has lodged a formal complaint to the Fair Work Commission, alleging she was unlawfully terminated.

Amanda Paterson, pictured, was sacked by Fiona Dear during a seven-minute video call and immediately removed from the Brisbane newsroom.

Sacked Nine Brisbane news boss Amanda Paterson has lodged a formal complaint to the Fair Work Commission, alleging she was unlawfully terminated by the media company’s director of news and current affairs Fiona Dear for minor transgressions that were completely unrelated to the ­organisation’s highly publicised review of its workplace culture.

Paterson, who worked at Nine for 31 years – having started at the company as a 19-year-old – last week commenced legal action against Nine Entertainment and Dear, with the matter headed for a mandatory conciliation hearing in the FWC before proceeding to the Federal Court.

Paterson is seeking unspecified damages arising from unlawful termination. It’s understood that Nine wants Paterson to sign a deed of release to resolve the dispute.

Until November 7, Paterson was news director of Nine’s Brisbane, Gold Coast and Darwin newsrooms. On that day, she was asked to attend a snap meeting in the boardroom of Nine Brisbane’s Mount Coot-tha headquarters.

During the seven-minute meeting between Paterson and Dear, who appeared via videolink from Sydney, the Brisbane news boss was informed that her employment was being terminated, effective immediately.

Fiona Dear, Nine’s director of news and current affairs. Picture: Liam Mendes

Paterson was then escorted from the site, and denied the opportunity to farewell newsroom staff. She was also unable to retrieve her dog, an 11-month-old poodle called Pepe, from her office. (Nine Brisbane has a “pets at work” policy, one day a week.)

A representative from Nine’s human resources department later handed the puppy back to Paterson, off-site.

It’s understood Paterson was told her termination was the result of three alleged workplace breaches – her failure to complete in-house “training modules”; her botched handling of the contract extension of one of her staff; and a newsroom incident during which she praised her staff for their efforts and ratings success and in doing so made a lighthearted reference to a recent removal of “dickheads” in the company.

At no point was Paterson told by Dear, or the company itself, that her sacking was in any way related to the findings of Nine’s cultural review, conducted by external consultancy group Intersection.

The Intersection report, released on October 17, uncovered an entrenched culture of bullying and sexual harassment at Nine, and made 22 recommendations to address the media company’s various workplace issues.

On the evening of November 7, just hours after Paterson was sacked, Dear emailed all newsroom staff to inform them of her sudden departure from the business. Dear’s email did not thank Paterson for her service or explain the reasons behind her ­departure.

“Amanda Paterson finished up with Nine today,” Dear wrote.

Two weeks prior to the sacking of Paterson, Dear herself was the target of staff outrage when she said she was “angered” by the rotten workplace culture that developed under her disgraced pre­decessor Darren Wick.

In an interview published by the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia in October, Dear said: “I worked in the newsroom in that period (under Wick),” she said. “I was angry. I was angry as a woman who worked in that environment at that time. “I was angry that I was given this opportunity and had to clean up someone else’s shit. This sounds selfish but I was angry.”

Several staff in Nine’s Sydney newsroom subsequently expressed their fury to The Australian about Dear’s comments, given some alleged she was complicit in the mistreatment of staff when she was chief of staff under Wick.

Dear was appointed Nine’s director of news and current affairs two months after Wick left the company in March, following allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards a female staff member. Paterson was a close associate of Wick.

On Sunday, a spokesperson for Nine declined to comment, but The Australian understands the company is aware of Paterson’s legal claim.

Meanwhile, on Friday, Nine announced a plan – endorsed by the company’s board – to “accelerate, address and measure its cultural transformation”.

Nine’s interim CEO, Matt Stanton. Picture: Nine

In a statement, Nine said more than 60 per cent of the recommendations arising from the Intersection review were complete or under way.

The company announced it would conduct a “cultural pulse” check in two years, a year ahead of the recommended timeframe, and flagged that executives’ remuneration and bonuses would be tied to “cultural-specific measurements and outcomes”.

Leaders will also be given one-on-one coaching to help them improve leadership skills.

Nine acting chief executive Matt Stanton said: “Our unrelenting focus remains on addressing Nine’s cultural issues, however there is no denying the prevalence of poor behaviour in the media industry is unacceptable and change is required.

“As the largest employer in the industry, we believe we can play an active role in shaping the cultural change required to create a safe, respectful and thriving industry. At the appropriate time, we look forward to engaging with industry peers to address these issues.”