A four corners investigation into Channel Seven uncovered a range of alleged incidents involving sexual harassment and discrimination, along with systemic bullying behaviour against female staff. The report aired on 12 August 2024 showed not only the worst kind of workplace behaviour, but that Channel Seven as the employer of these women, allegedly attacked those who complained about being on the receiving end of this type of behaviour.
The alleged perpetrators of these incidents are senior men. The allegations were known to senior management and to members of the HR division for long periods of time and yet nothing was done to address the behaviour. The cost to the staff who were the targets of this behaviour in the workplace were devastating: lost careers, lost ambition, destroyed self-esteem and included attempts at suicide.
The response from Channel Seven when the allegations were put to them was ‘Individuals who have displayed behaviour not reflective of Seven’s values have been removed from the organisation.’ Is this sufficient in 2024?
The public are entitled to ask, what are the values of Channel Seven? Does ignoring known breaches of its own policies and then actively targeting the people who had been subjected to discriminatory, harassing and bullying behaviour reflect the values of Channel Seven? If so, who is going to be accountable for that? If not, what are they going to do about such a significant breach of their so called values? One could ask if this is a breach of the duty of care that Channel Seven owed its employees or if Channel Seven does not accept responsibility, then has there been negligence in allowing their staff to be so damaged by internal behaviour. Whatever the case, a simple lame apology will not satisfy the pub test in 2024.
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