Amanda Shalala’s ABC Women’s World Cup email about the Matildas causes chaos as staff rage at the deluge of replies until news chief Gavin Fang closes the line
- Reply-to-all email causes chaos at ABC
- A senior official sent a stern response
An email chain about Matildas’ soccer coverage sparked widespread chaos at ABC until a stern response from a senior staffer shut it down.
A mass email was sent to all ABC staff on Thursday about coverage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which is currently taking place in Australia and New Zealand.
Daily Mail Australia obtained images of the email and some of the responses, in which several employees quickly asked to be removed from the list.
“I set up this DG to capture everyone who needs to be in our Women’s World Cup coverage. And if you don’t, please ignore and delete!’ said the email from sportswriter Amanda Shalala.
An email regarding coverage of the Women’s World Cup was sent to all ABC staff on Thursday.
A mass email sent ABC into chaos on Thursday and Friday.
ABC staff quickly asked to be removed from the email list.
The email then went on to detail instructions on how to report on the major sporting event.
“All radio shows/podcasts can use this form to request a cross, if there’s a time outside of those listed you’d like, let me know and I’ll do my best to find a reporter for you,” it read.
While most of the responses to the email consisted of a quick message asking to be removed from the thread, Deputy Director Gavin Fang had a thornier response.
“Please stop reply at this DG,” he wrote.
‘That’s the nature of working within a news organization where we communicate with each other via email about the logistics of covering news events.
“If you keep getting the email and you don’t want to, just block it.”
The deputy director of ABC sent a forceful response to the chain email
Another employee noted, “I feel like I’ve been getting more emails about people wanting to be removed from this list than actual emails.”
ABC staffers took to Twitter to express their frustration and amusement at the disruptive email chain.
Radio National Drive presenter Andy Park asked: ‘Is ABC alone in using email for internal and external communications?
‘The response to all the apocalypse now clogging the broadcaster’s servers reminds me that there must be a better way…’
ABC Radio National host Andy Park took to Twitter to vent his frustration over the email.
An ABC journalist made a joke about the disruptive email thread
Another quipped: “To all the ABC employees who responded to *that* email back to everyone, I just reported it to People & Culture and formally requested that your pay be deducted.”
“If there’s a debate about the correct plural form of ‘octopus,’ everything else is just brilliant email congestion,” said ABC radio reporter Anna Vidot.
Other Twitter users joined the discussion with one stating, “Obviously the biggest news of the day is the ABC reply-all email incident.”
Daily Mail Australia has approached ABC for comment.
