Current and former Seven Network employees have criticised their management following a series of controversies, with one describing it as one of the “most depressing workplaces ever”.
The workplace culture at the television station will once again be in the spotlight thanks to an episode of ABC’s flagship show, Four Corners, airing next Monday titled “Don’t Speak” and hosted by reporter Louise Milligan.
More than 200 employees were interviewed for the show, including Amber Harrison, whose romance with former CEO Tim Worner made headlines after she was fired for alleged credit card misuse.
“I can’t comment because I’ve been silenced for life,” Harrison told Daily Mail Australia, referring to a confidentiality agreement. “But Louise Milligan can’t, and it’s typical of her to expose injustices at Four Corners.”
Other former staffers who spoke on the show include veteran WA journalist Mark Gibson, who calls Seven a “very dysfunctional family” and the “third, fourth, fifth chance club” in a trailer for the episode.
Regional reporter Olivia Babb, who until recently worked for Seven in Toowoomba and Tamworth, featured prominently in the promotion.
She says, “How can they sleep at night?” and “they shouldn’t be in business if that’s what they do to young women.”
Ms. Babb posted on LinkedIn last week that she was looking for a job.
Channel Seven Regional reporter Olivia Babb talks about the network on camera on ABC’s Four Corners, for an episode airing on Monday.
Former Seven Network personal assistant Amber Harrison (pictured) hit the headlines after her relationship with former chief executive Tim Worner went public. She appears on Monday’s Four Corners show
The ABC synopsis reads: ‘Channel Seven markets itself as a family-friendly network, but a Four Corners investigation uncovers it is a ‘second chance club’ for older men, described as a ‘degrading and soul-crushing’ workplace.
‘Allegations of sexism, exploitation and extreme harassment online are rife and staff have been hospitalised. In some extreme cases, they have been unable to work or have become suicidal.
“Many employees have filed lawsuits against the network and many former employees have been gagged with confidentiality agreements.”
The high-profile problems that have plagued the broadcaster in recent months began with the Spotlight scandal.
A former producer for rival 60 Minutes, Taylor Auerbach, alleged in Federal Court as part of Bruce Lehrmann’s failed defamation lawsuit that Spotlight paid for cocaine and sex workers for the rapist in order to get an interview with him.
But even before that trouble was brewing, with the network’s corporate owners taking a controversial stance by backing former soldier Ben Roberts Smith in his libel suit against The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age after they accused him of war crimes.
Roberts-Smith lost that case but appealed the ruling; however, Seven owner Kerry Stokes agreed to pay both sides’ legal costs, estimated at up to $35m, to prevent a batch of 8,600 internal emails about the case from being made public.
The Seven network has been battling a series of controversies in recent months.
On top of this, Seven also paid an undisclosed but “significant” amount to a man they wrongly named on air twice as the Bondi Junction attacker in a particularly embarrassing blunder.
More recently, there have been widespread staff redundancies under new Seven West chief executive Jeff Howard as part of a $100 million cost-cutting effort, with media reports of staff claiming the atmosphere at Seven was that of a “funeral”.
One of the network’s most prominent journalists, Robert Ovadia, was also fired for alleged “inappropriate conduct” linked to emails he sent, although no formal complaint was ever filed.
Daily Mail Australia revealed that manipulated images were allegedly at the centre of the affair.
His dismissal – he has denied any wrongdoing and is taking the broadcaster to the Fair Work Commission – is understood to have been prompted by inquiries made by Four Corners investigating Monday’s episode.
Seven Queensland personalities, news presenter Sharyn Ghidella and meteorologist Paul Burt were also recently sacked.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Seven Network for comment.