Weeks after Nine’s CEO Mike Sneesby left the company, the findings of a damning independent report he commissioned into the work culture of Nine Entertainment has found that the company has a “systemic issue with abuse of power and authority; bullying, discrimination and harassment; and sexual harassment.”

The report added that key factors driving these behaviours was a lack of leadership accountability; power imbalances; gender inequality and a lack of diversity; and significant distrust in leaders at all levels across the business.

The review was conducted by Intersection and involved a company-wide survey in addition to interviews with members of the TV News & Current Affairs department.

More than half of all employees in the Broadcast Division (57 per cent) reported experiencing bullying, discrimination or harassment.

Experiences of public humiliation, ‘white-anting’, belittling comments or conduct, and aggressive or intimidating behaviour were reportedly found to be commonplace and normalised.

It found 52 per cent of Nine employees had experienced or witnessed abuses of power or authority. Nearly half – 49 per cent – had experienced bullying, discrimination or harassment. Nearly a quarter spoke of sexual harassment.

The report was released to the around 5,000-strong workforce – with around a fifth of them believed to have participated in through survey responses, oral interviews and written submissions.

Mike Sneesby

Nine’s former chief executive Mike Sneesby

Nine has now apologised to its employees. “Abuse of power, bullying, sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct is not okay,” said Nine Chair Catherine West. “We acknowledge that too many of our past and present employees have been harmed by poor workplace culture, the prevalence of inappropriate workplace behaviours, and an inadequate response in the past from Nine to those behaviours.

“To any individual who has experienced inappropriate conduct that does not meet the values of Nine, we are deeply sorry. On behalf of the Board, I unreservedly apologise.”

West has called for a “cultural reset” at Nine, while acting CEO Matt Stanton said that reading the stories of people who came forward for the report was “personally distressing”. “The behaviour experienced by many of our people right across the business is not acceptable in any workplace and falls well below what our people should expect in the work environment,” added Stanton.

The report has made 22 recommendations, prioritised into “foundational, intermediate and advanced” changes required for cultural reset at Nine, with the company pledging to adhere to all the recommendations.

Intersection was commissioned to compile the report after allegations of inappropriate conduct were made against Nine’s former News boss Darren Wick by multiple women, and the messy handling of the entire incident by Nine’s management. The fallout of it also led to then Nine chairman Peter Costello departing the company after he allegedly barged into a reporter at Canberra airport while he was being questioned about the handling of Wick’s departure.