I will deck you, buddy: The evolution of Australias TV industry – Sydney Morning Herald

The dynamics between men and women, united only by the constant quest to be first to deliver the scoop, and all the ego-bruising drama that entails, has all the ingredients for making great entertainment. Throw in an entrenched culture where behaviour, which by todays standards is clearly outrageous bullying, was encouraged, the allure of untold riches and intoxicating celebrity and ... viola!

And yet what is depicted often falls short of what was reality.

Rupert Murdoch once spoke admiringly of his former corporate henchman, the late Sam Chisholm, as an effective executive, but he was also territorial as hell. He calls the plays, and he gets it right more often than not. The problem is, he plays favourites, and he frightens people.

Apparently Chisholm could reduce eminently qualified professional adults to tears with a single, withering glare, and a barrage of insults.

At the time this was something to be admired.

Never speak ill of the dead they say, but no sooner had the news been confirmed former Nine news boss John Westacott died last week and his detractors - many of them former underlings - were sending me details on his less commendable traits as a powerful newsman.

Former 60 Minutes executive producer and head of Nine news, the late John Westacott.Credit:Steve Bacon

Westacott was famously charged with using the term f***ability 14 years ago - which he later denied ever saying - when former Channel Nine reporter Christine Spiteri launched an unfair dismissal and sexual discrimination claim in which she cited the term, allegedly used by Westacott when discussing hiring female journalists.

The case came to a close when Spiteri eventually reached an undisclosed settlement with Nine, but not before casting a dim light on the commercial broadcast news business and the blokey culture which had grown around it, not only at Nine, which owns this masthead, but at rivals Ten and Seven too.

Since then weve been treated to the Jessica Rowe shit sandwich scandal and the Don Burke revelations.

Former Seven West Media and Nine Entertainment chief executive David Leckie died in 2021, aged 70.Credit:Janie Barrett

The late Nine and Seven boss David Leckie was famous for his curmudgeonly corporate persona, and calling underlings everything from drop kicks to f***wits, behaviour a CEO today would be fired over today.

In April, Michelle Gotthelf, a former top editor at the New York Post, settled a discrimination case in which she claimed the papers now retired former editor-in-chief, Australian news veteran Col Allan, had sexually harassed her and retaliated against her when she reported him.

But for years before that, Allens supposed antics, involving everything from office sinks to legendary long lunches, had become folklore within the media business.

Ironically, it was the sort of alleged behaviour which had been tolerated for years, that would guarantee others front page treatment on his beloved Daily Telegraph today.

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I will deck you, buddy: The evolution of Australias TV industry - Sydney Morning Herald