Back then, a woman hit her use-by date around 30. I've been in this industry for nearly 30 years. Without it, she'd be just another talented woman who was fired while pregnant). We can thank anti-discrimination legislation for that.
FALLOUT POWER TO THE PEOPLE TV
(That pregnant presenter, incidentally, is now one of Australia's most popular TV personalities. I smiled tightly and changed the subject, because that's what women do, to avoid embarrassing men. I'd also just given birth - that's why I was on maternity leave, having lunch with him. You can't fire 'em when they're pregnant!" "It's against the law, did you know? Bloody outrageous. "I'd love to get rid of her and put you in, but I can't, because she's pregnant!" he bellowed. Over lunch, during which he boasted repeatedly about how powerful he was, he said that he would like to give me an on-air position already occupied by a woman. One of the dinosaur generation - I won't say who, but he's still around - once tried to woo me to his network. When Juanita started in the TV industry 30 years ago, a woman hit her use-by date by around 30, she says. They've simply realised that, these days, defending the Weinsteins of the world is bad business. But don't for a minute think that the men who run the commercial TV industry have had a Damascene moment of enlightenment on gender issues. Yet only now are senior men - men who were part of that toxic masculine culture for decades - speaking out against him. It's been alleged Don Burke's behaviour continued for years, and was well known within the industry. Women in TV - routinely sacked for being pregnant, too old or not attractive enough - often wondered exactly what a man had to do to lose his job and his multimillion-dollar salary. Or Sam Newman, whose lucrative Footy Show contract just kept getting renewed, despite his deeply misogynistic comments. Or Eddie McGuire, credited with coining the phrase "boning" in reference to getting rid of female talent (he denies using the term). Remember John "F-ability" Westacott, the former head of News and Current Affairs at Channel 9? "To make it in this game, women have to be f-able," Westacott is alleged to have said. Women who kicked up a fuss would be destroyed the perpetrators would get their own show. Whether it was groping, gambling, "gang banging", drink driving, drug addiction or simply vile commentary about women, the Boys Club circled the wagons and protected their own. There were few if any consequences for the men involved. In the old days, when allegations of unsavoury behaviour surfaced, there was a flurry of media interest and then it was business as usual. The astonishing part of this week's story is not so much Burke's behaviour, but that two of the blokiest blokes in the Old Boys Club of television threw him under a bus so readily, while a third watched on. We asked if you thought this would lead to a change in Australian media culture.
Nonetheless, it wasn't a ringing endorsement. (Because we've seen what happens when women make formal complaints about sexual harassment in commercial TV.
( Fairfax Media: Jennifer Soo)Īnother industry stalwart, Peter Meakin, gave a muted response, simply noting that there had been no formal complaints against Burke. A horrible, horrible man.įormer Nine Network director for news and current affairs Peter Meakin. Two industry veterans - David Leckie and Sam Chisholm - went on the record to condemn Burke in no uncertain terms.
It happened this week, when allegations of sexual harassment and indecent assault against former TV celebrity Don Burke finally went public. Women in TV have always talked about this, but you know things are changing when men join the conversation. Both can destroy careers and self-esteem. About pigs - men who bully, or make comments designed to insult and humiliate - and predators who cross the line into sexual assault. In newsrooms, makeup departments and TV studios around Australia, women are talking. She says: "Well, he bullied me, and I know he sexually harassed some of the younger girls.
I saw him being a pig to other women, but he was civil to me." Just curious - did he do anything to you?" she asks. She says she's been approached by one of the journalists investigating sexual harassment in the TV industry. A friend rings to ask about a man we both worked with in the '90s.
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