‘Defend, deflect, and diffuse’: Why Nine’s culture Action Plan ‘raises several red flags’
On Friday afternoon, Nine Entertainment shared its Action Plan to accelerate, address, and measure its cultural transformation following a damning independent review by Intersection. While the media giant has said that 60% of the plan is either underway or complete, leading PR experts say the update is full of red flags.
Less than two months after the findings from Intersection’s independent review into Nine’s culture were released, the Action Plan – which has been endorsed by Nine’s Board – has been designed to deliver lasting change, and outlines how the media giant is implementing the 22 recommendations made by Intersection.
Shared on Friday afternoon, Nine outlined how it is working to improve the workplace across four priority areas – people and culture; leadership; policy, procedures and governance; and diversity, equity and inclusion.
“Nine’s Action Plan forms an important part of Nine2028, which is the acceleration of our strategy and encompasses our business and culture transformation. Spearheaded by the Board and management team, everyone at Nine is united by the need for change. The progress made over the past six weeks is reflective of our collective desire to move quickly and build a Nine we can all be proud of,” acting CEO of Nine, Matt Stanton, said on Friday.
“Since the release of the Intersection Report, Nine has taken decisive action which will positively contribute to our cultural uplift. We’ve also spent a lot of time connecting and communicating with our people, reflecting on how we can learn from this difficult yet necessary process and make lasting change.”
But what Stanton said next, began to raise red flags for leading PR professionals.
“While our commitments to embedding our Action Plan remain unwavering, our cultural transformation ambitions are broader than the 22 recommendations alone, and indeed broader than Nine itself. Of course, our unrelenting focus remains on addressing Nine’s cultural issues, however there is no denying the prevalence of poor behaviour in the media industry is unacceptable and change is required,” he said.
“As the largest employer in the industry we believe we can play an active role in shaping the cultural change required to create a safe, respectful and thriving industry. At the appropriate time, we look forward to engaging with our industry peers to address these issues.”
While acknowledging that yes, the wider industry is just as problematic as Nine, crisis PR experts argue that Stanton attempting to pass the blame is plain cowardice and questionable.
Phoebe Netto
Nothing says ‘please don’t look too closely’ like reluctantly sending a compulsory announcement on a Friday afternoon in a busy news cycle. And Nine has done just that.
This update is missing a very important element: a Code of Conduct, which should at least be underway by now. This should have been followed by the review and update of mandatory training on appropriate workplace behaviours. But according to this latest update, neither of these has been started.
Phoebe Netto
When you skip over the overarching standards that everything else should flow on from and refer back to, it appears that you have instead chosen to focus on the lowest-hanging fruit.
It takes strong leadership to say that you will prioritise what you value most over what you want right now. This announcement and Nine’s order of priority in the Action Plan would indicate that what the media giant wants right now is to defend, deflect, and diffuse.
Nine is defending its previous level of compliance by frequently stating that it will continue what was already in place. In other words: ‘Don’t think we weren’t already doing a lot in this area.’
It is trying to deflect the attention by positioning itself as a guiding light for the rest of the industry to follow while highlighting the shortcomings of other industry players. A corporate version of: ‘Don’t look at the speck in our eye while you have a plank in yours.’
When Nine publicly shared the Intersection Report in October along with a statement of acknowledgement (because doing so was in the first two recommendations of the Action Plan they were handed), it received far less heat in response than it could have. That was because it did not defend their actions, and it did not make the mistake of trying to downgrade the issue to the actions of a few bad players. Nine took responsibility and was contrite.
That tune has changed and it is now trying to diffuse the issue by burying it in a busy news cycle, by making programs ‘available’ rather than ‘compulsory’, and by avoiding the key to the most meaningful change: the Code of Conduct and appropriate workplace behaviours training.
People are looking for a reckoning, but they have been given an operations update.
Peter Wilkinson
Well done, Nine, to get this far! But don’t let up now the media spotlight has moved on.
Nine has a number of universal ‘To Dos’:
Ensure short-term visible changes. Quick wins. Nine folks must see change, regularly.
Folks need to know now what the future looks like. What behaviours are expected? Keep comms simple, concise and repetitive; poorly written copy is your enemy. Use videos as powerful communication tools.
Put first things first. The Code of Conduct has not been updated (Action Plan 10). Why? A draft is an easy early win.
Peter Wilkinson
Keep moving curmudgeons on, those who say, ‘This is all b.s.’.
The same goes for militants, for whom change well done is never good enough.
The Action Plan is dense and jargon-heavy, but the change fundamentals are simple. Internal comms must be clear. And get one of your many excellent journalists to red-pen your press releases.
To the Action Plan implementers: 1) Don’t confuse woke with substantive change. 2) View the large organisation as many small teams. They’re easier to change. Talk-up small-team success stories. 3) Don’t get distracted by detractors. There will be many. 4) This is stressful, manage that.
To the Board and senior leaders: 1) Be impatient. Don’t get sucked into the ‘This takes time’ mantra. Small changes lift morale quickly. 2) Live Nine’s future behaviours now. Walk the floor, folks notice. Even (unfortunately) how you dress matters. 3) Lean into success – Nine does great work so promote it.
Patrice Pandeleos
Nine Entertainment’s recent release of findings from an independent cultural review, conducted by Intersection, highlights deep-rooted issues within its workplace.
These include systemic abuse of power, bullying, harassment, and a lack of diversity and accountability in leadership. While the company’s commitment to adopting all 22 recommendations from the report is commendable, the real challenge lies in how these changes will be implemented effectively and transparently to restore employee trust and foster a healthier work environment.
Patrice Pandeleos
Employee trust will only be regained when leadership demonstrates genuine accountability and a willingness to fully own the company’s past cultural failings.
Comments that appear to deflect responsibility or shift blame to broader industry issues risk alienating employees who are seeking a clear acknowledgement of Nine’s specific challenges. Workers want to see their organisation take full responsibility, with senior leaders actively driving change and facing consequences if they fail to follow through. Clear communication, transparent progress updates, and independent oversight will be crucial to building confidence that this cultural reset is genuine and not just a response to external scrutiny.
Though Nine’s apology and acknowledgement of past failures are steps in the right direction, delivering measurable outcomes is critical.
Employees deserve a workplace where respect and safety are non-negotiable and deeply embedded in everyday operations. Taking full ownership of cultural challenges will be the first step towards earning back trust and building a stronger, healthier organisation.
Sally Branson
Nine Entertainment’s newly released Action Plan raises several red flags that warrant closer scrutiny from industry observers. While the company’s acknowledgment of needed change is welcome, the execution and timeline of their proposed transformation appear problematic on multiple fronts.
It seems Nine has launched various initiatives without first establishing a clear code of conduct – the fundamental backbone of any meaningful cultural transformation. This oversight suggests a potential misunderstanding of how cultural change is effectively implemented and sustained.
The company’s repeated references to industry-wide cultural issues, while factually accurate, feels like a bit of a dilution of responsibility. By consistently contextualising their challenges as part of broader sector problems, Nine risks appears more focused on reputation management than genuine accountability.
The proposed timeline for review also raises concerns. While the statement tells of an accelerated two-year cultural pulse check as proactive (ahead of the recommended three-year review), this still represents a surprisingly lengthy wait for initial feedback. In an era where corporate culture can benefit from rapid assessment, waiting 24 months for a formal pulse check seems like a long time, I understand and appreciate that the work is hard work, but a 12-month initial review would better demonstrate urgency and ongoing interest
Sally Branson
In cases like this, it is crucial to look if there is a gap between rhetoric and concrete action. While the announcement is heavy on commitments and frameworks, it’s is light on specific, measurable actions. I feel like this is my own version of a broken record, like many organisational crises this one can’t be solved with polished language and quick fixes – it requires sustained, often uncomfortable work to create genuine change.
However, one promising element deserves recognition: Nine’s decision to tie executive remuneration to cultural metrics represents an increasingly important trend in corporate governance. This approach, adopted by more organizations globally, creates tangible accountability for cultural transformation. It’s a reminder to do the work before a crisis does it for you.
Nine’s position as the largest employer in Australian media means its approach to cultural transformation will likely set precedents for the broader industry. This makes it all the more crucial that their reform process is comprehensive, transparent, and truly independent. While their Action Plan demonstrates awareness of the challenges ahead, the company will need to address these fundamental concerns and commit to the hard work of genuine cultural change to convince sceptics that this represents more than just corporate window dressing
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the agency beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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topics
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Matt Stanton
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Patrice Pandeleos
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Phoebe Netto
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Sally Branson
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