Seven news boss declares ‘no d*ckheads’ policy
The director of news and current affairs and editor-in-chief at Seven West Media is planning to implement a simple policy to end the toxic culture reported in Seven’s newsrooms this year.
Anthony De Ceglie addressed the Melbourne Press Club on Tuesday where he discussed a range of topics, including stamping out toxicity in the workplace.
“As a leader you need to enforce a ‘no dickheads’ policy,’’ he said.
“It only ever takes one toxic person to disrupt an entire team. And if they’re not dealt with then they can become a cancer that infects the whole staff.”
De Ceglie said that Seven Group CEO, Ryan Stokes, has a leadership philosophy “that he calls the ‘owner’s mindset’, explaining: “Its ten guiding principles are also on my white board. Among them are points like ‘doers over delegators’, ‘value pace over analysis-paralysis’ and ‘be crystal clear on drivers’.
“The final point in Ryan’s guiding principles is my favourite – that everything in leadership is personal.”
De Ceglie used the bulk of his speech to call upon the Albanese Government to scrap an “archaic” broadcast tax introduced six decades ago that costs the three commercial TV stations a combined $45 million a year.
“The Government acts like newsrooms are still bathing in the rivers of gold. It does this at a high cost and a high risk to journalism and the Australian democracy,” he said.
“Free to air networks like Channel 7 still pay an archaic ‘broadcast tax’ that was designed 60 years ago during an era of super profits that simply no longer exist.
“At a time when a viewer can access to 10 hours of news on our Seven on any given day … the so-called Commercial Broadcast Tax is actually just a tax on journalism. Even more so, it’s a tax on the truth and it’s a tax on facts.
“The cost of the Commercial Broadcasting Tax this financial year for stations like Seven, Nine and 10 will be a combined $45 million.
“I ask the Albanese Government how many journalism jobs do they think that is? How many TV newsroom shifts will disappear so we can pay it? How many regional reporters will be let go?
“No other comparable jurisdiction in the world places tax burdens of this kind on broadcasters.”
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Nathan Jolly is the Features Editor at Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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What is it with all the TV stations? The whole lot of them seem to have issues.
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Surely the astrologer can tell them how it all works out?
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What was the policy before?
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If providing ten hours news a day is such a financial burden to Seven, then cut it back. Hardly rocket science.
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Ha ha see yourselves out
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“News?”
(On channel 7?)
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Egos, agendas and profits of billionaires, which have very little to do with readers and veiwers.
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