Canberra reporters speak out on harassment

Past and present staff at two Canberra radio stations have accused senior managers of failing to adequately respond to bullying and harassment complaints.

Former staff at two Canberra radio stations have gone public with longstanding bullying and harassment complaints, accusing senior managers of failing to properly respond.

Allegations have surfaced of one presenter inappropriately hugging and kissing a junior female journalist, mocking other staff, and directing a colleague to deliver flowers to an estranged girlfriend, The Canberra Times reports.

Former Capital Radio network journalist Jacinta Lee says managers of Canberra stations 2CA and 2CC protected presenter Frank Vincent after she made a sexual harassment complaint against him last year.

Mr Vincent was sacked from 2CA after questions from the newspaper this week. He strongly denies allegations against him and has consulted lawyers.

Separately, more than 10 current and former employees say young journalists faced unreasonable treatment by some managers and senior staff, including Mr Vincent, and concerns raised in 2013 were not properly dealt with.

Former presenter Mike Welsh said he quit his on-air role four years ago after raising concerns about treatment of young journalists and producers.

He said general manager Michael Jones and program director Pete Davidson failed to deal properly with serious complaints and were hostile when simple mistakes were made.

In a statement, the company said directors of Radio Canberra were committed to providing a safe workplace.

"The directors have determined to review current workplace policies and procedures and to implement training for all staff regarding their workplace rights," the statement said.


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Published 20 January 2018 8:58am
Source: AAP


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