Triple M has axed Queensland and NSW Drive host Marty Sheargold from its line-up after comments he made on air about the Matildas football team.
In a media statement, Dave Cameron, the chief content officer of parent company SCA said:
“Triple M and Marty Sheargold have mutually agreed to part ways. Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) takes its responsibility to listeners, shareholders, and clients seriously and its programming should align with the standards and expectations of its audience. Right now, it’s clear this is a moment for reflection and review. Triple M, and the wider SCA network, will continue to take all necessary steps to support staff. A new Drive show will be announced in due course. Triple M acknowledges Marty’s contribution over the past four years, and we wish him well for the future.”
Sheargold added:
“Having mutually agreed to part ways with the Triple M Network, I fully understand the gravity of my comments. I’d like to sincerely apologise to the Matildas and the broader organisation. I would also like to thank my immediate team for their hard work and apologise for the situation they now find themselves in.”
They are referring to comments Sheargold made disparaging the Australian team and the women’s football competition and, in a separate spray, expressing his opinion that endometriosis is a “made up” disease. You can hear what he said and read about it here and here and elsewhere.
In my original draft of this post, I wrote that I was “disappointed in Sheargold but not at all surprised”.
On reflection, I’m not disappointed; I’m angry because this kind of thing just keeps happening. But I’m still not at all surprised because misogyny in the media is nothing new. On the air and in the backrooms, women are too often spoken about and dealt with appallingly.
While the focus has been on Kyle Sandilands and KIIS lately, media veterans will now that it’s “blokey” Triple M that has the long-term reputation for being run by the “BSD club”. I won’t spell it out, but it’s a phallic term describing a group of men, on air and in the executive suites.
Misogyny has not only been tolerated in the media, and especially in radio, it’s been encouraged and rewarded over many years.
Not all men in media are the same, and not all women in media are treated badly. But the stats show there continues to be a power imbalance between men and women, and that the staffing ratio is male-skewed.
This is backed up by revelations from Nine Entertainment’s cultural review, which showed a higher proportion of complaints about bullying and harassment from the radio division.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that men too often get a pass for behaviour that might sink a woman’s career.
Men are allowed to leave their jobs quietly, or sometimes with loud applause, even when they’ve been forced out because of outrageous workplace behaviour.
Women in radio, meanwhile, often get placed in unwinnable shifts with little or no management support and then pay the price for not being able to make a go of it.
Finally, for now, here’s part of what retired footballer, broadcaster and human rights campaigner Craig Foster had to say on social media about Sheargold’s spray:
This is not comedy, it’s moronic rubbish from the 19th century. The sort of misogynistic rubbish that women are subjected to in all forms of culture, and certainly in sport. This is a team that plays at the highest levels of professional sport for the world’s top clubs. Australia’s first football World Cup semi finalists. Something the men have come nowhere near. 4th in the world in the world’s largest sport. Most watched sports team in Australia TV history. 11.5 million Australians. That includes all historic male teams, and with millions of us, male, viewers. They’ve fought for gender equality and inspired a generation of Australians.
No news from Nine
If you were expecting a big announcement from Nine Entertainment this week — say, the sale of Domain and/or Nine Radio — you would’ve been disappointed.
That doesn’t necessarily mean these things won’t happen, but they haven’t been announced at the time of writing.
Dan Barrett has some thoughts about Nine Entertainment that align quite closely with mine (and are, therefore, correct). Here’s what he says on his Always Be Watching substack:
Nine has done a terrible job of integrating Nine News (the TV branded news), the Nine Newspapers, and Nine Radio. But before selling off radio, I’d be thinking about how to provide a more unified experience for the audience instead of it all operating with confusingly linked sub-brands.
There’s back-room cost savings that can be made, while securing a multi-platform future for the umbrella notion of Nine News. Nine should have a dedicated FAST news channel available on its broadcast, SVOD, and AVOD video platforms, along with it also available on the news websites, pulling in news content from TV, radio, and print/online. Then, support that with original, on-demand news and opinion.
All of the resources are just sitting there, but there hasn’t been a concerted effort to pull all those strings together. When it came to streaming video, Nine (and the other broadcasters) lost its first-mover advantage. Why make the same mistake again?
As I’ve said before, Nine should keep the radio assets, but run them very differently.
Disclosure: Brett Debritz has worked for Nine Radio and News Corp and many other media organisations. He is old and wise.
The comment about endometriosis was stupid and disgraceful. Comments on Matilda’s performance are ok. Would we call it misandry when all and sundry piled on to criticise the Australian men’s cricket team? Sport teams should not be beyond criticism.