The boss of Channel Nine has been forced into an awkward encounter with a reporter from the rival Seven network as he tried to enter a ritzy Paris hotel while embroiled in a bitter pay dispute where his salary and perks have come under fire.
In a clip posted to X, Nine CEO Mike Sneesby is seen in Paris with a Seven microphone pushed toward him while the media giant he heads faces industrial action by newspaper staff on the eve of the French capital hosting the Olympics.
Nine owns the exclusive Australian broadcast rights for the Olympics as part of a $305million deal that’s extended to the 2032 Games in Brisbane.
A visibly displeased Mr Sneesby initially tried to brush off the Seven reporter.
‘It’s not really the time to have a chat,’ he said.
‘It’s pretty straight forward though, should you have carried the torch yesterday?’ the reporter insisted as Mr Sneesby pushed past him.
The reporter was undeterred and fired more questions at Mr Sneesby who kept walking while remaining tight-lipped.
‘Is it inappropriate you staying at a boutique hotel when you have just sacked staff today?’ the reporter asked.
Nine CEO Mike Sneesby attempted to bat off a reporter from the rival Seven network in Paris
Mr Sneesby attempted to say to bat off the reporter but questions kept being fired.
‘Staff are going on strike today why don’t you stop and have a chat to us now?’ the reporter asked.
Maintaining a tight-lipped grimace Mr Grimace attempted once more to get rid of his interrogator.
‘I’m meeting my family and…’ he said.
‘You’re the boss of a media business, are you here for work or here on a holiday with family?’ the reporter interjects.
Underneath the confrontation Seven ran the caption ‘Nine’s Olympic strike: NIne boss at luxury hotel as staff strike over pay’.
Nine staff have called for Mr Sneesby to forgo his bonuses and other perks as journalists walk off the job in search of more pay.
Journalists from The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review, Brisbane Times and Watoday began striking from 11am on Friday.
The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance union members from Nine’s publishing division have demanded a 20 per cent pay rise over three years.
Nine reportedly offered a raise of 10.5 per cent, nearly half the staff’s demand.
The Age state political reporter Broede Carmody said journalists were calling on Mr Sneesby and all other executives to forgo bonuses from the last two financial years and reinvest them into the company.
Nine newspaper staff walked off the job at 11am on Friday in a protest about pay and other demands
‘Mike Sneesby wants to talk about a sustainable business, let’s talk about sustainable business,’ Carmody said outside Nine’s Docklands office in Melbourne on Friday morning.
‘How many jobs could have been saved if this company didn’t fly TV people who are unrelated to the Olympics to Paris and put them up in luxury hotels that cost $1000 a night?’
Carmody also criticised a reported million-dollar handshake given to former news boss Darren Wick despite sexual harassment allegations against him.
An external review was announced into allegations Wick harassed up to a dozen women at the media giant.
The ‘pain will really start to set in’ as hundreds of staff members across the country walk off the job, Carmody added.
‘For Mike Sneesby to claim today that the coverage will go on and the papers will look great – well, I’m sorry, how will the paper look great for five days with 500 people walking out the door?’ he questioned.
‘It just doesn’t make sense.’
Carmody said journalists would not rule out taking further action if Nine failed to ‘come to the table with a fair offer’.
‘All the company will offer us this financial year is below inflation. We are struggling during the cost-of-living crisis and we need that money now,’ he said.
Other employees said Thursday’s strike action would be their fifth strike during their time with Nine.
Nine said in a statement the company ‘recognises the rights of unions to take industrial action but believe that a return to the negotiating table is the best way to progress the EBA’.
‘With our new and improved proposal representing a fair and reasonable offer for our people, we remain open to resuming good faith negotiations at the earliest opportunity,’ the statement read.
Nine’s journalists are demanding better pay, especially for freelancers and more diversity in the newsroom
MEAA Deputy Chief Executive Adam Portelli spoke outside Nine’s Docklands office after the media giant’s employees launched strike action.
With half the content produced by The Age and other Nine papers contributed by freelance journalists and staff, Mr Portelli said all staff must be treated equally, including the staff ‘outside the building’.
Mr Portelli said Nine had repeatedly declined staff member’s requests for more diversity within the newsroom.
‘We’ve said to the company ‘we want diversity in our newsrooms’, not just for us … but for those communities and so that we can tell more stories to more people,’ he said.
‘They company has said no.’
Mr Portelli said Nine has shown its employees a ‘complete lack of respect’ throughout the negotiation process.
‘We have sought a cost of living increase while Mike Sneesby has been sunning it up in Paris,’ he said.
‘We just need to acknowledge the failing of your boss, the failing of Channel 9 throughout this process.
‘They have consistently taken the view, taken the side of the shareholders and it’s time for them to take the view of their front line.’
