Nine Entertainment boss Mike Sneesby has come under fire for carrying the Olympic torch just hours after his print journalists voted to strike, jeopardising his group’s ambitious Paris plans.
The besieged Nine boss enjoyed the perk of his group’s $300 million-plus Olympic broadcasting rights punt late Monday Australian time as managers braced serious disruptions to multi-platform coverage of the summer games.
Mr Sneesby’s Paris jaunt copped criticism on Tuesday from the journalist union, whose Nine publishing members voted overwhelming for industrial action amid an impasse in talks over their enterprise bargaining agreement.
“Rather than enjoying himself carrying the Olympic torch in France, Nine boss Mike Sneesby should be in Australia to sort out a new EBA for journalists,” the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance said on Tuesday.
“In his absence, journalists will be going on strike . . . unless things take a turn for the better this week.”
Nine’s last chance to save its Olympic coverage plans is likely to come Wednesday at a scheduled meeting with MEAA and representatives of the group’s text-focused publishing staff.
Journalists at Nine’s newspapers in Sydney and Melbourne and their related websites plan to strike for five days commencing Friday.
The planned strike also covers journalists at websites targeting Perth and Brisbane as well as a specialist financial publication, all of which are loaded with content written for the NSW and Victorian capitals.
The action will hit Nine’s plans for the crucial first weekend of the Paris Olympics, which kick off early Saturday Australian time with an opening ceremony along the cleaned-up Seine River.
Nine is battling to clean up its own image after copping from staff for handling of sexual harassment against former executives.
Mr Sneesby returned early from a planned family holiday in late May to deal with a journalist revolt over a toxic culture in its television news room and what was described as “lecherous and toxic” behaviour by a former executive.
That scandal indirectly led to the resignation of Nine chairman Peter Costello after the former Federal Treasurer bowled over a journalist from a rival organisation while avoiding questions at Sydney Airport.
Mr Sneesby left Australia for a holiday in Greece late last month just hours after announcing up to 200 job cuts to deal with what he described as “challenges in the advertising market” and revenue lost from Facebook pulling out of a content deal.
Mr Sneesby told Nine workers he needed to “continually to responsibly manage costs”.
His Paris jaunt remains a tightly guarded secret, with the jet-setting executive whisked away after his torch run through housing estates in Massy — about 20km south of French’s capital’s swisher central parts.
Nine Publicity did not return calls from The West Australian on Tuesday.
The job cuts unveiled by Mr Sneesby before his European trip included a reported 90 workers at the publishing operations set to be hit by the industrial action from Friday.