You would have to say that Amber Harrison has taken the limelight for much of Seven’s negative press this year, but sacked reporter Amy Taeuber has run a fairly close second.
The former Seven cadet reporter has responded to “a barrage of disturbing allegations from a journalist at a prominent media outlet” about her and her family “in what appears to be an orchestrated smear campaign”.
Taeuber issued the following statement via Twitter along with the #metoo hashtag, which was created to condemn sexual assault and harassment in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
#metoo pic.twitter.com/ZStngFhOOc
— Amy Taeuber (@amytaeuber) December 17, 2017
Taeuber was fired in July last year by Seven over her involvement in social media pages run by her sister Kate that contained satirical memes of My Kitchen Rules, the network’s reality TV gun.
Her sacking also came after Taeuber filed a sexual harassment complaint against senior Today Tonight journalist Rodney Lohse, claiming that he called her a “lesbian”.
Tauber settled the public spat with the Seven Network out of court in February, after claiming she had been unfairly dismissed by her former employers.
However, new details of Taeuber’s sacking emerged in September when the ABC played a leaked audio clip in its 7.30 program.
During the audio clip, which was recorded by Taeuber, you can hear Seven’s HR manager telling the reporter she was suspended and under investigation, and denying her the chance to have a support person in the room.
Seven subsequently denied the allegations and countered claims made by 7.30 that it refused to offer its side of the story.
Then the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) got involved, slamming Seven’s handling of Amy Taeuber, and labelling the TV network’s work culture “toxic”.
Seven has also denied its dismissal of Taeuber was payback for her sexual harassment complaint against Lohse.
