Paramount Australia & New Zealand

This is getting slightly off topic but senior executives have been told to work. Staff who choose to take the day off have been told they must consider other people’s feelings if they are celebrating.

The main point is that Ten should be putting all their energy into fixing their dire ratings.

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they can do both things.

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They are doing neither well

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Whether you agree with the day or not it is a national public holiday - just like Christmas and Easter. Do those thoughts then extend to people who are not Christian and don’t celebrate Easter and Christmas?

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Asking employees to work on 26th Jan is just disgusting. Whether you are for or against Australia Day, that is going too far.

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Further to discussion in the ratings area:

The Australian Media Diary under the heading ‘January 26 is January 26’: Ten boycotts Australia Day

In an internal note sent to her key programming and editorial staff last week, and obtained by Diary, Ten’s forthright chief content officer Beverley McGarvey has panned Australia Day as “not a day of celebration”.

In a letter signed off by McGarvey, and co-signed by Ten’s chief commercial officer Jarrod Villani last week, the Ten boss started off by abruptly refusing to name January 26 as “Australia Day”. In the internal email, McGarvey poses herself the question: “What name does Paramount ANZ call January 26?”, and answers her own interrogation with an emphatic two-word reply: “January 26.”

“At Paramount ANZ we aim to create a safe place to work where cultural differences are appreciated, understood and respected,” she says. “For our First Nations people, we as an organisation acknowledge that January 26 is not a day of celebration. We recognise that there has been a turbulent history, particularly around that date and the recognition of that date being Australia Day.”

It goes on to say that employees have the option to take holiday on Jan 26 or on another day.

“Whether you choose to work on January 26 or take the public holiday, we ask that you reflect and respect the different perspectives and viewpoints of all Australians.”

It is very dangerous for Ten to be going down this path because the vast majority of australians support Australia Day

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Well, the vast majority of Australians don’t watch Ten.

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That’s very true and I wouldn’t have thought they could afford to risk losing any more viewers or advertisers

Not sure how this internal policy would have any impact on people watching. And Ten is far from the only employer taking this position.

However, the corporate high flyers if they were serious about respecting cultures might choose not to refer to “our First Nations people”. First Nations people are not a possession.

That may be correct, but I am led to believe the amount of this vast majority is reducing.

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It is has a huge impact because people have very strong feelings on this.

Most media are picking up the story now and this is very damaging coverage for Ten.

Who are “most media”? Although I’m sure types like Neil Mitchell and his counterparts in Sydney will try to get some mileage out of it. Especially as an opportunity to bash a commercial rival.

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Yep talk back radio is all over it right now. News Limited are running it on all their front pages.

They’ve given staff the option to work if they wish and substitute the holiday for a different day, something that a lot of businesses have moved towards (allowing staff to choose the holidays they wish to have off).

My employer offers the same option - but I can’t work out which holidays to substitute for Hamburgular’s Birthday (x2, but has to be a Wednesday and a Monday) and the Feast of Maximum Occupancy

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Of course not being able to resist using a shot of The Project cast as clickbait.

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Exactly, you’d think from this outrage coverage that Ten was single-handedly doing this all on their own.

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Hear is the report on news.com.au Not very prominent - way down the page under national current affairs.

Channel 10 takes firm stance in ongoing Australia Day debate | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

Doesn’t seem particularly negative article and includes the following that wasn’t in the original Australian report.

Controversy has surrounded the celebration of Australia Day in recent years, with various councils around the country scrapping celebrations.

In September, a survey conducted by The City of Melbourne of more than 1600 residents found nearly 60 per cent want to see Australia Day changed to a different date.

Just 31 per cent of respondents were happy with celebrating Australia Day on January 26 — the same day that Sir Arthur Phillip arrived in Sydney Cove in 1788.

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Doesn’t need to be to inflame people on the matter - not sure I had it on my calendar of outrage until the new year though

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it’s like Hot Cross Buns hitting the supermarkets, it gets earlier every year :smile:

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I think the headline “Channel Ten Boycotts Australia Day” on the front page of the Daily Telegraph website is very negative and not exactly the kind of publicliy they need right now.

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