A bullying complaint against Stan Grant was reportedly investigated by ABC management after he allegedly publicly berated a colleague for several minutes, documents show.
The former Question+A the host was said to have been let loose with the senior ABC staff member in the foyer of the broadcaster’s Sydney headquarters in January this year after she asked him a question about the production of a show.
Grant, 59, resigned from his prominent position on the current affairs program a few months later in May, citing racial abuse by online trolls and a perceived inability by ABC bosses to publicly support him.
Grant revealed last week that he has now resigned from the ABC, where he used to host Question+A Along with another program, china tonightand has moved on to an academic job at Monash University.
Multiple staff members at ABC’s Ultimo headquarters allegedly witnessed Grant’s outburst in January, which was investigated after a complaint was filed with bosses a few days later, documents show obtained by The Australian below Freedom of information.
It is clear that the unnamed female colleague against whom the alleged expletive-filled diatribe was directed did not make the formal complaint herself. The alleged incident was then investigated by ABC news head Justin Stevens.
ABC management reportedly investigated an alleged bullying incident in which Stan Grant (pictured) yelled at a female colleague for several minutes in front of other staff
The FOI documents obtained by the newspaper were incomplete and heavily redacted, citing legal professional secrecy as the ABC was notified of the “prospect of litigation” over the alleged incident.
The ABC’s head of rights management said the information in the documents was known to very few people at the ABC and was shared on a “need-to-know basis with relevant decision-makers and advisers.”
They also did not say whether the ABC investigation, conducted between February 3 and March 3, substantiated the complaint and whether any action had been taken against Grant.
Daily Mail Australia suggests no wrongdoing by Grant.
The alleged January 30 incident occurred just hours before Grant hosted the first Q+A episode of 2023.
Indigenous issues took center stage with former Socceroo Craig Foster, Indigenous Senators Malarndirri McCarthy and Lidia Thorpe, Indigenous Voice proponent Tom Calma and Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie on the panel.
While the Wiradjuri journalist resigned Question+A his other program in May china tonightAt the end of February, it was refurnished with two new hosts, while the ABC investigation was in full swing.
Are Question+A The departure followed ABC’s coverage of the coronation of King Charles III, with Grant hosting a 45-minute panel discussion on the consequences of the British colonization of Australia as guests arrived at Westminster Abbey.
Complaints poured in to the ABC about the segment, which the independent ombudsman later said did not violate editorial standards of impartiality.
Grant claimed he was subjected to a “relentless” deluge of racist abuse on the internet in the days after he pushed him to write a column for ABC announcing his decision to step down.
My family and I are regularly racially mocked or abused on social media. This is not new. Hardly a week goes by without being racially abused. My wife is being abused because she is married to a Wiradjuri man,” he said.
Mr. Grant wrote that no one at the ABC, “whose producers had invited me as a guest for their coronation coverage,” had “uttered one word of public support” in the aftermath.
“I’m taking my time because we’ve shown again that our history – our hard truth – is too big, too fragile and too precious for the media. The media sees only battle lines, no bridges. It only sees politics,” he wrote.
The ABC received numerous complaints about its coverage of the coronation, most notably a segment featuring Grant
Justin Stevens later said he was devastated. Grant did not feel supported by the broadcaster, which had previously complained to Twitter about the offensive comments made against their star journalist.
Monash University announced on Tuesday that Grant will become the first director of the Constructive Institute Asia Pacific.
Based at Aarhus University in Denmark, where Grant is currently visiting, the institute’s mission is to change global news culture to promote healthier democracies.
He said the new position would look at ways to practice public interest journalism that serves the public at a time when the stakes couldn’t be higher.
‘What are the dangers of the polarization that we currently see in our society?’ Grant said.
“The endless conflict, why does the media have to be about conflict all the time? Why should we pit people against each other?
Why do we seek the point of conflict and try to witness instead of finding the points where we connect and looking at where we disagree, to build on the connection rather than then the division ?’
Grant said one of his focuses will be the ways technology, including artificial intelligence, influences and could influence journalism.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted ABC and Stan Grant through Monash University for comment.