A New Podcast Series Will Investigate The Australian Music Industry’s MeToo Movement
The first episode has landed - and it includes the first public statement from ex-Sony Music CEO Denis Handlin since he was ousted earlier in the year.
Today, the first episode of a new investigative series by Schwartz Media and the wildly popular 7AM podcast dropped. Titled Everybody Knows, it’s an in-depth look at the #MeToo movement in Australia, focusing on how difficult it is for victims of sexual harassment and assault to speak out.
— Content Warning: This story contains discussion of sexual assault. —
Titled ‘The Company’, the first episode looks at the work culture at Sony Music Australia. Filled with interviews with lawyers, music journalists, ex-Sony employees, and more, it’s a searing look at how misogynistic sub-cultures can evade transformation and accountability, with special attention paid to Australia’s famously strict defamation laws.
Host Ruby Jones provides a picture of a culture of “boys will be boys” sexism, with those that she speaks to noting that the misogyny ran all the way to the top. The episode even includes a statement by Denis Handlin, the ex-CEO of Sony Music Australia, who was ousted from the company after allegations of the toxic work culture came to light. Handlin’s son, Pat Handlin, also a power-player at the music company, was placed on indefinite leave. There have been no public allegations specifically made against either figure, at the time of writing.
“This series is an investigation into the underbelly of the Australian music industry, the harassment, abuse and misogyny that’s been allowed to flourish there for years. But my investigation doesn’t stop there,” Jones said in a press release. “I want to know why, four years on from MeToo, so little has changed for women in Australia. How the law, journalistic failures, and a culture of ‘boys will be boys’ has combined to make speaking about abuse so impossible. How is it that everybody knows about the crimes being committed, and yet nothing changes?”
The five-part investigation will be dropping weekly, with future episodes continuing to drill down into the difficulty that comes with speaking out, and the invasive nature of misogyny in the industry.