The Nine Network is a serial offender when it comes to upsetting female employees, and the appointment of David Gyngell as CEO doesn’t look likely to change things.

He has “form” from his previous time at Nine. Half a dozen senior female executives fled the network in Sydney in 2004, and there was an out of court settlement with former Nine newsreader Kim Watkins over claims of harassment.

Closer to home, many of the network’s women journalists and producers feel, rightly or wrongly, that Mr Gyngell’s wife, Leila McKinnon, gets preference. Certainly there’s a feeling Ms McKinnon was preferred over Christine Spiteri, for whatever reason. Which takes us to the latest case , involving Nine journalist and newsreader Spiteri, a worrying example of discrimination.

It’s not the first time the Network has actively discriminating against a dark haired, dark complexioned female news reader of ethnic background. Helen Kapalos, now co-anchoring the Ten News in Melbourne, left Nine because she felt she had been passed over. In fact word from the Nine newsroom at the time in late 2005 was that Kapalos had been told she wouldn’t be a newsreader because of her looks.

The management of Nine and Nine News was different then, but it would seem the cultural problems at the network persist.

The Network’s News and Current Affairs director, John Westacott is in trouble for indicating to Ms Spiteri that she would be better off at SBS with a name like Spiteri.

Since he was appointed, before Gyngell was named as CEO for a second time, Westacott is reported to have told a group of female journalists and producers at a book launch (a book by Nine reporter and reader, Ally Langdon) that they would have to be blondes to get on air. It is also claimed he made remarks about women reporters and producers and pregnancy.

Ms Spiteri is on maternity leave, returning from being Los Angeles correspondent in March to have her child in Australia. She has been told her contract will not be renewed when she returns from maternity leave in March 2008.

According to news stories today Gyngell labelled his own news boss “a f…ing idiot” for telling Spiteri she would be better off at SBS:

Sources yesterday confirmed that Gyngell blasted news chief John Westacott for telling the Maltese reporter that “with a surname like Spiteri you should try SBS” as he told her her contract would not be renewed – while she was on maternity leave.

As Spiteri prepared to turn to the courts to fight her axing, Nine sources yesterday accused her of “mischief-making”, saying she was “bitter to the core” after being denied her dream role of news presenter.

“She’s no newsreader. Pregnant or not, she wasn’t good enough for a newsreading role,” a management source said yesterday. The former Los Angeles correspondent is due to return to Nine when her year’s maternity leave ends in January.

It is understood she has been offered either her former LA role or a role in the Sydney newsroom until her contract expires in March.

While Gyngell yesterday blasted Westacott over his SBS comment, he is believed to have backed his decision.

“Gyngell is trying to put an end to all this business of people negotiating their contracts through fear – he’s drawing a line in the sand,” the source said.

That’s another thing that hasn’t changed at Nine: the way people who stand up to Nine are white-anted through anonymous criticism in the media, especially in News Ltd media.