The managing director of Antony Catalano’s Australian Community Media has told staff he was “pissed off” after first hearing about the proprietor’s assault charges via the ABC on Saturday morning, while insisting the company is not up for sale.
Tony Kendall held a town hall meeting on Monday afternoon for staff at the company that publishes titles including The Canberra Times, Newcastle Herald and Albury-Wodonga’s Border Mail.
“The purpose of this town hall is to reiterate in no uncertain terms, ACM’s position as it relates to this matter and violence against women more broadly,” Kendall said. “I acknowledge that the charges facing Antony Catalano, as they relate to alleged violence towards a woman, are deeply distressing.
“Personally, I’m shocked. I’m appalled, and, quite frankly, pretty pissed off,” Kendall continued, adding that like most staff members he was “first made aware of this news via the ABC on Saturday morning”.
On Friday, Catalano was charged with assault, false imprisonment and making threats to kill a woman. He was accused in court by Victoria Police of dragging a woman around an apartment by her hair and ankles and swinging a clothes iron at her head, in an alleged assault that left her with a broken coccyx.
On Monday, he stepped down from two ASX-listed board positions, after wealthy investor Alex Waislitz, Catalano’s business partner in ACM, released a statement saying all staff at their companies would be “supported and heard”.
Kendall denied speculation that the publisher, which also owns The Illawarra Mercury, was up for sale.
“ACM is not up for sale, and certainly the alleged actions of our executive chairman would not force us into a sale,” Kendall said on Tuesday.
Kendall said several parties had expressed interest in buying parts of ACM in the past. He named an opportunity to merge the business with parts of Seven Network owner Southern Cross, as well as a previously unreported approach from funds manager Roc Partners for its agricultural publishing business, which includes The Land.
“When it came to Roc Partners for the ‘Ag’ business some years ago, we took that approach seriously, and we’ll continue to look at those options when they come,” Kendall said.
“This business has had many owners over its journey, has never changed the quality of our reporting and the legacy position that our mastheads hold in the communities that we serve.”
Catalano has previously said he was “deeply ashamed and humiliated” after the allegations became public. He said he would check himself into a rehabilitation facility and take six months off work.
Catalano, who was granted bail on Friday, declined to comment further when approached by this masthead.
Kendall also confirmed that ACM will not be paying for any costs associated with Catalano’s legal matter or his rehabilitation. He also said he has spoken to a “host of advertisers and partners” since the allegations were made public.
“These allegations will be determined by the courts that violence against women in any form is abhorrent and entirely at odds with our company values.
“The financial stability of this company is based on our people and the content we produce and the advertising we sell, and we’re going to continue to do that in the manner we’ve done for many, many years before.”
Meanwhile, a journalist who has worked at an ACM newspaper for more than five years, said staff were furious at the allegations.
“[Managing director] Tony Kendall said he was ‘pretty pissed off’ about it in a company-wide conference call on Monday, and I don’t think that sentiment goes far enough,” said the reporter, who asked not to be named so they could speak freely.
“I personally want [Catalano’s] total association with ACM done away with, and that starts by him giving up his stake in the business. If there’s even a whiff that he returns to any type of role, I’ll quit on the spot,” they said.
Staff had previously been promised that ACM was working hard to reduce the gender pay gap and promote more women into leadership positions, but the allegations now made that rhetoric “feel like lip service,” the reporter added.
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