That criticism of News Corp aside, the Herald is concerned that the union representing journalists, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, offered a half-hearted condemnation of the Canberra Airport incident because it involved a journalist from The Australian.

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Over recent months, the MEAA has published press releases on its website criticising the ABC’s sacking of Antoinette Lattouf, the ongoing detention of Julian Assange and the jailing of whistleblower David McBride, but failed to do the same when a working journalist ended up sprawled on the ground after an encounter with the head of a major media organisation.

The best the MEAA could come up with was a tweet 24 hours after the incident which said Costello “should know that a journalist asking him questions is just doing their job, and like any other worker in this country deserves to be treated with respect and to be safe”. It was a limp response which failed to meet the gravity of the moment. Had the journalist forced to the tiles of the Canberra Airport arrivals hall been from the ABC, the union’s response would have been very, very different.

But back to Costello. It must be acknowledged that the 66-year-old presided over some important milestones at Nine – particularly the creation and development of streaming giant Stan and the board’s willingness to fund the Herald’s defence in a defamation case waged by war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith. As senior business columnist Stephen Bartholomeusz points out, Nine was actually in the hands of distressed debt funds when Costello joined the board 11 years ago.

“Nine has fared better than most,” Bartholomeusz observes. “It is the number one TV network. Its broadcast video-on-demand service is also the leader in its category. The Fairfax mastheads – The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Financial Review – are profitable and have built significant digital subscription bases. More than 60 per cent of the publishing division’s revenue flows from its digital offerings.

“It has, however, been a difficult time for all traditional media. The big social media platforms and technology companies continue to gut traditional media of its advertising revenues and fragment their audiences. Free-to-air networks are battling the giant streaming services for audiences and revenues. The current economic environment isn’t helping.”

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A declining share price over the course of this calendar year has also been a concern for investors, executives and staff. Nine is not entering this period of instability for commercial broadcasters on its own; Seven West Media is down 35 per cent so far this year, and the Ten Network is operating at a near-permanent risk of collapse. International players face the same challenges.

Nine’s new chair, Catherine West, has a huge job ahead on multiple fronts. A former Sky UK executive and current chair of the National Institute of Dramatic Art, West has been on the board since 2016 and served as deputy chair since last September.

She and other board members will remain under pressure to explain whether they did enough to deal with Wick and the company’s broader treatment of women. In addition to quelling the justified concerns of shareholders, she will also have to regain the trust of staff, particularly women. An independent review into Wick and broader cultural issues at the network will be a crucial test for how determined the Nine board is to tackle the problem.

We also trust the revised board will continue to observe the Charter of Editorial Independence under which the Herald and its sister publications The Age and The Australian Financial Review operate.

West takes over at a time when corporate Australia is under unprecedented scrutiny from their customers and the broader public – as Costello now knows all too well. Business as usual on culture and governance no longer cuts it. Transparency and action are the order of the day. Nine’s many journalists demand that of others. It’s only right for Nine to hold itself to the same standard.

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