Jennifer Keyte: ‘Skid Row was a boys club. That has changed at 10’

Jennifer Keyte has witnessed plenty of change in her 40+ years in the media.

Joining Eyewitness News at 10 in 1982, becoming a co-anchor at Seven at the age of just 27, she’s endured blokey, male-dominated newsrooms to see equal employment become embraced by TV network managements.

At 10 News First all the main anchors on bulletins are women: Keyte (Melbourne), Sandra Sully (Sydney / Brisbane), Kate Freebairn (Adelaide), Natalie Forrest (Perth), Narelda Jacobs (Midday / Afternoons), Chris Bath (Weekends).

Four of five Executive Editors are also women: Nicole Strahan (Melbourne), Gerda Jezuchowski (Adelaide), Erin Edwards (Brisbane) and Pamela Magill (Perth). Sydney’s Jarrod Koh is the only male Executive Editor at 10.

For International Women’s Day, both Keyte & Strahan reflect on the changes they have witnessed in the industry.

“I really enjoy working at this network because I think they’re very progressive in this area, and it’s very refreshing,” Jennifer Keyte tells TV Tonight. “It feels modern. It feels inclusive. That’s not to say at the others I’ve ever not felt comfortable and been given great opportunities.

“I was the co-anchor when I started reading. So all my weekends back in the day, I was clearly the co-anchor but I accepted that because that was the time. It didn’t mean as a reporter, I was given lesser roles. In our newsrooms at Channel 10 in Nunawading, when a story broke it was whoever was available.”

In the ’80s, alongside reporter Shirley Hardy, Keyte was one of two women assigned to police rounds.

“That was a rough, tough time. It was such a wake-up call for me. I’d lived such a sheltered life! I remember Shirl and I at the Police Club, having drinks with magistrates at the City Courthouse. It was a really interesting time. ”

“‘Skid Row’ we used to call it at Nunawading, where all the executives lived, was a boys’ club.”

Keyte, who returned to 10 in 2018, only recalls Publicity being the sole department led by a woman.

“Eileen O’She was a matriarch -the publicist you’d cast in a movie. She was a powerhouse and she was absolutely brilliant. So in those areas women really ran the show. But I’d say in the real power, ‘Skid Row’ we used to call it at Nunawading, where all the executives lived, was a boys’ club. That has changed particularly at 10.”

Nicole Strahan (pictured above), who has worked at 10 for 24 years across two stints, points to changes in maternity, and indeed paternity, leave for staff.

“I think I was probably only the second female in the newsroom who went off to have children, and I came back. There was never an issue. I was able to come back part-time for many, many years. I think it’s a testament to the business that I never felt it was going to affect my career trajectory at all,” she insists.

“It’s important that they’re there for their children because it’s time that you never get back. We give that opportunity to men and women equally.”

“I felt very sad as a young reporter”

“We used to see so many talented women reporters in our newsroom, who finally met someone and decided to get married,” Keyte remembers.

“They’d get pregnant, they’d vanish and we’d never see them again. It was quite an extraordinary time. I felt very sad as a young reporter….. It didn’t matter if it was a librarian, someone working in make-up -they would all finally want to start a family. You’d say goodbye and have farewell parties. Back then all the men were married and having families and didn’t miss a beat with their jobs. I felt that profoundly as a young reporter and I remember thinking, ‘This is so sad that so much female talent is lost in the way we operate.’

“What I love these days is (reporter) Caty Price is off on maternity leave, and the men are having paternity leave too.

“We’re looking after all the talent we’ve nurtured over the years, having this flexibility and this fairness for people to be able to still do what they love doing and balance having families.”

Strahan also points to more women in other roles that were once the domain of male employees, whether seen or unseen by the audience.

“We do have a lot of females behind the scenes, in director roles, for cameras in the studio, there’s a broad cross section of women who are in various key roles within the business,” she continues.

“There are times when we have an all female line-up, on the desk, with a sports presenter, Jen in the news chair, and then out in the road we have quite often sports reporters.”

“I don’t feel that my gender is how I formulate decisions”

But she understandably doesn’t see gender directly influencing her ability to oversee news bulletins.

“I don’t feel that my gender is how I formulate decisions. Your life experience and your professional experience influences the way that you make decisions. And hopefully they’re good ones.”

Keyte also recalls, with some shock, at a monumental shift by Channel Seven during her early years in 1990.

“I looked at their faces, and they were cement coloured, and I thought ‘This can’t be good'”

“When I started I fell absolutely in love with this business. I rolled with the punches over the years. I was a co-anchor to start with and eventually at the age of 27, at the Seven Network I was reading with Glenn Taylor. I was called upstairs one afternoon into the managing director’s office. I think it was Gerry Carrington in those days, Ian Duncan was programming director, David Broadbent was news director. I looked at their faces, and they were cement coloured, and I thought ‘This can’t be good,'” she remembers.

‘”And they sat me down and said, ‘We’ve decided to go with one news reader,’ and my heart sank, because I knew the climate those days was ‘co-anchor bye bye!’

“And they said, ‘Yes we’ve decided to go with you.’ Everything became surreal very quickly. I said, ‘You’re what?’

“I was as incredulous as the rest of the newsroom. ‘You’re going with me? I’m 27 and the co- anchor!’ They said, ‘Our research says they like you. They believe you, they trust you. You have warmth.’ I said ‘Okay, this is great’ but my my heart sank for Glenn.

“After that day, I think every interview I did for a decade, was ‘What’s your use by date? You were the co-anchor, you’re a young woman. How long can this last? What do you reckon?'” she reflects.

“Can I tell you in the last 15 years, no one has asked me that question. That ‘use-by date question’ has disappeared as we evolve as a nation. Looking to the American and British presenters, womens’ experience is valued. It’s actually accepted and trusted, and it’s a great place to be. I’m really proud that I have been part of that whole journey.”

“Of course there’s always more work to be done”

Yet there is still room for improvement.

A recent gender pay study notes that while 10 / Paramount has a female CEO in Beverley McGarvey, its board is predominantly composed of men at 67%. The network reports a median total remuneration gender pay gap of 5.5%, with a median base salary gender pay gap of 7.5% -but a better result than commercial rivals.

“We are doing better than all of the other networks and other media outlets including News Corp and Southern Cross,” says Strahan. “But of course there’s always more work to be done to continue to narrow that pay gap. That’s up to all companies, not just Network 10 / Paramount, to be mindful of that when we’re recruiting and offering salaries that you are gender blind. People should be paid on their merit and their experience and the level that position warrants.

“We need to continue to have great storytellers to tell our stories, to bring people the news that matters to their everyday lives and to their families.

“That’s certainly something that I’m very, very passionate about.”

Amended.