Podcasting August 25, 2021

Schwartz Media to investigate music industry’s Me Too movement in new podcast series Everybody Knows

Reporter

Schwartz Media has announced the launch of a new investigative podcast series exploring the toxic underbelly of the Australian music industry.

Helmed by journalist and 7am host Ruby Jones, Everybody Knows will trace the rise and fall of the Me Too movement in Australia and investigate serious allegations of harassment, abuse and assault that have occurred behind closed doors in the music industry, with its first episode launching on Wednesday, September 1 via Acast.

Through unpacking the events of the past four years, Everybody Knows will reveal how outdated laws and media bias have helped protect abusers and normalise misconduct, ultimately creating a toxic working environment for women within the industry.

The five-part series will feature in-depth interviews with key journalists, lawyers and survivors within the Me Too movement, with notable subjects including human rights lawyer Jen Robinson, who acted for Amber Heard and Rose McGowan; Bruce McClintock, the barrister who represented Geoffrey Rush; and Sydney Morning Herald reporter Kate McClymont, who first reported on the Australian movement.

Jones said that Everybody Knows would offer a snapshot of abuse in the music industry and question the structural systems that have allowed abusers to get away with their actions.

“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,” said Jones.

“I want to know why, four years on from Me Too, 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?”

Schwartz Media’s head of audio Osman Faruqi celebrated Jones’ journalistic integrity and said that Everybody Knows would raise the stakes for Australian audio journalism.

“Ruby is a brilliant host of 7am, but she’s also an extraordinary journalist in her own right. We’d been looking for the right opportunity to unleash some of those skills, and Everybody Knows is it,” Faruqi said.

“With Everybody Knows, we’re bringing the same compelling, narrative storytelling format we use every day on 7am to a long-form, investigative series. We think it sets a new benchmark for quality audio journalism in Australia.”