ABC staff revolt as Antoinette Lattouf axing fallout deepens
ABC Managing Director David Anderson has hit back at staff claims the broadcaster bowed to Jewish lobby groups when it sacked fill-in radio presenter Antoinette Lattouf.
Responding to staff demands that he return from leave, the ABC boss released a statement on Wednesday night over claims he should explain to staff why Lattouf was sacked over social media posts regarding the Israel-Hamas war ahead of a Fair Work hearing on Thursday.
The ABC has previously lodged a defence to Lattouf’s unfair dismissal claim slamming it as “without merit” and including “abhorrent” claim of racism that it rejected.
“The ABC’s independence, enshrined in legislation, is of paramount importance to the role the ABC performs for the Australian public,’’ Mr Anderson said.
“The ABC rejects any claim that it has been influenced by any external pressure, whether it be an advocacy or lobby group, a political party, or commercial entity. That applies to all decisions made across the organisation, including in relation to content, where the ABC’s Editorial Policies provide strong direction on independence and other crucial matters.
“ABC staff are proud of our high standards of independent journalism, and routinely perform their roles for the Australian public without fear or favour, adhering to our responsibilities of impartiality and accuracy – often in the face of significant unwarranted criticism.”
“The ABC takes legitimate criticism, feedback and complaints seriously, and addresses them in line with our Editorial Policies, complaints handling procedures and our editorial guidelines, as is appropriate.
“The ABC also takes very seriously our responsibility to champion diversity and inclusion in order to accurately reflect the community we serve, both in our content and as an organisation. This is an ongoing process involving regular review, to ensure we aim high. Our equity and inclusion initiatives include:
ABC staff today requested management and board members sit with unions to “establish a culturally informed process for appropriately supporting staff who face criticism or attack.”
Hundreds tell ABC boss to come home
Hundreds of ABC staff have demanded ABC managing director David Anderson return from summer holidays to “explain why Antointee Lattouf was sacked.”
Around 190 ABC staff downed tools to hold national meetings today over the sacking of the fill-in broadcaster over social media posts regarding the Israel-Hamas war.
The motion passed by staff calls for ABC management and board members to stand up for reporting without fear or favour by ensuring that complaints are dealt with through the established, accountable ABC complaints processes, not through back channels, and ensuring journalists who are subject to those complaints have access to them.
“We call for the Managing Director to return from leave and urgently meet with staff to explain why Antoinette Lattouf was sacked and explain what lobbying was done of the managing Director and Chair,’’ the national resolution states.
The journalists union the MEAA said it supported “the demands our Ultimo colleagues made of ABC Management on 16 January.”
“We further express our deep concern at the sacking of Antoinette Lattouf and targeting of other journalists, and dismay at the lack of support for ABC staff who come under attack in coordinated campaigns,’’ a spokesperson said.
“Those attacks are not distributed evenly and disproportionately affect journalists of colour. The lack of adequate support creates an unsafe workplace. The appearance of kowtowing to lobby group pressure is embarrassing and damaging to the ABC’s reputation and impacts our ability to report without fear or favour.”
Staff revolt
The ABC is facing a staff revolt over the sacking of fill-in radio host Lattouf who was fired after she was issued a warning over her Israel-Hamas social media posts.
Around 80 staff members have now demanded a meeting with ABC managing director David Anderson - who is currently on leave - and threatened to stage a walkout.
In a social media post showing dozens of ABC staff together at the broadcaster’s headquarters in Ultimo the media union MEAA said: “MEAA members at the ABC called on managing director David Anderson to urgently meet with staff and address growing concerns about outside interference, culturally unsafe management practices and to stand up for journalism without fear or favour.”
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ABC staff are calling for an urgent meeting. Picture: Instagram
The ABC’s Radio National noted on Wednesday it had contacted ABC Chair Ita Buttrose, Mr Anderson and Chief Content Officer Chris Oliver-Taylor to come on the program to discuss the matter.
“All three declined,” the report stated.
A former high profile ABC breakfast presenter Nour Haydar who filled in as a co-host with Michael Rowland has also quit over concerns about the broadcaster’s coverage of the Middle East.
She posted in support of Ms Lattouf on Wednesday who was sacked after re-posting material from the group Human Rights Watch.
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Antoinette Lattouf. Picture: Instagram
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Former high profile ABC breakfast presenter Nour Haydar (R) who filled in as a co-host with Michael Rowland. Picture: Instagram
“Does this mean all ABC employees can’t share info from Human Rights Watch?” Ms Haydar wrote.
“What if it’s about the treatment of Uyghurs in China or protesters in Iran? Does this rule exist exclusively for findings that are critical of Israel?”
Haydar, a former political reporter in the ABC’s Parliament House bureau, resigned and joined The Guardian as a podcast journalist.
“I have resigned from the ABC. This was not a decision that I made lightly, but one I made with total clarity,” she said.
“Commitment to diversity in the media cannot be skin deep. Culturally diverse staff should be respected and supported even when they challenge the status quo.
“Death and destruction on the scale we have seen over recent months has made me reassess my priorities.”
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Haydar was a political reporter at the ABC's Parliament House bureau. Picture: Supplied / Instagram
It follows the emergence of leaked WhatsApp messagesdetailing a group called Lawyers for Israel writing to the ABC to demand Lattouf be sacked – development Ms Haydar was initially unaware of when she decided to resign.
Lattouf was sacked after a warning not to post controversial social media material, according to the national broadcaster — which said claims it was based on her race or political opinions are “without merit.”
In legal documents filed by the ABC in response to her Fair Work claim for unfair dismissal, her expanded claim is described as “fundamentally and entirely misconceived.”
It follows Ms Lattouf sharing a post on her Instagram account by comedian Dan Ilic on Tuesday who wrote: “This saga will end up with Ita (Buttrose) and David Anderson resigning because they forgot what their job was.”
The post was deleted a short time later by Ms Lattouf but remains on Ilic’s Instagram account.
A crowd-funding post asking for donations for her legal fees remains up and has raised $29,000.
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ABC Managing Director David Anderson during the Environment and Communications Senate Estimates at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman
But in a legal filing, the ABC rejected claims Ms Lattouf was terminated following a direct intervention by the broadcaster’s managing director.
Cassie Derrick, the MEAA media director, urged the ABC to work with staff who are concerned about the treatment of Lattouf and other staff.
“And at the ABC, the management is letting these journalists and the public down. Management needs to work with the staff to ensure that the trust in the ABC can be maintained,” she said.
‘This is our generation of McCarthyism’
Labor frontbencher Ed Husic weighed in on the sacking of Lattouf, warning people should be able to “express their views without feeling their jobs are on the line.”
The cabinet minister, who has previously described Israel’s military action in Gaza as “very disproportionate” and that children “are not Hamas” made the comments at a press conference on Wednesday.
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“If it’s peaceful and conforms to what we think is acceptable in a democratic country, they shouldn’t feel their jobs are on the line,” he said.
Mr Husic, the industry minister, has previously stated that Australians should be free to express concerns about the loss of innocent life in Gaza without being “professionally black-listed”.
“This is our generation of McCarthyism which we saw back in the 50s, where people were in targeted believing that they were communist … I don’t think we need to replay that in this day and age,” he said.
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