New documents have shed light on what transpired in the days before journalist Antoinette Lattouf was allegedly let go by the ABC over a social media post about the war in Gaza.
Since late 2023, the prolific journalist has been involved in a long-drawn dispute with the national broadcaster over her alleged unlawful dismissal on day three of a five-day contract filling in as an ABC Radio Sydney presenter.
Lattouf claimed she was sacked for expressing political opinion and that the ABC allegedly told her she breached its social media policy by posting content about the war in Gaza on her personal Instagram account.
She also claimed her racial background as a woman of Lebanese and Arab and Middle Eastern descent was a factor.
In June last year, the Fair Work Commission ruled that she was dismissed, despite the ABC’s claims that her employment was not actually terminated as she was paid for the full five days, per the Sydney Morning Herald.
This paved the way for an unlawful termination case, which she has filed in the Federal Court, and is set to go to trial on February 3.
Court documents released this week — which include an agreed statement of facts — now provide a series of events and exchanges between senior ABC executives and Lattouf.
Tense exchanges
The documents outline Lattouf was in conversation with Elizabeth Green, content director at ABC Radio Sydney, for over a week in November 2023 before agreeing to fill in for five days the next month.
She presented her first shift on the morning of December 18, 2023.
Per the documents — which do not provide the contents of the communications — there were a series of emails exchanged between senior ABC executives starting from that afternoon.
These included emails between ABC chair Ita Buttrose; managing director David Anderson; head of audio content Benjamin Latimer; chief content officer Christopher Oliver-Taylor; acting manager of ABC Radio Sydney, Ronald (Mark) Spurway; and editorial standards and compliance manager Sashka Koloff.
The Fair Work Commission ruled against the ABC in its attempts to have the unlawful dismissal case thrown out. Source: Instagram
Among the exchanges, there was an email regarding Lattouf’s employment history, a screenshot of her social media activity, and numerous phone calls between Lattouf and content director Green.
The document noted Lattouf posted a series of Instagram stories on Tuesday, December 19, the day prior to her alleged dismissal, which included reposting a report from Human Rights Watch with the caption “HRW reporting starvation as a tool of war”.
It also noted the ABC had reported on these claims that Israel was “weaponising starvation in Gaza” on a number of occasions between 18 and 20 December 2023.
The Day Of The Meeting
On the morning of December 20, 2023 — the day of the alleged unlawful dismissal — emails were exchanged between ABC chair Buttrose, managing director Anderson, and other senior officials.
The documents suggest the ABC might have already been facing external inquiries, noting The Australian’s media writer, Sophie Elsworth, had contacted ABC communications executives at 11.24 am.
Not long after, a text message was exchanged between compliance manager Koloff and Benjamin Latimer, head of audio content at the ABC, with a screenshot of Lattouf’s social media activity from the previous day. An email from The Australian’s Elsworth was also shared with senior executives.
The court document noted Lattouf was called into a meeting at around 1.30 pm that afternoon.
“Immediately after the Lattouf Meeting, [she] left the room and went to the Mornings production area. Ms Lattouf had a conversation with Yusuke Aso, Producer, and Michaela Morgan, Producer,” it said.
It stated that she left the ABC building shortly after. Within the hour — by 2.39pm, per the document — an article with headline ‘ABC presenter Antoinette Lattouf sacked after anti-Israel social media posts’ was posted on The Australian’s website.
What’s Next?
The release of these court documents could deliver some crucial context ahead of the trial, where Lattouf will argue her case of unlawful dismissal by the national broadcaster. The trial is expected to take place over six days from February 3 to February 10.
It’s already proven to have been a tenuous time for the ABC, with the roles of managing director Anderson and chief content officer Oliver-Taylor changing in the last six months for unrelated reasons. Anderson, who stepped down in August, explained to ABC News he had been in discussion with new ABC chair Kim Williams about resigning for some time and that it was time for a renewal in the position.
Meanwhile, a new structure at the ABC in October last year is believed to have moved responsibility for the ABC’s radio networks and other audio content into a dedicated audio division, reducing Oliver-Taylor’s remit, per ABC News.
An ABC spokesperson told PEDESTRIAN.TV they had no comment on the matter.
Lead image: Antoinette Lattouf / Twitter
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