Latest news with #Oliver-Taylor
The Advertiser
11 hours ago
- Politics
- The Advertiser
ABC host fired over 'ill advised' Gaza post gets $70k
A casual ABC radio host will receive $70,000 in damages after being fired from the national broadcaster over an "inconsiderate" post about Israel's actions in Gaza. Antoinette Lattouf was hired for a week-long stint on ABC Radio Sydney's Mornings program before Christmas 2023. She was fired in a "state of panic" at the broadcaster hours after staff learned she had shared a Human Rights Watch post claiming Israel was using starvation as a "weapon of war" in Gaza. The 41-year-old won her unlawful termination case in the Federal Court on Wednesday, when Justice Darryl Rangiah handed down his decision in a courtroom full of her supporters. He found the ABC breached Australian employment law by dismissing the journalist for reasons that included her political opinion. At the time, the broadcaster was under pressure from an orchestrated campaign of complaints against Lattouf by a pro-Israel lobbyist group. The national broadcaster also did not give her the chance to defend the allegations against her, merely showing her the door, the judge found. The ABC was ordered to pay $70,000 in compensation to Lattouf for the emotional distress the termination had caused. In February, the ABC confirmed at a parliamentary hearing that it had spent $1.1 million on legal fees defending the case, although the judge is yet to make a decision about costs. A potential pecuniary penalty will also be determined at a later hearing. Lattouf argued at a hearing in February that then-ABC chair Ita Buttrose, former content chief Chris Oliver-Taylor and former managing director David Anderson were responsible for her termination. But Justice Rangiah found the decision was solely Mr Oliver-Taylor's as he tried to mitigate further complaints about the broadcaster employing someone with Lattouf's political opinions. "Mr Oliver-Taylor sought to appease members of the public who would attribute to Ms Lattouf the holding of anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic opinions by taking her off air," he said. Mr Anderson made a "material contribution" to the decision, however, by giving his views to Mr Oliver-Taylor that the fill-in host held anti-Semitic opinions. Justice Rangiah accepted Mr Oliver-Taylor was put in a difficult position by Lattouf's choice to share the controversial post. "Ms Lattouf's making of the HRW Post was ill-advised and inconsiderate of her employer," he said. "The ABC would have to brace itself for the inevitable criticism - whether fair or unfair - for permitting one of its presenters to make a controversial post and then allowing her to remain on air." The ABC's claims the journalist was fired for breaching a direction not to post anything about Israel and Gaza during her five days on air were also rejected. "I find Ms Lattouf was merely provided with advice that it would be best not to post anything controversial about the war," he said. The judge rejected claims by Lattouf - who is of Lebanese heritage - that she was terminated due to her race or national extraction. A casual ABC radio host will receive $70,000 in damages after being fired from the national broadcaster over an "inconsiderate" post about Israel's actions in Gaza. Antoinette Lattouf was hired for a week-long stint on ABC Radio Sydney's Mornings program before Christmas 2023. She was fired in a "state of panic" at the broadcaster hours after staff learned she had shared a Human Rights Watch post claiming Israel was using starvation as a "weapon of war" in Gaza. The 41-year-old won her unlawful termination case in the Federal Court on Wednesday, when Justice Darryl Rangiah handed down his decision in a courtroom full of her supporters. He found the ABC breached Australian employment law by dismissing the journalist for reasons that included her political opinion. At the time, the broadcaster was under pressure from an orchestrated campaign of complaints against Lattouf by a pro-Israel lobbyist group. The national broadcaster also did not give her the chance to defend the allegations against her, merely showing her the door, the judge found. The ABC was ordered to pay $70,000 in compensation to Lattouf for the emotional distress the termination had caused. In February, the ABC confirmed at a parliamentary hearing that it had spent $1.1 million on legal fees defending the case, although the judge is yet to make a decision about costs. A potential pecuniary penalty will also be determined at a later hearing. Lattouf argued at a hearing in February that then-ABC chair Ita Buttrose, former content chief Chris Oliver-Taylor and former managing director David Anderson were responsible for her termination. But Justice Rangiah found the decision was solely Mr Oliver-Taylor's as he tried to mitigate further complaints about the broadcaster employing someone with Lattouf's political opinions. "Mr Oliver-Taylor sought to appease members of the public who would attribute to Ms Lattouf the holding of anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic opinions by taking her off air," he said. Mr Anderson made a "material contribution" to the decision, however, by giving his views to Mr Oliver-Taylor that the fill-in host held anti-Semitic opinions. Justice Rangiah accepted Mr Oliver-Taylor was put in a difficult position by Lattouf's choice to share the controversial post. "Ms Lattouf's making of the HRW Post was ill-advised and inconsiderate of her employer," he said. "The ABC would have to brace itself for the inevitable criticism - whether fair or unfair - for permitting one of its presenters to make a controversial post and then allowing her to remain on air." The ABC's claims the journalist was fired for breaching a direction not to post anything about Israel and Gaza during her five days on air were also rejected. "I find Ms Lattouf was merely provided with advice that it would be best not to post anything controversial about the war," he said. The judge rejected claims by Lattouf - who is of Lebanese heritage - that she was terminated due to her race or national extraction. A casual ABC radio host will receive $70,000 in damages after being fired from the national broadcaster over an "inconsiderate" post about Israel's actions in Gaza. Antoinette Lattouf was hired for a week-long stint on ABC Radio Sydney's Mornings program before Christmas 2023. She was fired in a "state of panic" at the broadcaster hours after staff learned she had shared a Human Rights Watch post claiming Israel was using starvation as a "weapon of war" in Gaza. The 41-year-old won her unlawful termination case in the Federal Court on Wednesday, when Justice Darryl Rangiah handed down his decision in a courtroom full of her supporters. He found the ABC breached Australian employment law by dismissing the journalist for reasons that included her political opinion. At the time, the broadcaster was under pressure from an orchestrated campaign of complaints against Lattouf by a pro-Israel lobbyist group. The national broadcaster also did not give her the chance to defend the allegations against her, merely showing her the door, the judge found. The ABC was ordered to pay $70,000 in compensation to Lattouf for the emotional distress the termination had caused. In February, the ABC confirmed at a parliamentary hearing that it had spent $1.1 million on legal fees defending the case, although the judge is yet to make a decision about costs. A potential pecuniary penalty will also be determined at a later hearing. Lattouf argued at a hearing in February that then-ABC chair Ita Buttrose, former content chief Chris Oliver-Taylor and former managing director David Anderson were responsible for her termination. But Justice Rangiah found the decision was solely Mr Oliver-Taylor's as he tried to mitigate further complaints about the broadcaster employing someone with Lattouf's political opinions. "Mr Oliver-Taylor sought to appease members of the public who would attribute to Ms Lattouf the holding of anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic opinions by taking her off air," he said. Mr Anderson made a "material contribution" to the decision, however, by giving his views to Mr Oliver-Taylor that the fill-in host held anti-Semitic opinions. Justice Rangiah accepted Mr Oliver-Taylor was put in a difficult position by Lattouf's choice to share the controversial post. "Ms Lattouf's making of the HRW Post was ill-advised and inconsiderate of her employer," he said. "The ABC would have to brace itself for the inevitable criticism - whether fair or unfair - for permitting one of its presenters to make a controversial post and then allowing her to remain on air." The ABC's claims the journalist was fired for breaching a direction not to post anything about Israel and Gaza during her five days on air were also rejected. "I find Ms Lattouf was merely provided with advice that it would be best not to post anything controversial about the war," he said. The judge rejected claims by Lattouf - who is of Lebanese heritage - that she was terminated due to her race or national extraction. A casual ABC radio host will receive $70,000 in damages after being fired from the national broadcaster over an "inconsiderate" post about Israel's actions in Gaza. Antoinette Lattouf was hired for a week-long stint on ABC Radio Sydney's Mornings program before Christmas 2023. She was fired in a "state of panic" at the broadcaster hours after staff learned she had shared a Human Rights Watch post claiming Israel was using starvation as a "weapon of war" in Gaza. The 41-year-old won her unlawful termination case in the Federal Court on Wednesday, when Justice Darryl Rangiah handed down his decision in a courtroom full of her supporters. He found the ABC breached Australian employment law by dismissing the journalist for reasons that included her political opinion. At the time, the broadcaster was under pressure from an orchestrated campaign of complaints against Lattouf by a pro-Israel lobbyist group. The national broadcaster also did not give her the chance to defend the allegations against her, merely showing her the door, the judge found. The ABC was ordered to pay $70,000 in compensation to Lattouf for the emotional distress the termination had caused. In February, the ABC confirmed at a parliamentary hearing that it had spent $1.1 million on legal fees defending the case, although the judge is yet to make a decision about costs. A potential pecuniary penalty will also be determined at a later hearing. Lattouf argued at a hearing in February that then-ABC chair Ita Buttrose, former content chief Chris Oliver-Taylor and former managing director David Anderson were responsible for her termination. But Justice Rangiah found the decision was solely Mr Oliver-Taylor's as he tried to mitigate further complaints about the broadcaster employing someone with Lattouf's political opinions. "Mr Oliver-Taylor sought to appease members of the public who would attribute to Ms Lattouf the holding of anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic opinions by taking her off air," he said. Mr Anderson made a "material contribution" to the decision, however, by giving his views to Mr Oliver-Taylor that the fill-in host held anti-Semitic opinions. Justice Rangiah accepted Mr Oliver-Taylor was put in a difficult position by Lattouf's choice to share the controversial post. "Ms Lattouf's making of the HRW Post was ill-advised and inconsiderate of her employer," he said. "The ABC would have to brace itself for the inevitable criticism - whether fair or unfair - for permitting one of its presenters to make a controversial post and then allowing her to remain on air." The ABC's claims the journalist was fired for breaching a direction not to post anything about Israel and Gaza during her five days on air were also rejected. "I find Ms Lattouf was merely provided with advice that it would be best not to post anything controversial about the war," he said. The judge rejected claims by Lattouf - who is of Lebanese heritage - that she was terminated due to her race or national extraction.
The Guardian
14-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Unsolved mystery: who leaked Antoinette Lattouf's sacking to The Australian?
A mystery at the heart of this week's biggest media story is who leaked the story about Antoinette Lattouf's sacking from the ABC to The Australian? The Oz had the story live on its site before Lattouf made it home on the day she was let go, she told the court, and the court also heard that there were a number of details in the story that could only have been known by a small number of senior people at the broadcaster. Laura Tingle, the ABC's chief political correspondent, wrote to the then chair, Ita Buttrose, to express her 'deep concern' that someone senior had leaked information about Lattouf's dismissal to The Australian, an email read aloud in court revealed. 'Whether or not she breached the social media code, the fact that someone apparently senior briefed The Australian on it and (I suspect) verballed your actual role in any action taken on it is almost as spectacular an error of judgment as any social media breach,' Tingle wrote. Several of the witnesses, including Buttrose, were asked explicitly if they were the source of the leak or knew who had been. All denied it. Sign up to get Guardian Australia's weekly media diary as a free newsletter Content chief Chris Oliver-Taylor even offered some additional commentary on the mystery of leaks at the ABC. He had told the court he had taken a call from The Australian and said 'no comment' but was unaware of who had leaked the story about Lattouf. 'You have no idea how The Australian was privy to this information?' Lattouf's barrister, Oshie Fagir, had pressed Oliver-Taylor. 'No, I do not,' said Oliver-Taylor, who went on to say: 'How did the Guardian two weeks ago know that I was about to resign? They did, though. How did that happen? … Journalists have ways into the ABC.' Staying with Lattouf a moment longer, while the court battle has kept most of the media busy with news stories, live blogs and analysis for the past two weeks, for the Daily Mail it was a chance for some investigative fashion journalism. The Mail's picture-heavy format meant that its Lattouf stories featured half a dozen or so photographs of the journalist entering the federal court building each day, from different angles, as well as descriptions of her choice of outfit each day. They even ran a separate story on Lattouf's 'courthouse catwalk', with a breakdown of the labels she wore each day to court, the cost of some of her clothing, shoes and handbags and an estimated total of the cost of her court wardrobe. The new host of Media Watch has come out of the gates with a bang. Linton Besser, in his second episode hosting the iconic program, turned his attention to Channel Nine's Find My Beach House. In the show, prospective buyers searching for a home by the sea are taken around beach houses by host Shelley Craft before deciding which one they want to buy. Besser examined one episode, in which young couple Lachie and Tonya considered three homes in Mount Martha, Victoria, eventually deciding to buy house number three. 'We've lost a lot of sleep over this,' Lachie says when Craft asks him if they have settled on a home. 'For us right now, house number three feels like it's the one,' Tonya says. Which is lucky because, as Media Watch exposed, the house they decided on in the show is one they already owned and in fact had built themselves on the plot of land they had bought eight years prior, documenting the build on social media. Media Watch spoke to a former producer of the show who said roughly 50% of the properties featured on it are already owned by the people featured on the show. Sign up to Weekly Beast Amanda Meade's weekly diary on the latest in Australian media, free every Friday after newsletter promotion After inquiries from Media Watch, Channel Nine scrubbed the series from its website. 'We know these shows aren't trying to be Four Corners but talk about selling your audience and advertisers down the river,' Besser said. Advertising executives celebrated this week after a LinkedIn pile-on apparently led to a billboard spruiking an anti-renewables message being taken down. The billboard, which carried the message ''Renewables' cost the earth', accompanied by a picture of wind turbines and earth-moving equipment, was spotted in the marginal seat of Paterson, north of Newcastle, by the ad executive Mike Spirkovski, who shared a photograph of the billboard on LinkedIn on 10 February. The billboard was funded by rightwing campaign group Advance Australia, which has been running a campaign to expose the 'truth' about renewables, including a 50-minute documentary called Dollars and destruction: How renewables harm our farms and cost the earth. James Greet, the co-founder of the Payback Project, shared Spirkovski's post and wrote his own message of outrage on LinkedIn, tagging oOh!media, which owns the billboard, calling it out for allowing the ad, in spite of its commitment to sustainability, as a founding member of Ad Net Zero. One day later, on 11 February, oOh! replied on LinkedIn saying it had removed the advertisement 'following an additional internal review and given our business' strong commitment to sustainability and reducing our operational impact on the planet'. oOh! received a lot of plaudits from people on LinkedIn for the decision. 'oOh! today you made the right call, swiftly and without hesitation,' wrote Spirkovski. 'Thank you for acting with integrity and standing by your commitment to responsible advertising. Your decision helps ensure that misinformation doesn't undermine the important conversations we need to have about our environment. I appreciate your leadership on this.' The only thing is, according to Advance Australia, which paid for the billboard, the billboard was only scheduled to run until 9 February, the day before Spirkovski posted about it on LinkedIn and two days before oOh! said it had removed it 'following an additional review'. Advance told Weekly Beast: 'We are surprised at oOh!media's statement because the billboard in question ran for the full contractual period. We have received no correspondence from them about the billboard. As far as we are aware there was no issue, oOh!media has been paid in full, and the billboard performed above expectations.' oOh! Media said in a statement that it did act in response to the LinkedIn post, but did not dispute Advance's claim the billboard ran for its full contract period. An oOh! spokesperson said: 'oOh! acted to remove the campaign following a LinkedIn post and in line with our sustainability commitments. In regional locations, classic billboards can remain in situ for longer than their prescribed campaign period, however on this occasion we expedited de-installation. While we have robust procedures in place to review sensitive advertising content, oOh! has initiated further steps to strengthen these processes.'
The Guardian
07-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
ABC executive tells court there was ‘pressure from above' over Antoinette Lattouf's position
The ABC executive who sacked Antoinette Lattouf for sharing a Human Rights Watch post has conceded he felt 'pressure from above' after the then ABC chair, Ita Buttrose, sent him all the complaints she was receiving. Under cross-examination in the federal court which is hearing Lattouf's unlawful termination claim, the outgoing ABC content chief, Chris Oliver-Taylor, said there was a 'strong view' from colleagues about 'having someone who has published strong views, either way, on air'. Lattouf was hired as a casual host on ABC Radio Sydney's Mornings program for one week in December 2023. She was taken off air three days into a five-day contract after she posted on social media about the Israel-Gaza war. Sign up to get Guardian Australia's weekly media diary as a free newsletter 'The pressure was now building, the concerns were rising,' Oliver-Taylor said of the situation on Tuesday 19 December 2023, after Buttrose wrote to him directly and said she would be forwarding on all complaints she received about Lattouf's presence on the broadcaster directly to him. 'We were trying to build a scaffold around Ms Lattouf, to protect her and the show … at that moment in time that was holding, but the position was becoming harder and harder, I felt,' he said. Lattouf's lead barrister, Oshie Fagir, said Oliver-Taylor had been put in 'a really unfair position … by your bosses', to which Oliver-Taylor replied: 'I don't think that's entirely true.' 'I think that due diligence should have been taken with regard to Ms Lattouf and Ms Lattouf would have made an excellent presenter for the ABC in other times,' Oliver-Taylor said, 'but the published news meant that it was a very difficult decision that my colleagues had made. So there was pressure there, and I feel due diligence was not done as it should have been. There was pressure from above, I accept that.' Oliver-Taylor was also asked when he first saw the Instagram post that triggered the presenter's removal after her third shift on Wednesday 20 December 2023. He said he saw a screenshot earlier that day when it was shared during an online crisis meeting by the head of audio, Ben Latimer, who had discovered the post and told him about it at 11.30am. 'It was a screenshot shared in the meeting by Mr Latimer during the Teams meeting, I believe,' Oliver-Taylor said. Oliver-Taylor explained he does not have any social media accounts, and he relied on his colleagues to judge whether Lattouf's posts were acceptable or not before deciding she had breached editorial impartiality and failed to follow a direction. He was unclear, however, who had given Lattouf that direction, which the ABC says was not to post on social media, saying he believed it was Steve Ahern, the former manger of ABC Radio Sydney. This conflicts with earlier evidence from Anderson and Lattouf that it was Lattouf's line manager, Elizabeth Green, who had spoke to the presenter on the Tuesday afternoon. The contents of that conversation are disputed by Lattouf, who says she was not told not to post at all. 'Who gave Ms Lattouf the direction, to your understanding?' Fagir asked. 'I believe it was Ahern,' Oliver-Taylor said. Oliver-Taylor texted the managing director, David Anderson, about his decision at 12.30pm, according to published documents. It was a dramatic reversal of the ABC's strategy, because at 11am Anderson had assured Buttrose in an email that he was 'absolutely in damage control' and a decision had been taken to keep Lattouf on air. 'We have weighed up the consequences of prematurely pulling Antoinette Lattouf off air, versus managing this until Friday as per her contract,' Anderson wrote. 'We have concluded that the best possible outcome from here is to manage this such that Ms Lattouf does not editorial engage in the Middle East conflict while on air for the remainder of her contract.' Anderson was out for a Christmas lunch with Buttrose when the decision was taken to remove Lattouf. Asked why Lattouf had been removed, Oliver-Taylor told the court: 'Ms Lattouf was removed from air for breaching a direction, as well as after publishing a number of say, tweets, articles, posts, that continued the view that Ms Lattouf was not impartial whilst hosting a live radio show'. Fagir read out a contemporaneous note from Oliver-Taylor which said 'Ben [Latimer] informed Steve [Ahern], Simon [Melkman] and myself that she took things to social media' and 'one was a comment about diversity of voices, and the other was a repost of how Israel is using starvation tactics in the war'. Oliver-Taylor agreed he had written the note to himself but said 'I did not check those posts'. He said he did not understand the content of the posts well enough to know 'how that would play'. 'What I'm trying to say, is this was not the only issue we were dealing with this week. I was running nine live radio stations and four TV channels at the same time, it was 1,000 people, there were many things going on in that week,' Oliver-Taylor told the court. The witness also said he was unclear who had complained to the ABC about Lattouf being hired but he relied on information from Anderson who had texted him about her social media feed being full of 'antisemitic hate'. 'I don't believe I knew this was a lobby by pro-Israel supporters, well, by people who held a different view to Ms Lattouf,' he said. 'I understood that there was a view Ms Lattouf held which … she had published. It was very clear she had published various things in the previous weeks leading up to her engagement with the ABC and then during her engagement with the ABC which meant there was a perception of bias for ABC Radio.' The hearing continues.
