There was another source of pressure on the ABC content chief when he hastily removed Antoinette Lattouf from air, the federal court has found.
Apart from a coordinated campaign by the pro-Israel lobby which had ABC management in a “panic”, there was the looming deadline of Rupert Murdoch’s broadsheet, a newspaper which is consistently hostile to the ABC.
The Australian was asking questions about Lattouf’s social media commentary on Gaza and apparently knew Ita Buttrose had received multiple complaints, the judgment shows.
“The pressure on [Chris] Oliver-Taylor was also amplified by the email from Sophie Elsworth of The Australian forwarded to him at 12.42 pm, asking a series of questions and asking for a response by 1.30 pm,” Justice Darryl Rangiah wrote in his judgment, which revealed the internal workings of the public broadcaster’s executive floor.
“It was apparent The Australian intended to publish a story about the complaints regarding Ms Lattouf’s social media posts and her ongoing employment with the ABC.”
If Lattouf had to be stood down, Oliver-Taylor told his managing director, David Anderson, who was out to lunch with Buttrose, it should be done before the story ran.
His text message said: “Aus are going to run a yarn. I’m going to action this now and try and beat”.
Shortly after Lattouf was sacked, an ABC spokesman responded to The Australian at 2.05pm: “ABC Sydney casual presenter Antoinette Lattouf will not be back on air for her remaining two shifts this week.”
Half an hour later, an online story read: “A fill-in host for one of the ABC’s most coveted radio spots has been sacked for a slew of anti-Israel posts after an influx of complaints from the Jewish community reached the public broadcaster’s chairwoman Ita Buttrose”.
Lattouf told the court during the trial how shocked she was that the story was published before she made it home from work.
Costly endeavour
Lattouf was awarded $70,000 in compensation for non-economic loss but will not have her legal costs paid by the ABC.
When it comes to Fair Work cases in the federal court, there is generally a “no costs” principle, meaning each party pays its own legal costs.
The ABC managing director, Hugh Marks, said the legal cost incurred was perhaps as high as $2m, which “is not a good use of taxpayer funds”.
Speaking to ABC Radio Melbourne, Marks said costs would go above the $1.1m detailed at Senate estimates because “it sounds like there’s still more work to do”.
“It would have been better if it settled, it would have been better if it hadn’t happened at all,” he said.
A fine mess
There is a further, not insubstantial, potential cost the ABC is facing: a fine for breaching the ABC’s enterprise agreement and the Fair Work Act.
Rangiah said he will hold a hearing on whether a pecuniary penalty ought to be imposed on the ABC for the breaches.
Lattouf’s lawyer, Josh Bornstein, told Weekly Beast the penalties for breaching the act may add up to as much as $460,000. Pecuniary penalties can be paid to the commonwealth, an organisation or an individual, the act says.
Post and be damned
Another legacy of the high-profile court case will be another change to the ABC’s social media guidelines.
In 2021 Anderson warned staff they faced disciplinary action, including termination, if they breached tough new social media guidelines.
The warning came after two of the ABC’s most experienced journalists, Laura Tingle and former Four Corners executive producer Sally Neighbour, breached the guidelines with posts on Twitter.
More tightening is now on the horizon.
Marks told ABC staff after the judgment: “Due to confusion expressed about the Personal Use of Social Media guidelines, which was canvassed during the case, these have been reviewed and will be replaced with new Public Comment guidelines. We will talk more about this in coming weeks.”
Reading the judgment, we’d have to say much of the confusion appeared to be coming from the multiple layers of management, rather than staff.
Exclusive that wasn’t
The Daily Telegraph has done it again. The News Corp tabloid sent an email to subscribers claiming an exclusive on the international news that the US had bombed Iran.
“EXCLUSIVE: ‘Very successful attack’: Trump says US targeted three nuclear sites in Iran,” the email said at the same time as global media was reporting the same.
“The United States has bombed Iran, with Donald Trump announcing the bombing of three nuclear sites at Natanz, Fordow and Esfahan. Follow updates.”
Impressive pay packet
A couple of days after it was revealed News Corp’s global chief executive, Robert Thomson, had become the highest-paid CEO of an Australian-listed company, with a $42m pay packet, the Murdoch empire handed the former reporter a five-year extension of his contract.
The Victorian-born Thomson is responsible for multiple assets including the Wall Street Journal, the UK Sun and the Times, News Corp Australia and book publisher HarperCollins. News Corp is primarily traded on the US market, while retaining a secondary listing on the ASX.
His “exceptional” record, which includes the sale of pay TV network Foxtel to sports streaming service DAZN and a deal with artificial intelligence firm OpenAI, ensured he would remain in charge, the company told investors.
The News Corp chair, Lachlan Murdoch, said: “Robert has been instrumental in News Corp’s growth and transformation, and his vision and leadership are extremely important as the company continues to navigate this era of rapid change.”
Booze bid banished
The media regulator has knocked back a bid by free-to-air broadcasters to change the rules to allow more alcohol ads to be shown during children’s television viewing hours.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma) refused to register a new Free TV code which proposed extending M or mature programming slots, during which alcohol ads are allowed.
The authority also urged the industry to “proactively review the existing gambling advertising rules ahead of any potential government reforms” after it was made aware of “significant community concern regarding gambling advertising on commercial TV”.
Free-to-air broadcasters had lobbied the Acma to change classification rules as part of a new code of practice.
Free TV wanted to allow an additional 800 hours of alcohol ads every year despite one in three children already being exposed to liquor commercials on television.
The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education CEO Ayla Chorley said that Acma has listened to the community and prioritised the health and wellbeing of Australians over the profits of industry groups.
“The community sent a strong message to Free TV Australia and ACMA that the last thing we need is more alcohol ads on TV, because of the increased risk of harm to women, children and our community,” Chorley said.
