The journalists’ union has labelled the ABC’s new social media policy “punitive” and urged its management to come up with another set of rules in consultation with staff.
The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) on Thursday criticised the public broadcaster for its new “public comment guidelines” which limit what staff can express and categorises well-known journalists as “high-risk”.
The national broadcaster introduced the new guidelines on Wednesday, two months after it lost an unlawful termination case against Antoinette Lattouf, who was sacked over a social media post while casually employed as a radio host.
The guidelines state that employees “will not make any public comment that undermines your perceived or actual ability to perform your role; undermines the independence or integrity of the ABC or any ABC editorial content; implies ABC endorsement of your personal views; is on behalf of the ABC, or in a way that could be seen as representing the ABC, without prior authorisation”.
While the guidelines apply to all staff, the policy document warns that the higher a worker’s public profile or seniority, the greater the potential “reputational” damage a breach of these standards may cause, both to the individual and the ABC.
The national director of the MEAA’s media section, Cassie Derrick, said the policy appeared to target particular ABC staff based on how public facing they were, rather than the level of control they had over the editorial process.
“The ABC’s new public comment policy doubles down on the punitive approach the national broadcaster has taken for some time towards its staff, and appears to be a mechanism to further entrench insecurity within the workforce,” she said.
According to the ABC policy, workers whose public comments carry the “highest risk of undermining the independence and integrity of ABC content” include journalists, producers, news editors and senior leadership.
The guidelines, which were endorsed by the ABC board, apply to any comments made by ABC workers on social media, at public events or in any context where comments may “reasonably” be expected to reach a public audience.
The broadcaster’s managing director, Hugh Marks, confirmed the rules would extend to messages sent on WhatsApp.
“If you were doing a conversation with a journalist, that’s a one-on-one WhatsApp message, then it would be reasonable to assume that that would also become public,” he told ABC radio on Thursday.
Marks claimed the policy change reflected a general need for an update rather than being directly linked to the Lattouf case.
“It’s a recognition that it’s not just social media where comments by some of our people can potentially reflect in an adverse way upon the reputation of the ABC and that we needed something that captured that much broader environment,” he said.
Derrick said the union would write to ABC management asking that they “properly consult” with staff on a public comment policy that protected the broadcaster and its employees.
The Walkley award-winning journalist and former ABC executive Alan Sunderland disagreed that the new policy was punitive and said it didn’t significantly change the “principles” that had already been in place.
“If you go to the heart of it, it’s simply found newer, clearer language to explain the ongoing challenge between the rights of someone to just be a member of society and have their views and … working for an independent, impartial news organisations,” he said.
An ABC journalist, who asked not to be named, accused the broadcaster of failing to consult staff and ignoring the findings in Lattouf’s unlawful termination case.
“They have just come out of a court case where they have been told they are not allowed to sack someone for expressing a political opinion on social media,” the journalist said.
“It wasn’t a secret, but they haven’t consulted on the policy. No one’s seen it before.”
A spokesperson for the ABC said many people, including staff, provided feedback on the new policy.
They said the guidelines reflected the ABC’s legislated requirement to maintain its independence and integrity and to ensure its news and information services are accurate and impartial.
“Editorial staff providing news and information services have a particular responsibility to be mindful that the ABC’s impartiality – and their own and that of their colleagues – is not undermined,” they said.
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