ABC Sydney staff have threatened to walk out of work in response to the public broadcaster’s handling of radio host Antoinette Lattouf’s termination.
The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance has confirmed around 80 staff members are demanding a meeting with ABC managing director David Anderson to discuss the issue.
This week, the Sydney Morning Herald published a number of messages from pro-Israel lobbyists that targeted Anderson and ABC chair, Ita Buttrose. Leaked messages from a WhatsApp group called Lawyers for Israel shows proof of a co-ordinated letter-writing campaign, with the group repeatedly urging its members to contact the ABC – and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland – to demand Lattouf be taken off air, using threats of legal action if she wasn’t.
“I have basically written to them and told them I expect a proper response, not a generic one, by COB today or I would look to engage a senior counsel,” one message from the chat said.
“I know there is probably no actionable offence against ABC but I didn’t say I would be taking one – just investigating one. I have said that they should be terminating her employment immediately.”
The morning of Lattouf’s firing, an administrator posted that “Ita Buttrose replied to 7 of our letters yesterday”.
As ABC staff threaten to strike, Cassie Derrick, media director for the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance, has said “Journalists at the ABC are working very hard to tell difficult stories, ethically or without fear or favour, and to be accountable to the public they work for, but they are being let down by management, who are capitulating, it seems, to external bullying.
“MEAA members are demanding an urgent meeting with David Anderson, particularly to discuss the way in which complaints are handled and how staff need to be supported in a culturally informed way.”
Lattouf was sacked after a social media post regarding the war in Gaza, and has since accused the ABC of unlawful termination on the grounds of “political opinion or a reason that included political opinion”, as well as racial discrimination in a Fair Work Commission case against the public broadcaster. The ABC maintains that Lattouf had been warned about controversial posts on social media before her termination.
Lattouf has retained workplace lawyer Josh Bornstein for her case, and according to a statement sent to media by Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, she is seeking “a detailed, public apology and compensation for harm to reputation and for distress and humiliation.”
She will also seek to return to an on-air role at the ABC “as she is passionate about the importance of a representative public broadcaster.”
See Also: Former ABC journalist Antoinette Lattouf alleges racial discrimination in Fair Work dismissal case
In November, ABC news director Justin Stevens wrote a memo to staff warning that sharing opinions “may bring into question your impartiality or that of the ABC’s coverage”.
“Maintaining trust and credibility as an ABC staff member means you forgo the opportunity to share your opinions about stories on which you report or may be involved in,” he said at the time.
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Top Image: Antoinette Lattouf