Latest / The Front / The ABC’s ‘Antoinette problem’

Transcript

The ABC’s ‘Antoinette problem’ · The Front

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Christian Amio.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, February five. Joe Halen resigned from her position
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: as new South Wales Transport Minister after days of controversy
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: surrounding her use of taxpayer funded car services for personal travel.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: As I said on Sunday, I've made some mistakes. I
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: did not break the rules, but I acknowledge that that's
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: not the only test here.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: The government has banned deep seak on its systems and
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: devices on national security grounds. An assessment by intelligence officials
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: found the Chinese Generative AI platform poses an unacceptable risk.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: You can read those stories right now at the Australian
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: dot com dot au. Freelance journalist Antoinette Latouffe broke down
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: in court on Tuesday as she reflected on her sacking
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: by the ABC over a social media post they say
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: breached their editorial standards. That's today's episode. In late twenty
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: twenty three, the ABC's managing director, David Anderson, scrolled through
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: the social media profiles of a presenter filling in on
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: the broadcaster's Sydney Morning radio program. He picked up his
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: phone and texted a colleague David Anderson's words are being
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: read by a voice actor.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: I think we have an Antonette issue. Her socials are
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: full of anti Semitic hatred.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: That issue was resolved quickly. Antoinette Latoufe was sacked three
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: days into her week long contract, and on Wednesday David
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Anderson will enter the witness box in the Federal Court
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: in Sydney to explain the public broadcaster's actions. Lebanese Australian
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: jour Antoinette Latouf is now suing the ABC in a
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: case that goes to the far Antoinette Latouf was taken
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: off the air at the ABC local radio branch in
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: late twenty twenty three. The ABC said her social media
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: posts about the Israel Garza war, posted during that radio
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: engagement were in breach of their editorial policy. On December nineteen,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Latouf shared an Instagram post by Human Rights Watch to
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: her personal profile. That post is being read by a
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: voice actor.
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: Human Rights Watch reporting starvation as a tool of war.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: The ABC says Latouf was let go because of that post,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: but it says she wasn't technically sacked because they paid
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: her for the full five days. But in June, the
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Fair Work Commission found in favor of Latouf. The Commission's
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: deputy president, Jared Boyce, said the employment relationship between Latouf
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: and the ABC was terminated at the ABC's in un initiative.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Later in June, Latoufe sued. Miss Latoof said the mediation
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: had been unsuccessful, and she vowed to fight on and
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: take the case to trial through the federal court. As
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: the proceedings got underway on Monday, correspondence between former ABC
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: chair Oute Buttero's and managing director David Anderson were read
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: in court. The emails showed Buttros had pushed for the
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: fill in radio host to be taken off air following
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: complaints about her social media posts by a pro Israel group.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: That correspondence is being read by voice actors.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: Has Antoinette been replaced? I'm over getting emails about her.
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: Antoinette will finish up on Friday. It's a managed exit
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: given the situation. I can explain more tomorrow. Plan to
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: respond to all those who have emailed on Friday afternoon.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: Why can't she come down with flu or covid or
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: a stomach upset? We owe her nothing. We're copying criticism
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: because she wasn't honest when she was appointed managed exit.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: Really we should be in damage control, not managed exit,
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: s David.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: The names of nine people who complained about Latouf's social
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: media activity were suppressed by a federal court judge for
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: ten years on Monday, following a surprise application by barrister
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Sukrasanthu SC and solicitor Rebecca Giles. The judge said those
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: people could be vilified and harassed if their identities were
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: made public. Antoinette, Latouf's barrister, Ogi Fagear, said his client
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: had been targeted because of her personal views, not her
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: professional conduct, and said Buttros and Anderson had acquiesced to
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: complaints made by the Pro Israel group.
• 4:46
  Speaker 5: So far as the evidence goes, they did not at
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: any stage involve any human resources adviser, They did not
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: at any point seek legal advice, and we will say
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: they completely and utterly ignored the provisions of their enterprise
• 4:58
  Speaker 5: agreement and their own dealing with these issues.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: James, what is this actually about? Is this case a
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: question of journalistic ethics or of the ABC's human resource management,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: or is it something else altogether?
• 5:15
  Speaker 6: I think certainly journalism ethics have become part of this hearing,
• 5:20
  Speaker 6: although I think when you strip it back, it's still
• 5:24
  Speaker 6: essentially a tale about management or mismanagement of a staff's
• 5:30
  Speaker 6: employment and their employment conditions.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: James Madden is The Australian's Media editor.
• 5:36
  Speaker 6: At its heart, the question is did Antoinette Latouf breach
• 5:42
  Speaker 6: the conditions of her employment by posting to social media
• 5:47
  Speaker 6: something that the ABC considered was inappropriate. Latouf said parameters
• 5:53
  Speaker 6: were established between her and the content director of the station,
• 5:56
  Speaker 6: Elizabeth Green, but at no time was the world word
• 6:00
  Speaker 6: fair and balanced used in relation to any social media
• 6:03
  Speaker 6: postings that she may or may not choose to put online. Obviously,
• 6:08
  Speaker 6: their case rests on whether latoof breached her employment conditions,
• 6:13
  Speaker 6: although it remains contentious as to what they actually were.
• 6:18
  Speaker 6: Latouf's argument about the HIW post in which it was
• 6:23
  Speaker 6: claimed that Israeli was using starvation as a tool of
• 6:26
  Speaker 6: war certainly has some merit, if only because the ABC
• 6:31
  Speaker 6: itself had already highlighted that claim by the HIW in
• 6:36
  Speaker 6: one of its earlier news reports. So for the ABC
• 6:40
  Speaker 6: to win this unlawful termination case, it has to essentially
• 6:45
  Speaker 6: concede that it was wrong to run a story about
• 6:49
  Speaker 6: that post earlier in the week.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Coming up Antoinete Latouf's side of the story in her
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: own words. Antoinette Latouf spent two days in the witness
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: box of court Room sixteen A at Sydney's Federal Law Courts.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: Under cross examination by the ABC's silk Ian Neil sc
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Latouf conceded her posts were controversial, but maintained they were
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: based on facts from reputable sources. A voice actor is
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: reading her words from court.
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: I don't share facts worrying if somebody might think it's controversial.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: When she was quizzed by Neil on posts she made
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: earlier in twenty twenty three before her casual gig with
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: ABC Local Radio began, Latouf doubled down. Latouf admitted she
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: had called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanya, who the most
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: far right extremist in the nation's history, in those earlier posts,
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: and claimed and Israel had perpetuated.
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: The worst humanitarian crisis and violence against children in modern times.
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: As journalists, we don't operate on the basis of how
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: people may feel. When I share facts based on reputable sources,
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: I don't deem them controversial. If people don't accept these facts,
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: they can you can describe it however you like, but
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: I don't accept that premise.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: The court heard. The ABC's content director, Elizabeth Green, asked
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: Latouf to tone down her social media activity from the
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: beginning of her five day fill instint on ABC Sydney Mornings.
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: I challenged it, Yes, I did, respectfully.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: In her affidavit, Latouf said the pair came to an
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: agreement that she would only share social media posts containing
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: completely factual information from reputable sources.
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: No conjecture, no misinformation, just sharing information from reputable sources.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Latouf said she believed the Human Rights Watch post that
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: old timately led to her dismissal fell within the terms
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: of that agreement.
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: I had already seen it reported on the ABC and
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: the BBC. It was newsworthy. I decided if it was
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: good enough for the ABC and the BBC to post,
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: it was good enough for my social media.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: Latouf agreed. When asked by ian Neil if the ABC
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: and the BBC had a responsibility to report that information.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: She also conceded her engagement by the ABC didn't carry
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: the same requirement.
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: I was paid to be on a kind of lifestyle
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: magazine program.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: On her way out of the building on December twenty
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: Latouf said she bumped into Elizabeth Green, who relayed through tears,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: according to Latouf, that she'd been let go because the
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: post wasn't fair or balanced, but Latouf contends that was
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: never part of the agreement and asked.
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: Green, how do you balance starvation?
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: Antoinette Latouf became visibly upset at times during her cross
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: examination by ian Neel, especially when discussing the period following
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: her departure from the ABC.
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: I was like, was I being followed or did I like,
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: was that a coincidence? I couldn't. I don't know, and
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: I started to just question inspiral because I couldn't definitively
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: say whether I felt like I was being followed, and
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: I was terrified. I've never been scared to be out
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: in public the way I have been.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Latoof said her dismissal caused her to drink heavily, sometimes
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: until she passed out. She said the characterization of her
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: as insubordinate had rendered her unemployable. Asked if she characterized
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: herself as a poster girl for humanity and a free press,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: Latoof said she was trying to clear her name as
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: a journalist.
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: I think my memory is I posted a video of
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: me really emotional, saying I never wanted to be I
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: never wanted to be this. I just wanted to be
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: able to do my job and exist safely. I didn't
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: come out to be this per like I just I
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: was on air talking about cats and Christmas pudding. I
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: didn't want any of this. I have values, but I
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: didn't want to be the face of this. When this
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: comes at such.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: A cost, James, this legal action has come at the
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: end of a pretty rocky road for the ABC. It's
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: also happening at a time when media organizations are trying
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: to balance the personal profiles and platforms of their journalists,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: particularly on social media, which they themselves fostered in the
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: early days of social media, with their obligations to fare reporting. What,
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: if anything, is there to be learned from this situation?
• 11:31
  Speaker 5: Do you think?
• 11:33
  Speaker 6: I don't think any media or organization has quite got
• 11:37
  Speaker 6: its head around the way its employees and its journalists
• 11:42
  Speaker 6: should use social media. In many ways, this is a
• 11:46
  Speaker 6: great test case of an organization's editorial policy versus its
• 11:51
  Speaker 6: social media policy, and that point was actually highlighted in
• 11:55
  Speaker 6: court on Tuesday. News organizations like to think they can
• 12:00
  Speaker 6: and should have great oversight of what its journalists post
• 12:04
  Speaker 6: on social media, but the reality is sometimes personal views
• 12:09
  Speaker 6: collide with the views of a news organization's idea of
• 12:15
  Speaker 6: what is appropriate in a journalistic sense. Many news editors
• 12:20
  Speaker 6: will tell you that, despite the initial rush to encourage
• 12:24
  Speaker 6: their staff to get on social media and promote news
• 12:28
  Speaker 6: brands on their personal accounts, life might be a lot
• 12:32
  Speaker 6: easier for news editors if their staff steered clear of
• 12:38
  Speaker 6: posting any political content at all on social media.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: James Madden is The Australian's Media editor. ABC Managing director
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: David Anderson will enter the witness box today and former
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: chair out of Buttero's It's expected to give evidence later
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: in the week. The case returns to the Federal Court
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: on Wednesday. You can read all our teams reporting and
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: analysis right now at The Australian dot com dot au