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