Sacked radio presenter Antoinette Lattouf given job partly because her Lebanese Christian background fits ABC diversity policy

Sacked radio host Antoinette Lattouf was hired partly because her Lebanese Christian background fitted the ABC’s diversity policy, the Federal Court heard on Wednesday.

The ABC hired fill-in radio presenter Antoinette Lattouf partly because her Lebanese-Christian heritage fitted the national broadcaster’s diversity policy.

Ms Lattouf’s unfair dismissal case in the Federal Court heard how a string of complaints about her appearance on ABC Radio Sydney mornings sparked a flurry of emails among the upper echelons of the national broadcaster questioning how she was hired.

ABC Radio Sydney manager Steve Ahern told the broadcaster’s managing director, David Anderson, she had been identified as a future presenter because her background fitted the ABC’s diversity policy.

“Her background is Lebanese-Christian. She grew up in western Sydney, the child of Lebanese immigrants. She’d been selected in part having regard to the ABCs diversity policy,” he wrote.

Sacked ABC radio host Antoinette Lattouf arrives at the Federal Court on Wednesday. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

ABC bosses investigated Ms Lattouf’s social media posts on Israel and Gaza after a string of complaints were received hours into the first of five on-air shifts on ABC Mornings in December 2023.

ABC barrister, Ian Neil SC, said the managers decided to keep her on air but told her not to post on the conflict during her week-long stint. Ms Lattouf has already told the court she “challenged” that request if an event such as the death of a journalist occurred.

Mr Anderson did his own deep dive into Ms Lattouf’s social media posts that night and messaged bosses to say we have an “Antoinette problem” because her posts were filled with “anti-Semitic hatred”.

“Not sure we can have someone on air that suggests that Hamas should return to their ethnic cleansing in Gaza and move on to the West Bank.

“It’s a reputational issue … the perception of our peoples’ impartiality is as important as their adherence to the policy,” he explained.

However, Mr Neil said closer examination of the posts by acting editorial director Simon Melkman showed they were meant to be a humorous take-down of her critics and she was allowed to stay on air.

ABC Managing Director David Anderson leaves the Federal Court on Wednesday after giving evidence in Antoinette Lattouf’s unfair dismissal case. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

The next day Ms Lattouf shared a Human Rights Watch report on “starvation as a tool of war” and was later told to collect her things and not to finish her final two days of her $2900 contract. She was paid in full.

Mr Anderson appeared before the court on Wednesday to say that, with hindsight, he felt the ABC’s chief content officer Chris Oliver-Taylor had missed a step in sending Ms Lattouf home without consulting the human resources department. But he said the outcome may well have been the same.

Ms Lattouf’s lawyer, Oshie Fagir, put to Mr Anderson a string of contentious public statements by prominent ABC journalists Laura Tingle, Paul Barry, Patricia Karvelas and John Lyons that did not result in them being sanctioned or taken off air.

Mr Anderson rejected the suggestion that meant ABC did not sanction its hosts.

“It depends on the statement itself,” he said. “I think it is about judgement.”

The hearing continues.

Originally published as Sacked radio presenter Antoinette Lattouf given job partly because her Lebanese Christian background fits ABC diversity policy