ABC chair Ita Buttrose backs the broadcaster’s boss David Anderson over war coverage, Antoinette Lattouf drama

The ABC board has passed a unanimous vote of confidence in MD David Anderson, a day after staff publicly accused him of failing to defend the organisation’s integrity.

ABC Chair Ita Buttrose and managing director David Anderson. Picture: Ryan Osland

ABC chairwoman Ita Buttrose has labelled her staff’s criticism of managing director David Anderson “abhorrent”, after the public broadcaster’s board passed a unanimous vote of confidence in him.

After nearly 200 staff passed a vote of no-confidence in Mr Anderson at an online union meeting on Monday called over his approach to coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, Ms Buttrose issued a strongly worded statement in defence of her managing director.

“It is abhorrent and incorrect that people would suggest that he has shown a lack of support for independent journalism and journalists,” Ms Buttrose said.

“David Anderson has always been strong a supporter of the independence of the ABC and its journalists. He has encouraged them to report without fear or favour and has never weakly surrendered to criticism as some critics have alleged.

“The ABC regularly receives, and responds to, complaints from individuals or organisations and the assumption that either the managing director as editor-in-chief or I would be influenced by any sort of lobbying pressure is quite simply wrong.

“The board, including the managing director, recognise that this is a very difficult environment for our staff with many societal issues that threaten to divide us. We will continue to prioritise actions that support our staff, ensure our journalistic independence, and protect the trust that Australians place in the ABC.”

At Monday’s union meeting, attended by about 200 staff, disgruntled employees expressed deep frustration and anger at the ABC’s coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, and the sacking in December of casual staffer Antoinette Lattouf.

A motion was also passed, by 128 votes to three, for a vote of no confidence in Mr Anderson, demanding that he take urgent action to win back the trust of staff.

The motion also included a call for ABC management to work with unions to build a culturally informed process for supporting staff under attack, address inequality for staff of colour and uphold a transparent complaints process when grievances were lodged about employees.

Lattouf was contracted as a fill-in radio presenter for ABC Sydney for a week prior to Christmas but her tenure was cut short on December 20 after just three shifts.

Lattouf shared a Human Rights Watch post about the Israel-Gaza war that read: “The Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war in Gaza,” which was deemed by ABC management to be a breach of the public broadcaster’s social media policy.

In a claim subsequently lodged with the Fair Work Commission, Lattouf claims she was sacked because of her ethnicity, and also accused the ABC of “systematically” discriminating non-white staff.

Lattouf previously signed an open letter calling for newsrooms to treat uncorroborated information from the government of Israel and terror group Hamas with the same “professional scepticism”.

Earlier on Tuesday, ABC director of news, Justin Stevens, sent an all-staff email in which he defended the ABC’s coverage of the war, and Mr Anderson.

“We are doing a very good job of covering a complicated story. If you spend too much time on Twitter/X, which represents a miniscule portion of our audience, you wouldn’t know that. You should be proud of the job we’ve done so far,” he said.

Of Mr Anderson, he wrote: “What I see time and again is a person of the utmost integrity. He strongly believes in the crucial role of ABC journalism and its independence.”

Mr Stevens said he couldn’t comment on the Lattouf case, as the legal matter is ongoing.

Cassie Derrick, spokesperson for the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance, said: “Dozens upon dozens of staff have told us their first hand experiences of feeling unsupported by management when under external attack and the impact that has on the reputation and integrity of the ABC, and this statement fails to acknowledge those experiences happen at all.

“Union members have put forward five very reasonable suggestions to restore the confidence of staff in the managing director.

“Mr Anderson has until early next week to demonstrate that he will work to staff to address their concerns after which union members will meet again to consider his response.”

Lattouf was approached for comment by The Australian, but did not respond.