ABC journalist Nour Haydar quits over war coverage, treatment of ‘culturally diverse’ staff

Nour Haydar has blamed the media organisation’s treatment of culturally diverse staff and its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war as the reasons for her departure.

ABC presenter Nour Haydar. Picture: Supplied

ABC political reporter Nour Haydar has quit the public broadcaster, citing the media organisation’s treatment of culturally diverse staff and its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war as the reasons for her departure.

Haydar, 35, who is of Lebanese heritage, has worked for the ABC as a federal politics reporter in Canberra since 2019.

She is the second high-profile ABC reporter in as many days to publicly air concerns about the way the taxpayer-funded broadcaster treats its culturally diverse staff.

It was revealed later on Friday that Haydar had signed up for a new job at The Guardian Australia at the end of last year.

She will co-host the left-wing website’s daily podcast from February.

On Thursday, journalist Antoinette Lattouf, a Lebanese-Australian, alleged in an expanded complaint to the Fair Work Commission that the ABC systemically discriminates against people of colour.

Lattouf was dumped from her fill-in presenter role at ABC Radio Sydney last month for breaching the organisation’s social media policy after she made a series of inflammatory comments online about the conflict in the Middle East.

On Friday, Haydar told Nine Entertainment: “I have resigned from the ABC. This was not a decision that I made lightly, but one I made with total clarity.

“Commitment to diversity in the media cannot be skin deep. Culturally diverse staff should be respected and supported even when they challenge the status quo.

“Death and destruction on the scale we have seen over recent months has made me reassess my priorities.”

In a statement on Friday, an ABC spokesperson said: “The ABC News workforce and journalism is the most representative it has ever been, and we’re continuing to progress. Including a range of voices and perspectives makes our journalism better and more accurate.

“The Israel-Gaza conflict is a complex and difficulty story to cover and we understand and care about the particular personal and professional challenges it involves for journalists.

“The ABC is committed to accuracy, impartiality and fairness in our Israel-Gaza coverage, as in all our reporting.

“The ABC constantly strives to support and defend ABC employees and their work, internally and externally.”

The spokesperson declined to comment when asked by The Australian if either ABC managing director David Anderson, or the broadcaster’s chair Ita Buttrose, would be directly addressing staff about the allegations of discrimination against people of colour within the national broadcaster.

The Australian has contacted Haydar for comment.