Antoinette Lattouf ‘pushed back’ on ABC social media edict

The fill-in radio host refused an ABC management request to stop posting on social media during her week-long stint after she was informed of complaints from listeners about her stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Journalist Antoinette Lattouf arrives at the Federal Court on Tuesday. Picture: NewsWire/Nikki Short

Journalist Antoinette Lattouf has broken down in the witness box under cross-examination during her unfair dismissal case against the ABC in the Federal Court, bursting into tears when recounting the moments after she was sacked as a fill-in radio host, and how her dismissal by the public broadcaster prompted her to drink heavily.

Under cross-examination on Tuesday, Lattouf recalled a meeting with three ABC managers after her shift on Wednesday, December 20, 2023, during which she was told to “go back to her desk, collect her things, and leave”.

At that meeting Lattouf said she was told she was being taken off air because she had breached the ABC’s social media guidelines by sharing a post by Human Rights Watch on December 19, 2023, with the caption that read “HRW reporting starvation as a tool of war”.

On her way out of the building that day, she was met by ABC content director Elizabeth Green – one of the managers who had been in the earlier meeting – and the pair began to cry.

“We were both sobbing,” recalled Lattouf, as her voice broke in the witness box.

Lattouf said the pair discussed the HRW post that Lattouf had uploaded to her social media accounts.

The ABC’s barrister Ian Neil SC put it to Lattouf that Ms Green had comforted her, but explained: “It’s just that the post wasn’t balanced.”

Lattouf said she replied to Ms Green: “But how do you ‘balance’ starvation?”

Later, Mr Neil read excerpts from a consultation that Lattouf had with a psychiatrist following her sacking.

A teary Lattouf said: “I told him (the psychiatrist) that I am a social drinker but recently I have become a heavier drinker and sometimes I will drink until I pass out.”

Earlier on Tuesday, the court heard that the fill-in radio host refused a request by the ABC to stop posting on social media during her week-long stint with the national broadcaster in December 2023, after she was informed by the media organisation’s management that there had been complaints from listeners about her stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Lattouf was quizzed about phone conversations she had with Ms Green on December 18 and 19, 2023 – the first two days of the journalist’s five-day contract as host of the public broadcaster’s Sydney mornings program.

Lattouf was sacked on December 20 after completing three of her five shifts, after it was discovered that she shared a post by Human Rights Watch earlier that week with the caption that read “HRW reporting starvation as a tool of war”.

Mr Neil put it to Lattouf that Ms Green told her on December 18 that “it would be best if you don’t tweet or post anything about the Israel-Palestine situation on social media while you’re with us”.

Lattouf said she recalled that Ms Green asked her to be mindful of what she posted on social media on the war during the week she was on air, but agreed that she “pushed back”.

“I challenged it, yes I did, respectfully,” Lattouf told the court.

In her affidavit, read to the court by Mr Neil, Lattouf agreed that she said to Ms Green: “I think it’s a bit unfair to ask me not to tweet or post at all.”

From the witness box, Lattouf said that after alerting her to the complaints from listeners, Ms Green made two “suggestions”.

“Maybe keep a low profile on Twitter. Perhaps it’s best not to post at all,” Lattouf claimed that Ms Green told her over the phone.

Lattouf said she “sought parameters” from Ms Green about her “suggestions”.

Mr Neil asked Lattouf if the parameters were “completely factual information from reputable sources”.

Ms Lattouf agreed: “No conjecture, no misinformation, just sharing information from reputable sources.”

Lattouf rejected Mr Neil’s proposition that she had been directed by Ms Green to stop posting about the Israel-Palestine conflict.

“I thought I was having a two-way, honest conversation (with Ms Green). I tried to find the best resolution,” she said.

Antoinette Lattouf arrives at the Federal Court on Tuesday. Lattouf claims she was unlawfully dismissed from the national broadcaster after she shared a report alleging Israel was using starvation as a weapon in Gaza. Picture: NewsWire/Nikki Short

Lattouf agreed that the only example she put to Ms Green – in the context of what she might be allowed to post – was the deaths of journalists covering the war.

“I don’t think it’s fair or right to ask journalists to not post if their colleagues are being killed.”

Lattouf said she told Ms Green that she would stick to posting “facts” from “reputable sources”, but said she didn’t use the words “fair and balanced”.

When asked about the HRW post, Lattouf said: “I had already seen it reported on the ABC and the BBC.

“It was newsworthy … I decided if it was good enough for the ABC and the BBC to post, it was good enough for my social media.”

The hearing continues.