All-male lineup take top slots at ABC Sydney after Chris Bath’s shock departure

Director of audio concedes ‘there is always more to do’ on diversity as station staff express dismay at dearth of female presenters

ABC radio’s chief, Ben Latimer, says “there is always more to do” on diversity after Chris Bath was replaced with a male presenter on ABC Sydney, leaving the station with an all-male lineup from Breakfast through to Drive in 2026.

Bath, who announced her resignation after only one year on Monday, will be replaced by Thomas Oriti in the key Drive slot, which was vacated by the veteran broadcaster Richard Glover after 26 years.

Sign up to get Guardian Australia’s weekly media diary as a free newsletter

Continue reading...

‘Blood on these walls’: Mudrat tears into ABC’s Gaza coverage during Triple J live set

Australian hip-hop artist donned a Palestinian keffiyeh and delivered a blistering critique of the broadcaster and its treatment of Antoinette Lattouf

The hip-hop artist Mudrat used Triple J’s video series Bars of Steel to deliver a blistering critique of the ABC’s coverage of the Israel-Gaza war and its treatment of Antoinette Lattouf.

The federal court found in June the ABC breached the Fair Work Act when it terminated the casual broadcaster for reasons including that she held a political opinion opposing the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.

Continue reading...

ABC defence correspondent Andrew Greene quits after failure to disclose junket

Resignation comes after Media Watch revealed a German defence company bidding for an Australian contract paid for him to visit its shipyards

A senior journalist at the ABC has tendered his resignation two months after the public broadcaster’s Media Watch program raised potential conflict-of-interest concerns over a press junket.

Andrew Greene has been defence correspondent for the past 10 years since joining the ABC in 2010.

Continue reading...

Triple J Hottest 100: Never Tear Us Apart by INXS voted best Australian song ever

More than 2.6m people voted in radio poll to find the most loved homegrown hits of all time

Never Tear Us Apart by INXS has been named the best Australian song of all time in Triple J’s poll of the country’s favourite homegrown hits.

The 1987 song topped the Hottest 100 of Australian Songs, a spin-off of Triple J’s annual poll of the year’s most popular tracks. The poll, which aired on Saturday, was open to Australian releases from any time in history.

Continue reading...

Mushroom trial spores toxic media hot takes after Erin Patterson’s guilty verdict | Weekly Beast

Coverage ranges from psychedelic gifs to ‘full-on Walking Dead-style zombie stuff’. Plus: is the ABC really listening?

The media were constrained in what they could report during Erin Patterson’s 10-week trial. But after the mushroom trial guilty verdict was handed down on Monday, all bets were off.

The extraordinary photographs of the triple murderer in a prison van in May were published by every media outlet, bought from the wire agency AFP for more than $1,500 each or a discounted rate for the set of six.

Continue reading...

Contempt proceedings against SMH and Age staff in Lattouf case ‘probably doomed’, Nine’s lawyers argue

Pro-Israel lobbyists allege newspaper editors Bevan Shields and Patrick Elligett are among eight individuals who broke name suppression order

A request by pro-Israel lobbyists to launch contempt proceedings against editors and reporters from Nine for allegedly breaching a suppression order in Antoinette Lattouf’s unlawful termination case is “probably doomed”, Nine’s lawyers have argued in the federal court.

The editors of the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age – Bevan Shields and Patrick Elligett – are among eight individuals, including lawyers, named in the request.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

ABC investigates defence correspondent for allegedly not disclosing trip paid for by German shipbuilder

Andrew Greene, who has worked for the public broadcaster for more than 10 years, filed a story from Germany about business booming at naval shipyards

The ABC is investigating “serious allegations” that its defence correspondent Andrew Greene filed a story about a German shipbuilder without disclosing that he had traveled to Germany courtesy of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, which is hoping to win Australian navy contracts.

Media Watch revealed that Greene filed a story last week for ABC radio’s The World Today about how business is booming at German shipyards. The report, which has since been taken down, allegedly failed to disclose that the journalist had been a guest of the defence company.

Continue reading...

ABC confirms Q+A to be axed amid wider changes including about 40 redundancies

Political and current affairs discussion program being cut alongside the ABC’s Innovation Lab

The ABC’s Q+A program has been cancelled after 18 years, the broadcaster has confirmed, and another major restructure of screen, digital and audio content will result in scores of redundancies across the public broadcaster.

The savings from staff cuts will be “reinvested directly into more content and services for audiences”, the managing director, Hugh Marks, has told staff.

Sign up to get Guardian Australia’s weekly media diary as a free newsletter

Continue reading...

ABC expected to axe Q+A in fresh round of cuts

Managing director Hugh Marks to unveil changes at public broadcaster on Wednesday

The ABC’s managing director, Hugh Marks, is expected to unveil his first tranche of changes at the public broadcaster on Wednesday morning, including a new round of redundancies and the axing of Q+A after 18 years.

The weekly flagship discussion program was launched in 2007 by executive producer Peter McEvoy and host Tony Jones and was highly influential in its early years.

Sign up to get Guardian Australia’s weekly media diary as a free newsletter

Continue reading...

‘Game on’: Kim Williams has ‘no doubt’ a Coalition government would initiate a review of the ABC

ABC chair backs public broadcaster after Peter Dutton’s comments warning it would need to demonstrate ‘excellence’

The chair of Australia’s public broadcaster says he has “no doubt” a Coalition government would initiate a review of the ABC, but that the organisation has nothing to apologise for in its quest for “excellence” and “efficiency”.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt within the event of Mr [Peter] Dutton acceding to office that there would be a very early call for an efficiency and, apparently, an excellency review for what the ABC does. Game on,” Kim Williams said during a speech at the Melbourne Press Club on Thursday.

Continue reading...

Lattouf says unlawful termination case exposes ‘systemic racism and rot at heart of ABC’

In closing submissions, broadcaster proposes ‘modest’ payout to journalist if it loses high-stakes battle

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free weekly media newsletter here

Antoinette Lattouf says her protracted legal fight with the national broadcaster has revealed “the systemic racism and rot at the heart of the ABC”.

In an emotional press conference outside Sydney’s federal court at the conclusion of the case, Lattouf said of her dismissal from the ABC and the fallout: “This saga has undoubtedly been the most difficult of my entire life.”

Sign up to get Guardian Australia’s weekly media diary as a free newsletter

Continue reading...

Ita Buttrose’s emails ‘hammering’ top ABC executives instrumental in Antoinette Lattouf’s sacking, court hears

Court hears how journalist’s social media post on Gaza was seized upon as a ‘pretext’ to get rid of her in an ‘utterly abnormal’ fashion

Ita Buttrose’s emails “hammering” executives with complaints about Antoinette Lattouf’s social media presence were influential in her sacking, the federal court has heard in closing submissions.

Lattouf’s barrister, Oshie Fagir, argued the former chair was one of four ABC figureheads who played a pivotal role in the removal of the casual host from air, including the formal decision-maker, Chris Oliver-Taylor, the chief content officer at the broadcaster.

Continue reading...

ABC election guru Antony Green says it’s ‘time to retire’ as he prepares to leave on-air role

Analyst, who is about to turn 65, said the upcoming federal election would be the last he covers on air

The ABC’s election analyst, Antony Green, has just announced that the upcoming federal election will be his last on-air with the ABC.

Green said on Wednesday morning it was “time to retire”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

News Corp comparing ABC to Netflix subscription ‘unbalanced and agenda-driven’, broadcaster chair says

In strongly worded statement, Kim Williams says allegations in Murdoch-owned tabloids ‘do not stand up to scrutiny’

A claim in News Corp publications across the country that the public broadcaster costs taxpayers more than a Netflix subscription is an “inaccurate, unbalanced and agenda-driven attack on the ABC”, the ABC chair, Kim Williams, says.

On The Daily Telegraph’s front page, an inside page and an editorial on Friday, the Murdoch tabloid alleged the ABC “costs Australia’s 11.5m households $105 each a year, compared to $96 for an annual Netflix subscription” and “failed to reach 10.6m Australians”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Antoinette Lattouf v ABC hearing live: editorial adviser declines to comment on string of Patricia Karvelas social media posts presented in court

Lattouf’s unlawful termination claim against ABC examines how and why she was sacked after posting on social media about Israel-Gaza war. Follow the hearing live.

Fagir presses Latimer on the social media advice given to Lattouf

Fagir is now taking Latimer to advice he received from the acting editorial director, Simon Melkman.

The direction to Steve was that Ms Lattouf doesn’t post anything in the context of the Middle East conflict on her socials.

That was the direction.

Continue reading...

Pressure from ‘higher up’ at ABC to sack Antoinette Lattouf from very first day on air, court hears

ABC manager who had approached Lattouf for temporary hosting role told the court she had ‘tried to stop them’ from firing journalist

There was pressure from “higher up” in the ABC to sack Antoinette Lattouf from the very first day she was on air, Lattouf’s line manager has told the federal court.

Elizabeth Green, the ABC manager who had approached Lattouf for the temporary hosting role, told the court she had “tried to stop them” from firing Lattouf but that “there was pressure coming from higher up”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Aacta awards 2025: Robbie Williams’ Better Man and Boy Swallows Universe dominate Australian film and TV prizes

Singer biopic wins best film and best actor for motion capture star Jonno Davies, while Trent Dalton adaptation wins in 12 of its 22 nominated categories

The Netflix adaptation of Trent Dalton’s bestseller Boy Swallows Universe has dominated the annual Aacta (Australian Academy of Cinema, Television and the Arts) awards, winning 12 of its record-breaking 22 nominations.

The Aacta president, Russell Crowe, hosted the awards ceremony at Hota (Home of the Arts) on the Gold Coast on Friday, which featured a live performance by Robbie Williams, whose musical biopic, Better Man, collected nine awards on the night.

Continue reading...

Antoinette Lattouf v ABC hearing live: content chief denies giving ‘shambolic’ evidence about Lattouf’s social media posts

Unlawful termination claim at federal court examining how and why Lattouf was taken off ABC Radio Sydney after posting about Israel-Gaza on social media

Strong exchanges over Lattouf’s views on Israel-Gaza

Oliver-Taylor is being strongly questioned about his understanding of Lattouf’s political views before she was removed from her presenting gig on ABC Radio Sydney.

Certainly at the time that you removed Ms Lattouf, you understood very well her position on the Gaza-Israel war.

I can’t recall what I knew at that exact time. Clearly in the 12 or 14 months that have passed I understand her position. What I was being told was that there was posting and other things going on during that time. I don’t want to sit here and say I knew her exact position. I could guess her position, but I cannot remember at this point in time whether I knew her position.

Continue reading...

ABC executive tells court there was ‘pressure from above’ over Antoinette Lattouf’s position

Chris Oliver-Taylor tells unlawful termination hearing of events leading up to decision to sack journalist three days into casual contract

The ABC executive who sacked Antoinette Lattouf for sharing a Human Rights Watch post has conceded he felt “pressure from above” after the then ABC chair, Ita Buttrose, sent him all the complaints she was receiving.

Under cross-examination in the federal court which is hearing Lattouf’s unlawful termination claim, the outgoing ABC content chief, Chris Oliver-Taylor, said there was a “strong view” from colleagues about “having someone who has published strong views, either way, on air”.

Sign up to get Guardian Australia’s weekly media diary as a free newsletter

Continue reading...