Category Archives: Australian Broadcasting Corporation

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

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

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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.”

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

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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.

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

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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”.

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

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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”.

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

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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.

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

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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”.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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”.

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Antoinette Lattouf hearing day four – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

David Anderson is back in the witness box and has been promised the remaining questions won’t take long.

Oshie Fagir is examining the communications between Anderson and his content chief, Chris Oliver-Taylor, over Lattouf’s removal.

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Antoinette Lattouf hearing day three: ABC managing director David Anderson gives evidence over alleged unfair dismissal

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Unfair dismissal claim is examining how and why reporter was taken off air after she posted about Israel-Gaza war on social media

The hearing has resumed with Ian Neil SC taking his honour through the ABC’s case.

After consulting with the acting editorial director Simon Melkman about Lattouf’s “problematic content” – which had been uncovered by the ABC managing director, David Anderson – the ABC decided there was no reason to take Lattouf off air prematurely, Neil tells the court.

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‘I will find you and end you’: vicious death threat against Antoinette Lattouf revealed in court documents

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Journalist details abusive messages in affidavit to court hearing unfair dismissal claim

After being taken off air by the ABC over a social media post, Antoinette Lattouf was phoned by an anonymous man who threatened “I will find you and end you and shut your antisemitic mouth once and for all”, the federal court has been told.

In an affidavit released by the court on Wednesday, Lattouf detailed dozens of death threats and abusive and threatening messages she had received since December 2023 when she hosted ABC radio’s Sydney Mornings program.

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ABC executive who sacked Antoinette Lattouf departs broadcaster

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Exclusive: Chief content officer Chris Oliver-Taylor’s role was substantially downgraded by Kim Williams

The ABC’s chief content officer, Chris Oliver-Taylor, will leave the ABC after his role was substantially downgraded by the new ABC chair, Kim Williams.

Oliver-Taylor’s tenure was marred by the fallout from his decision to sack the casual Sydney radio presenter Antoinette Lattouf.

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ABC names Hamish Macdonald as new Sydney Mornings radio host after dumping Sarah Macdonald

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Decision not to renew former presenter’s contract triggered angry backlash from listeners and colleagues

Hamish Macdonald will replace Sarah Macdonald as host of ABC Radio Sydney’s Mornings program, two months after listeners and staff reacted angrily to the axing of the popular female presenter.

In November Sarah Macdonald revealed on air that her contract would not be renewed after two years in the slot, sparking a backlash and delaying the announcement of a replacement.

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Lego links up with TV hit Bluey for toy sets to be launched this year

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Partnership ‘a long time coming’ and is latest expansion of Australian-made animated series

The global hit children’s TV show Bluey is to make its Lego debut with the first sets due to hit shelves later this year.

The world of Bluey, which has proved such a small-screen hit a film is to be made for global release in 2027, is to be brought to life in plastic brick form with six sets to be revealed this spring before going on sale later this year.

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Michael Rowland to leave ABC News Breakfast after ‘15 years of 3am starts’

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The 55-year-old is the program’s longest serving male co-host, and hinted in September that he was ‘looking forward to something less intense’

After 15 years of waking up at 3am to host ABC News Breakfast, Michael Rowland is calling it quits.

The co-host of the public broadcaster’s breakfast offering has told viewers his final show will be on 13 December, followed by a long break.

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ABC to review editorial policies after investigation finds gunshots ‘inadvertently’ added to Afghanistan footage

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Director of news Justin Stevens apologises for ‘editing errors’ in the video clips

The ABC will review its editorial policies after an independent review found five additional sounds of gunshots were “inadvertently but inaccurately” introduced into footage showing a commando firing from a helicopter.

But the review by the former ABC editorial executive Alan Sunderland said there was no evidence that anyone at Australia’s national broadcaster “deliberately doctored, falsified, manipulated or distorted information, material or evidence in order to mislead audiences”.

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ABC chair says pressing ‘digital titans’ for revenue is a ‘mainstream democratic imperative’

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Kim Williams says funding local news and public interest journalism is crucial in a world where ‘the distortion of culture poses such a grave threat to democracy’

The tech giants must be pursued for a cut of their substantial revenue to fund journalism in order to fight disinformation and “navigate the dangerous world”, ABC chair Kim Williams has said.

Last week a parliamentary committee recommended the government impose a tech tax on companies like Meta and Google as well as establish a fund to help traditional news media organisations.

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Crikey sacks columnist Guy Rundle for text to ABC that claimed ‘every grope is now sexual assault’

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Exclusive: CEO Will Hayward calls comments ‘appalling’ and that he would ‘no longer be publishing his work’

Crikey’s correspondent-at-large Guy Rundle has been sacked after he sent a text to ABC Radio saying sexual assault complaints have gone up because “every grope is now a sexual assault”.

Guardian Australia understands the ABC told the publisher of Crikey, Private Media, that the message was one of dozens of “inflammatory” texts sent by the writer on a variety of topics in recent months to the RN Breakfast show, hosted by Patricia Karvelas. The sexual assault text is the first one Karvelas has read out on air along with his name.

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