Category Archives: Australian Broadcasting Corporation

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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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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Calls for ACCC investigation into live music industry amid warnings artists may be getting ‘ripped off’

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Multinational claims upcoming ABC report into it will likely be ‘inaccurate and unbalanced’ as experts say without intervention smaller venues will struggle to survive

Calls are mounting for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to investigate business practices in the live music industry, as the ABC prepares to air a Four Corners report scrutinising the Australian arm of the live entertainment behemoth Live Nation.

The public broadcaster began promoting the Monday night program late last week, alleging monopolistic behaviour and “maximising profits at the expense of both consumers and artists”.

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ABC Radio’s Sydney Drive host Richard Glover to retire after 26 years with station

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Announcement is second major move this week by a presenter at the broadcaster, with Patricia Karvelas to leave Radio National Breakfast

ABC Radio’s Sydney Drive host, Richard Glover, will retire next month after a record 26 years behind the local radio microphone.

The announcement, made on his program on Friday afternoon, is the second major move this week by a presenter at ABC Radio. Patricia Karvelas is leaving Radio National Breakfast after three years.

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ABC rejects Russian claim two journalists involved in ‘illegal’ border crossing

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Australian broadcaster’s Europe correspondent Kathryn Diss and camera operator Fletcher Yeung accused of ‘illegally’ crossing into Russia from Ukraine on 31 August

The ABC has rejected Russian claims two of its journalists acted illegally after they entered the Ukraine-occupied Kursk region.

Europe correspondent Kathryn Diss and camera operator Fletcher Yeung are accused of “illegally” crossing into Russia from Ukraine on 31 August.

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Walkley-award winning journalist to investigate potential issues in ABC’s Line of Fire reports

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Alan Sunderland to undertake independent review of online article and 7.30 story about an Australian military operation in Afghanistan

The ABC has appointed veteran journalist and media executive Alan Sunderland to undertake an independent review of the broadcaster’s Line of Fire reports about an Australian military operation in Afghanistan.

The Line of Fire reports concern an online article and 7.30 story by one of the ABC’s most experienced journalists, Mark Willacy from the ABC’s Investigations unit.

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Australia news live: winter heat record set in South Australia; NZ suspends import of all Australian tomatoes

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South Australia has notched up its hottest winter day on record. Follow the day’s news live

David Anderson says it was ‘the right time for me’ to resign from ABC

The ABC managing director, David Anderson, is speaking with ABC RN after yesterday’s announcement of his resignation.

And I think the right time for the ABC. It is something I had thought about now for months, and went away on leave, spoke to [ABC chair] Kim [Williams] a lot. Kim tried to get me to change my mind. [I] came back from leave with it, certain in my mind that I was making the right decision.

We’ve got a long lead time for the board to find a new managing director, and I’ve been asked to and I agreed to stay on until that person starts, which could very well be April next year.

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Zionist Federation leader says Australia-based NYT journalist should be sacked over doxed list

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It was an ‘egregious breach of trust’ that Natasha Frost shared logs of Jewish WhatsApp chat with 600 members, Jeremy Leibler says

The Zionist Federation of Australia president, Jeremy Leibler, says the New York Times should sack a Melbourne-based reporter who downloaded and shared from a private WhatsApp group of Jewish creatives.

The subsequent leaking of the WhatsApp group chat, including members’ contact details, photographs and social media accounts, led to death threats, forced one family into hiding and had a profound effect on the 600-odd members, the partner in law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler alleged.

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New chair Kim Williams says ABC should be ‘last broadcaster standing’ and News Corp’s criticism is ‘unbalanced’

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Exclusive: Former News Corp CEO says Murdoch company’s obsession with the public broadcaster is ‘fairly unhinged’ and should largely be ignored

Kim Williams, the current chair of the ABC, wants the organisation to be “the last broadcaster standing” and one of his first acts has been to reverse the board’s decision to start reducing the corporation’s radio networks.

“It is not available to the ABC to simply withdraw a variety of broadcast services, like for example Radio National or ABC Classic or Triple J,” Williams told Guardian Australia. “They are part of our responsibility.”

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Seven hires comedian Mark Humphries to parody weekly news

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Humphries’ weekly satirical sketches ran for five years on the ABC before being axed last year

Less than a year after the ABC dropped the regular satirical segment on 7.30, Seven News has hired comedian Mark Humphries to continue the tradition of making fun of the news at the end of the week.

Seven’s new director of news and current affairs, Anthony De Ceglie, has recruited Humphries to perform a segment for the Sydney bulletin, with a view to expanding the spot nationally.

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ABC boss rejects suggestion it ‘cowered to a News Corp pile-on’ over Laura Tingle comments

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David Anderson says News Corp is ‘obsessed’ with the ABC after Tingle faces backlash over ‘racist country’ comments

The ABC managing director, David Anderson, has told Senate estimates he believes the attack on the political journalist Laura Tingle this week was a “News Corp pile-on” but denies the broadcaster’s response was “cowering”.

Justin Stevens, the public broadcaster’s news director, said on Wednesday that Tingle’s remarks at the Sydney writers’ festival did not meet the ABC’s editorial standards and that she had been counselled.

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