Sacked ABC presenter says she ‘didn’t sign up’ to reputation ruin

At the end of her emotional cross-examination, former ABC presenter Antoinette Lattouf defended herself against a claim she benefited from her termination.

In the months after the ABC sacked Antoinette Lattouf for an alleged breach of its editorial policies, the former presenter claimed she was subjected to “hate and death threats”, felt paranoid about being followed, and was uncertain about her future career prospects.

In unfair dismissal proceedings in the Federal Court, Lattouf said a social media post about the alleged tactics of the Israeli government in the Gaza conflict fell within the parameters she had set with the ABC and was not in breach of an editorial or social media policy.

It is her evidence the ABC sacked her over a “political opinion”.

Following on from tense cross-examination on Monday (3 February) by ABC’s counsel Ian Neil SC, Lattouf was shown a video where she insisted she did not “sign up” to alleged backlash from her sacking.

“I didn’t sign up to wonder if I had a career ahead of me or what that career would look like,” Lattouf said in the clip posted on her Instagram.

“I’m one person without a steady income, I’m one person with very limited resources; I don’t want to do this, I don’t want to feel like I have to do this, but when I waiver, I think that my pain and my loss is nothing compared to those being killed and starved and dispossessed and dehumanised and ignored [in Gaza and Israel].”

At one point in the video, Lattouf said she was “seen or put forward as, I guess, a poster girl” for press freedom, justice and humanity.

Neil proposed it was Latouff who put herself forward as the “poster girl” after the termination and, by doing so, had seen some success – including a larger social media following and a new podcast.

Lattouf denied this and told the court that the ABC told The Australian of her sacking, and this led to an article before she “got home”.

“I did not want to make this public; I have done everything to try and salvage my reputation because I am not insubordinate, and I know how to follow editorial policies,” Lattouf said.

Lattouf went on to explain by saying she “never signed up for this”; she was referring partly to the events in Gaza and partly to “the absolute assault on my reputation and integrity following my sacking”.

“I just wanted to do my job and exist safely. I was on-air talking about cats and Christmas pudding, I didn’t want any of this,” Lattouf said.

Asked about what “this” meant, Lattouf added: “Ongoing litigation, continually lied about, defamed, derided by the new chair of the ABC at the National Press Club, had the most horrible mischaracterisations about me in the Murdoch press. I didn’t want any of this.”

In an attempt to contradict Neil’s suggestion that Lattouf benefited from the termination, Lattouf’s representation, Oshie Fagir, asked if being a “poster girl” for press freedom and justice “pays very well”.

After brief laughter, Lattouf said no.

“[It’s] punitive; you get punished and you lose work,” Lattouf added.

Following that line of questioning, Lattouf alleged she was told by her agent that by being sacked from the ABC for alleged breaches of its editorial and social media policy, she became “unemployable”.

“No other outlet has gone near me in the past year or so, and it reiterated, as much as I didn’t like hearing it, that [I was unemployable],” Lattouf said.

Parameters set for social media use, Lattouf claims

Tuesday’s proceedings continued with Neil’s questioning of Lattouf’s social media, including a video of protests at the Sydney Opera House.

Neil asked whether Lattouf held the opinions of the posts she shared while employed with the ABC, including one insisting media stop “both-sidesing” apartheid. Lattouf said she held this view in December 2023, and it grew stronger as more coverage of the conflict was shared.

The line of questioning then turned to a conversation between Lattouf and her former manager, Elizabeth Green, on 18 December 2023.

According to Lattouf, Green called and spoke to Lattouf about what she alleged was a “pro-Israel lobbyist” group who complained of Lattouf’s outspoken pro-Palestinian views and her employment at the ABC.

It was alleged Latouff replied in reference to the lobbyists: “If the sky was blue, they would have an issue with it.”

In Lattouf’s recollection of the conversation, Green allegedly asked her to “lay low” on Twitter – now X – but she respectfully pushed back, and the two agreed information from reputable sources was OK to post.

Pressed on whether she considered the information shared by Human Rights Watch to be “controversial”, Lattouf said she did not accept this and insisted the post fell within those parameters set with Green.

Lattouf added the Human Rights Watch report also appeared on the ABC and BBC’s news sites as a “newsworthy development”.

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

Asked whether she published the response from the Israel government – as the ABC and BBC did – Lattouf said she did not because she trusted the Human Rights Watch as a “reputable, independent organisation, than a country being accused of doing these things”.

Following her dismissal, Lattouf said Green – who was “caring and fair” – met her at the elevators to comfort her.

When Lattouf said words to the effect that she had “just shared a Human Rights Watch [post] like we agreed”, she claimed Green said in response: “I know, I know, it’s just that the post wasn’t balanced.”

Lattouf said it was not possible to “make starvation balanced”.

The proceedings continue.