<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>337583</docID> <postdate>2025-02-04 12:42:20</postdate> <headline>ABC presenter challenged social media ban</headline> <body><p><img class=" wp-image-337584" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/20250204161704124336-original-1-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="1014" height="676" /></p> <caption>Antoinette Lattouf has returned to the witness box in her unfair dismissal case against the ABC. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p class="wire-column__preview__author"><span class="kicker-line">By <b>Miklos Bolza</b> in Sydney</span></p> <p><strong>A suggestion from ABC management that a journalist refrain from posting on social media after a barrage of complaints over her criticism of Israel has been described as strange and unfair.</strong></p> <p>Antoinette Lattouf was hired on a casual basis to present the Mornings show on ABC Radio Sydney over five days in December 2023.</p> <p>The freelance journalist, who is of Lebanese and Arab descent, stepped back into the witness box on the second day of a Federal Court hearing in her case against the public broadcaster on Tuesday.</p> <p>She recounted a phone call she had with ABC Radio Sydney content director Elizabeth Green two days before she was let go.</p> <p>Ms Green allegedly described the ABC receiving a flood of complaints from pro-Israel lobbyists about the decision to put Lattouf on air.</p> <p>"I said 'If the sky was blue, they'd probably have a problem with it'," Lattouf told the court.</p> <p>"(Green) said 'Yes I agree, it's angering me that I have to have this conversation'."</p> <p>Lattouf said she then pushed back on a suggestion that she keep a low profile on social media and perhaps refrain from posting anything during her stint with the ABC.</p> <p>"I said 'I don't think it's fair that I don't post'," she told the court.</p> <p>If a journalist was killed in Gaza, she would post about it because it was a fact and a tragedy, the court was told.</p> <p>Under questioning by ABC barrister Ian Neil SC, Lattouf said Green eventually agreed she could post facts from reputable sources but conjecture or misinformation was off the table.</p> <p>The presenter was dismissed after sharing a post from Human Rights Watch reporting that Israel had used starvation as a "weapon of war" in Gaza.</p> <p>The ABC had published two articles on the topic in the days before.</p> <p>A key issue in the case is whether the ABC gave Lattouf a direction not to post anything on social media.</p> <p>The public broadcaster is defending the case, saying that the freelance journalist was let go after breaching this direction as well as its editorial policies.</p> <p>From the witness box, Lattouf denied being given any orders, saying Ms Green had offered a suggestion they then discussed in their conversation.</p> <p>She said she had pushed back against what she saw as an arbitrary use of the ABC's social media policy.</p> <p>"I've been a journalist long enough to know that it's a bit strange just to pick and choose which presenters can share facts about what topics," Lattouf said.</p> <p>She said she was in shock and trying to get clarity after her dismissal because the ABC did not tell her how she allegedly breached the policy.</p> <p>Lattouf says she was unfairly dismissed because of her political opinion and race.</p> <p>The hearing continues.</p> </body>