<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>337793</docID> <postdate>2025-02-07 15:57:14</postdate> <headline>ABC exec ‘didn’t like’ Buttrose comments on axed journo</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-337794" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/20250207185630718839-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>Chris Oliver-Taylor said he was only concerned with impartiality when pulling a presenter off air. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Duncan Murray</strong> in Sydney</span></p> <p><strong>The ABC executive who dismissed journalist Antoinette Lattouf from her post as a casual radio presenter initially warned his bosses removing her would cause "phenomenal blowback".</strong></p> <p>The broadcaster's outgoing content chief, Chris Oliver-Taylor, says he was "between a rock and a hard place" as pressure mounted from ABC chair Ita Buttrose to remove Lattouf over her views on Israel's war in Gaza.</p> <p>Lattouf was hired to fill a five-day timeslot on the Mornings show on ABC Radio Sydney in December 2023.</p> <p>But the 41-year-old was dismissed after three days on air after sharing a Human Rights Watch post that said Israel had used starvation as a "weapon of war" in Gaza.</p> <p>She is suing the ABC in the Federal Court for unfair dismissal, seeking penalties and damages.</p> <p>Mr Oliver-Taylor told the court on Friday he didn't like comments made by Ms Buttrose about Lattouf in a December 19 email to the broadcaster's managing director David Anderson.</p> <p>"Has Antoinette been replaced? I'm over getting emails about her," the court was told Ms Buttrose said in the email.</p> <p>"Why can't she come down with flu or COVID or a stomach upset?</p> <p>"We owe her nothing. We're copping criticism because she wasn't honest when she was appointed."</p> <p>At the time, it was Mr Oliver-Taylor's position that Lattouf should remain in her role until the end of the week, the court was told.</p> <p>He responded with an email to Mr Anderson that said: "The blowback will be phenomenal. I recommend we hold (until) Friday."</p> <p>"I didn't like the comments from the chair, but I have no context for them," Mr Oliver-Taylor told the court.</p> <p>The situation was being "managed" and he believed Lattouf had been told not to post anything related to the war and was performing well on air.</p> <p>"I was getting very confused and concerned as to what we should do," Mr Oliver-Taylor said.</p> <p>He denied being aware that at the time the ABC had received complaints from pro-Israel lobbyists about Lattouf, adding he was unaware that she was of Lebanese background.</p> <p>Following the email exchange, Mr Anderson forwarded screenshots of some of Lattouf's prior posts to Mr Oliver-Taylor, telling him the ABC had an "Antoinette issue" and her social media feeds contained "anti-Semitic hatred".</p> <p>Mr Oliver-Taylor agreed the posts were an issue that might put the ABC in a position of appearing biased, but he said he had not viewed many of the posts himself.</p> <p>"My response was, I think this is hugely problematic," he said.</p> <p>"He uses words like 'full of anti-Semitic hatred' and I have the decision to make around, do I put someone with those views unchecked on air within 10 hours?"</p> <p>In an email on December 20, Mr Oliver-Taylor said it was "ill-informed" for the ABC to have hired Lattouf, citing her position on the Gaza war and signing of a petition calling for ethical reporting on Israel and Palestine.</p> <p>"It was her published views that meant there could be a perception of bias," he told the court.</p> <p>The ABC's social media guidelines differentiate between employees' use of official accounts and their personal profiles, which are not subject to editorial policies.</p> <p>Mr Oliver-Taylor said the ABC did not require its employees to be impartial in every aspect of their lives, but there were circumstances where that requirement could extend further.</p> <p>He has since resigned and will be leaving ABC at the end of February.</p> <p>The hearing continues before Justice Darryl Rangiah.</p> </body>