A report about Gaza leads to unrest at the Australian public broadcaster

The social media post simply referred to a Human Rights Watch report, but it was critical of Israel and came from a Lebanese Australian journalist who critics considered biased.

Antoinette Lattouf, a well-known figure in Australian media, was on a short-term contract with the country's main public broadcaster when she posted the Instagram story with the caption: “HRW reports hunger as a tool of war.”

The next day, as pro-Israel lawyers continued a private campaign to have her ousted – which had begun before she started the job – Ms Lattouf was told by executives at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that her gig as a radio host would end early.

The dispute over whether that was justified, now mired in legal wrangling, has thrown one of Australia's most trusted institutions into conflict and resulted in Monday a rare 'vote of no confidence' in his main editor. It has become yet another example of how intense debate over the Israeli-Hamas conflict is exposing deep fault lines of identity and divided opinions in different parts of the world.

The ABC, publicly funded and with a duty to represent all walks of Australian life, is faced with the clash of two controversial issues. First, how do news media and their staff cover current topics in a time of deep political division and strong personal brands? And second, as the journalists argue, has Australia's beleaguered public broadcaster been so weakened by underfunding and right-wing political attacks that it is not standing up for its journalists, especially people of color and women?

At a charged union meeting of about 200 employees on Monday, ABC global affairs editor John Lyons, who was due to fly to Israel on Tuesday, said the broadcaster's independence and reputation had been “compromised” by its willingness to bow to outside pressure . on such an important issue.

Mr Lyons said the ABC was “going through one of its darkest days” last Tuesday when The Melbourne Age and its sister publications outlined how a letter-writing campaign put pressure on the ABC's top two leaders in the case of Mrs Lattouf.

“I was embarrassed that a group of 156 lawyers could laugh at how easy it was to manipulate the ABC,” Mr Lyons said, according to multiple sources. Members of the union voted 129 to 3, with dozens of abstentions, to pass a motion saying they had “lost confidence” in David Anderson, the ABC's managing director and top editor.

In a statementMr Anderson said he had “always defended the ABC's journalism” and would continue to do so. The ABC did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

In recent years, many ABC journalists – some of Indigenous descent, others of Arab, Asian or African descent – ​​have left after complaining that they experienced racism or were held to different standards than white colleagues.

Stan Grant, a high-profile Indigenous Australian journalist, May publicly resigned, after a barrage of racist abuse over his role in reporting on the coronation of King Charles III. He said at the time that he had received no public support from the organization. Nour Haydar, a political reporter, too resigned earlier this monthciting concerns about reporting on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, as well as the ABC's treatment of culturally diverse staff.

Diversity struggles are not unique to the national broadcaster. A survey of Australian media in 2022 found it that only about 10 percent of presenters and reporters on air over a two-week period were from non-European backgrounds, far below their share of the population.

Ms Lattouf, 40, was a regular contributor to the ABC. The author of 'How to Lose Friends and Influence White People' has called for greater diversity in the media and has often criticized Israel's military actions in Gaza. In a recent postShe said 2023 would go down in history as a year when calling for a ceasefire seemed more insulting than “using propaganda, disinformation and disinformation to justify a genocide in the making.”

Last month the ABC hired her to be a presenter on a Sydney radio station for five days. On her first day, she was told by a manager that “Jewish lobbyists were not happy about her being on air,” according to legal documents, and was urged to avoid potentially controversial topics on social media.

The next day, she shared in an Instagram Story a post from Human Rights Watch accusing Israel of starving civilians in Gaza “as a weapon of war.” Colleagues at the ABC had covered separately the report. Less than 24 hours later, Ms. Lattouf was told she would not return to the air for the final two days of the contract.

Ms Lattouf has filed a wrongful dismissal dispute, claiming she was discriminated against because of her race and political beliefs.

“Personally it is devastating,” Ms. Lattouf said in an interview, “but I think it is even more devastating because of the message it conveys.”

In an open letterElaine Pearson, the Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said Ms Lattouf's removal could have “a chilling effect on the ability of Australian journalists to share human rights content from reputable organisations.” She urged the ABC to “clarify its policy on what employees are allowed to repost” – following a request from its journalists.

In legal documents, the broadcaster denied that Ms Lattouf's political views or race had anything to do with her decision. That's what it says now it didn't fire herand it has called on the Fair Work Commission, a government employment tribunal, to dismiss the dispute.

The ABC has also said lobbying played no role in taking her off air, although the leaked WhatsApp messages published by local media show the extent of pressure on management.

In the group chat, one lawyer wrote that she told the ABC that Ms Lattouf's employment “should be terminated immediately”, encouraging other lawyers to write letters “so they feel there is an actual legal threat .” She added that she had already threatened to escalate the legal matter, even though “I know there is probably no criminal offense against the ABC.”

Members of the group did not respond to requests for comment. In interviews with the Australian news media, they have not denied the reports are theirs, while arguing there was no coordinated campaign to fire Ms Lattouf. Some have since reported being subjected to this death threats and assault.

Their efforts appear, in the minds of many ABC journalists, to be linked to a wider culture war. Conservative politicians often accuse the broadcaster of being too left-wing and have made budget cuts. Between 1985 and 2020, the ABC saw real funding decline by almost 30 percent. according to a report from the progressive group GetUp.

Media critics regularly note this that Australia's conservative media leadership, especially at those owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, has also ruthlessly tried to undermine the ABC, which the country views as its publicly funded competition.

In 2017, Yassmin Abdel-Magied, a Sudanese Australian journalist, said she was virtually bullied out of the ABC – and Australia – after drawing attention to the fate of refugees in offshore detention. The partisan outrage, fueled in part by heated reporting in News Corp outlets, led to a pig's head dumped at the Islamic primary school she attended.

The ABC's funding uncertainty is partially decreased under the centre-left government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. But pressure – from the government, powerful companies and proponents, mostly but not exclusively from the right, remains intense.

For Ms. Lattouf, the story is clear. She said she hopes to be reinstated at the broadcaster after a formal apology.

“I love the ABC,” she said, “and I plan to get back into it.”