The national broadcaster in Australia had to pay A$150,000 (£73,435; $99,200) in fines for firing a presenter unfairly because of a social ...
The national broadcaster in Australia had to pay A$150,000 (£73,435; $99,200) in fines for firing a presenter unfairly because of a social media post regarding the war in Gaza.
The Federal Court decided earlier this year that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) removed Antoinette Lattouf off the air in December 2023 because of her political opinions and after pro-Israel groups lobbied for it.
Lattouf has already received A$70,000 in damages, but on Wednesday, Justice Darryl Rangiah declared that a "substantial" supplementary amount was needed to make sure the ABC learnt its lesson.
The station has publicly apologized to Lattouf, claiming it let down both its personnel and its viewers.
Lattouf's firing caused a lot of public anger and chaos at the ABC, which raised issues about its independence and brought back worries about how it treats its staff, especially those from different cultures.
Justice Rangiah remarked on Wednesday, "The ABC let down the Australian public badly when it gave up the rights of its employee to please a lobby group."
"The ABC must have realized how wrong it was to break the law after all the public attention it has received." Still, I think that big punishments are needed to make sure that the message is heard and acted on.
Lattouf has been a frequent writer for Australian media for years, but she is also known for being an activist on topics like racism, media bias, and mental health. She was recruited to work on ABC Radio Sydney's Mornings show for a week, but after three shifts, she was instructed to pack her belongings and go. The media quickly got word of the choice to take her off the air.
Lattouf had posted a post from Human Rights Watch (HRW) a few hours before that said Israel used famine as a weapon of war. Israel disputes this, but the International Criminal Court now claims it has "reasonable grounds" to believe it.
The ABC said in court that Lattouf had been told not to talk about the conflict on social media and that her tweet went outside the broadcaster's editorial standards.
But in his first decision, Justice Rangiah said that she was never told not to publish. He claimed that Lattouf's Instagram story was "ill-advised," but she was fired with "no more than a suspicion" that she "may" have broken any rule or policy and was not given a chance to explain herself.
Justice Rangiah said on Wednesday that there was a clear "orchestrated" attempt by pro-Israel lobbyists to get Lattouf off the air as soon as she started working there. He also added that ABC management "sacrificed" her in order to lessen the criticism. "The ABC and others can't be allowed to think that a punishment is a fair price to pay to avoid criticism."
He noted that the ABC has shown some remorse, as with the public apologies, but not looking into who leaked Lattouf's firing to the media takes away from that.
He noted that the incident had "very significant consequences" for Lattouf and told her to pay the amount within 28 days.