Journalist Antoinette Lattouf has rejected a claim that she was told not to post on social media by the ABC, revealing she received threats and suffered from paranoia in the year after she was dismissed from her presenting role.
On Tuesday, Lattouf gave evidence under cross examination in the second day of a Federal Court case she has brought against the ABC for unfair dismissal.
Lattouf was dismissed three days into a casual role as a presenter at the ABC after sharing a Human Rights Watch post on social media saying Israel has used starvation as a “weapon of war” in Gaza.
Giving evidence on Tuesday, Lattouf said sharing the post had come at a significant cost for her.
“Ongoing litigation, continually lied about, defamed, derided by the new chair of the ABC at the National Press Club, I’ve had the most horrible mischaracterisations about me in the Murdoch press,” she told the court.
“I don’t want any of this. I shared a Human Rights Watch post.”
A key issue in the case is whether the ABC gave Lattouf an instruction not to post anything on social media.
Lattouf said she had been given a direction “to keep a low profile” on social media by ABC Radio Sydney content director Elizabeth Green but rejected that she was given a specific directive not to post anything on social media.
Lattouf said they had agreed on some parameters regarding social media, with Green telling her to “stick to facts” with “no conjecture or misinformation.”
Lattouf also recalled a conversation between herself and Green, who said the ABC had received “heaps of complaints from pro-Israel lobbyists who are not happy that we have out you on-air”.
The ABC is defending the case, saying that Lattouf was taken off air after breaching a direction not to post on social media.
Lattouf has previously argued she was dismissed because of her political opinion and race.
“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.
On Monday, Lattouf’s lawyer Oshie Fagir told the court that former ABC chair Ita Buttrose said Lattouf should not have been hired and should be removed after the broadcaster received complaints, saying “we owe her nothing”.