Anderson said that steps had been taken after the complaints were received to minimise the risk of partisan commentary on Gaza on air, including instructing Lattouf not to editorially engage in the Middle East conflict while on air, introducing a delay, so the content was not broadcast live, and a dump button, that allowed producers to dump content they believed to be problematic.
ABC managing director agrees process of removing Lattouf ‘completely abnormal from start to finish’, court hears Processes were not followed ‘to the letter’, David Anderson tells court hearing unlawful termination case.
Anderson told the court he believed Lattouf should never have been appointed as a casual radio host on Mornings because of her “partisan view on Israel/Gaza”, but that he was surprised when she was taken off air, saying he thought the issues had been dealt with earlier in the week.
Anderson said he had been alerted to concerns about Lattouf after her first day in the casual job, when he received a large number of nearly identical complaints from listeners, which he said appeared to have been part of a coordinated campaign.
Anderson said he was not very familiar with Lattouf prior to this incident, but remembered she was involved with organisation Media Diversity Australia and had appeared on the ABC’s flagship panel discussion program Q&A.
