Australian court orders broadcasting corporation to compensate journalist fired over Gaza

SANAA, Sept. 24 (YPA) – An Australian court ruled on Wednesday that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) must pay additional damages to journalist Antoinette Lattouf after she was fired over a post about the war in Gaza.

Antoinette Lattouf filed a lawsuit in December 2023 after being fired on the third day of a short, five-day contract with the corporation.

The ruling came after she reposted a Human Rights Watch video on her Instagram account, which included the organization’s comment that “Human Rights Watch condemns starvation as a tool of war.”

Federal Judge Daryl Rangea ordered the ABC to pay the journalist $98,900, following an initial payment of $46,100 in June. The amount is to be paid within 28 days.

Lattouf said on social media on Tuesday that the case was never about money, but rather about responsibility and the integrity of the information we are supposed to receive from our public broadcaster.

For his part, the authority’s managing director, Hugh Marks, commented, saying that “the channel will continue to study the court’s findings,” adding: “We take the matter very seriously. We have to do better.”