Opinion: Why ABC Journalists Who Are Threatening To Strike Should Stay Off Air, Rating May Come Back

The ABC is facing a staff revolt and the good news it could see a bunch of left-wing bias journalists off air for some time.

The issue is all about journalist Antoinette Lattouf seen below, who is supposed to be impartial, now getting her kickers in a twist, because she got the boot after trying to use her job as a means to push her own agenda in Israel-Hamas social media posts.

This is nothing new at the ABC, who is losing viewers, listeners and any form of respect because they are employing radical journalists, and producers who believe that they can carve out their own agenda and beliefs using the resources of the national broadcaster who the socialist Labor Government are quite happy to support because it suites their political agenda without delivering balance in many of the stories they broadcast.

The flicking of Lattouf saw left leaning Labor frontbencher Ed Husic weigh into the argument over the sacking of Lattouf, that people should be able to “express their views without feeling their jobs are on the line.”

More than 80 staff members have now demanded a meeting with ABC managing director David Anderson over the issue which has also got the support of the left-wing union the MEAA.

In a nutshell Lattouf who mind you was part time, working on Radio Sydney, gave management a two-finger salute after being warned about her political and controversial posts.

With luck these journalists will go on strike a move that will rid the airways of their bias, political agendas, in the short term.

What the ABC needs to bring back is good old fashioned ABC journalism that use to be presented on the ABC when they last had credibility via journalists such as Ray Martin, Kerry O Brian and the likes of Geraldine Doogue, or Peter Couchman who I worked with in Vietnam.

Who can we blame for this deterioration in fair and balanced journalism.

A lot of it has to be sheeted back to the universities and colleges where a great many of these journalists were trained by left wing university professors and lecturers.

Balance and fair reporting have gone out of the door in favour of one-sided stories that are being twisted to suite the agenda of left wing and opinionated journalists such as Lattouf.

I worked for the Nine network ACP and at the Bulletin and dare anyone go against the instructions of management and you knew you were dicing with your job. I did it once with a producer and my only saviour was that the story, I was told not to pursue ended up winning a Logie for Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism.

it’s in this environment that Ita Buttrose the Chairman of the ABC was trained, which is why she took immediate action, after communication from various member of the community over the actions of not just Lattouf but several other journalists who openly supported Hamas and what they did in the brutal murder, and kidnap of hundreds if Israel’s.

Lattouf has gone running off to the Fair Work Commission in an effort to get reinstated.

She is bringing a wrongful termination claim against the broadcaster after her final two shifts filling in on mornings on ABC radio Sydney were cancelled by the broadcaster over the now famous Instagram post on 19 December.

This is a woman whose credibility as a journalist has gone out of the door, because of political post on social media, she is now branded a troublemaker and a person who any responsible media Company will have concerns about employing.

Now she has her own political agenda.

The ABC claims Lattouf was warned against social media posting on controversial topics before she was dismissed from her position at the ABC, now she is crying foul.

She apparently believes that it’s okay to push “political opinion” and just as a short measure she has resorted to the old adage of race, simply because she is of Lebanese heritage.

As if that matters, because the ABC, is well known for being a mixed-race ethnic employer who also supports the employment of many people from aboriginal heritage.

What this reveals, is that Lattouf is desperate and is now throwing in the race card in an effort to seek sympathy something that she does not deserve.

The sacking came after the ABC “received some complaints” about her being on air “in relation to her perceived stance on the Gaza conflict.”

They advised her that while she was on air, she should not post anything on her social media accounts that could be perceived as controversial.

This was a direct instruction that she chose to ignore.

Buttrose who would not have dared to ignore her old boss Kerry Packer took immediate action I presume with the backing of other management.

As for the MEAA they claim that they have “growing concerns about outside interference.”

Really, how about the interference of the unions and the Australian Labor Government in what is reported daily on the ABC with a dose of political socialism.

This is an organisation where the word profit is a dirty word and anyone making a profit is seen as a capitalist.

Maybe these ABC staff should quit in support. And maybe then ratings will start to come back.

Bugger the fact that it’s from the profits that the Australian government is able to collect taxes that fund the ABC.

They are also banging on about “Culturally unsafe management practices and how ABC management should stand up for journalism without fear or favour.”

How about balance, fair reporting, and the removal of socialist left-wing influence in what the ABC reports.

Are these people so dopy that they have not worked that consumers are deserting the ABC because of the bile that they put to air.

Recently it was revealed that the ABC Radio National’s flagship breakfast program led by Patricia Karvelas has shed more than 120,000 listeners in the past two years and more than half of those tuning out are in Sydney where Lattouf was sacked.

Official ratings data released by GfK in December shows Karvelas has lost listeners in all five markets since Fran Kelly departed.

Kelly’s had 372,000 listeners across the five major cities, but this has now fallen to 250,000 under Karvelas’s reign, equating to a loss of a third of the audience.

And if you have ever listened to this show you can hear the spin and bias in the reporting that ABC management is trying to fix.

News Corp is reporting that a former high profile ABC breakfast presenter Nour Haydar who filled in as a co-host with Michael Rowland has also quit over concerns about the broadcaster’s coverage of the Middle East.

She posted in support of Ms Lattouf on Wednesday who was sacked after re-posting material from the group Human Rights Watch.