Antoinette Lattouf has thrown her hat into the ring to be the next host of the ABC’s program Media Watch, despite currently being engaged in an unlawful dismissal case against the national broadcaster.
Current host Paul Barry made the announcement last Thursday he would be leaving the program at the end of the year because it was ‘time to give someone else a go’.
Lattouf, 40, revealed less than a week later on Wednesday she had conducted a poll on who should be his replacement – and that she was crowned as the favourite.
Lattouf was taken off air three days into her week-long stint as a fill-in host on ABC Radio last December because of controversial Instagram posts she had made.
One post linked to a human rights report that accused the Israelis of ‘using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war in Gaza’.
Lattouf subsequently launched a Fair Work claim, alleging she was fired over her political opinions and her Lebanese heritage.
The ABC claimed she breached the organisation’s social media policy around impartiality and that she was not actually sacked because she was paid for the full week.
But Lattouf scored a major win in her case earlier this month when the Fair Work Commission ruled that she was indeed sacked by the national broadcaster.
The bitter and drawn-out legal fight could still end up in the Federal Court if scheduled mediation talks between Lattouf and the ABC next week fail.
Despite the ongoing saga over her sacking, Lattouf has suggested she should be the one to take over flagship program Media Watch after current host and media veteran Barry announced last week he was exiting in December after 11 years.
‘So dear Aunty, let’s put the sacking behind us. I’ll gladly accept reinstatement as the new host of Media Watch,’ Lattouf wrote in a tongue-in-cheek piece for the Sydney Morning Herald.
Lattouff said that despite the job usually going to an older male she felt she was cynical enough to take the reigns of one of the toughest jobs in media.
She turned to social media platform X where she polled just short of 3,200 people on who should be the next host of the show, giving them four options.
Along with herself, she nominated Leo Puglisi who is the 16-year-old founder of online news website 6 News , veteran columnist and political commentator Gerard Henderson, and smash-hit Aussie cartoon cartoon character Bluey.
The journalist said Puglisi would be a smart appointment to draw in younger viewers, which the ABC is desperately in need of, while Bluey would be good to keep the role ‘in-house’ with the ABC.
Henderson who already writes the Media Watch Dog column for The n was included to avoid any perceptions of the ABC’s left-wing bias, she said.
Lattouf came out on top with 45 per cent of the vote, well ahead of runner-up Puglisi with 35 per cent, followed by Bluey with 17 per cent and Henderson with a measly 2.9 per cent.
She said she ‘loved holding the media to account’ and would relish the gig.
‘Lately, I’ve featured on the show, not as host but still in the hot-seat. Thankfully, it has been supportive of me,’ she said.
Puglisi said he was flattered to be considered, at least by Lattouf, for the role.
‘As long as the ABC moves the Media Watch start-time earlier when it’s a school night, I’d be happy to host,’ Puglisi told Daily Mail .
Lattouf also revealed she had got her start at Media Watch as a young researcher which was then hosted by Monica Attard, before going to work on and off with the broadcaster in the following years.
There is no word yet on whether the broadcaster is considering her olive branch but as Lattouf put it, she still has her security pass and it could ‘easily be reactivated’.