The ABC’s chief content officer, Chris Oliver-Taylor, will leave the ABC after his role was substantially downgraded by the new ABC chair, Kim Williams.
Oliver-Taylor confirmed his departure on Thursday, saying the demotion and the “redefined creative vision” of the board had driven his decision.
“The chief content officer role at the ABC, created in late 2022, was originally designed to oversee audio, digital, and screen content,” he told staff in an email. “Over the past year, the role and responsibilities have considerably shifted, with audio now reporting directly to the MD and some digital content moved elsewhere. These changes, along with a redefined creative vision set by the board, have prompted me to reflect on the ABC’s future needs.”
Oliver-Taylor’s tenure was marred by the fallout from his decision to sack the casual Sydney radio presenter Antoinette Lattouf.
Lattouf was taken off air three days into a five-day casual contract in December 2023 after she posted on social media about the Israel-Gaza war, which the ABC said was a breach of editorial policy.
The Fair Work Commission found Lattouf was sacked, paving the way for the journalist to pursue an unlawful termination case. The ABC argued at the commission that Lattouf was not sacked because she was paid for the full five days of her contract.
After mediation failed the ABC and Lattouf will proceed to trial in the federal court, starting on Monday 3 February.
Oliver-Taylor’s departure follows the resignation of his ally ABC managing director David Anderson, who appointed him to the newly created role less than two years ago.
Anderson resigned a year into his second five-year term and will be replaced by the former Nine CEO Hugh Marks in March.
Marks was appointed by Williams last month for a five-year term after an “extensive domestic and international search”.
Williams described Marks as a “highly successful media executive” with more than 30 years’ experience.
Late last year Williams reversed a decision by Anderson to move the radio networks into a single content division with television under Oliver-Taylor.
Williams took responsibility for the audio division away from Oliver-Taylor and gave it to the former commercial radio executive Ben Latimer, who was elevated to the executive team. Williams has supported Latimer’s controversial decision to remove Sarah Macdonald and Simon Marnie from their radio programs on ABC Sydney.
Sources said Oliver-Taylor’s role became untenable when he lost responsibility for audio and digital content and Williams expressed strong ideas about what the ABC should be producing in terms of television documentaries.
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Williams has been critical of the ABC’s output, in particular in documentary, which he said was “in a bad place”. He also said its drama was “less distinctive” than it once was and that ABC news sometimes had a “tabloid sensibility”.
“If the ABC is not commissioning content that is distinctive and definitionally different and ambitious for Australian audiences and for Australia, it’s not doing its job properly,” William said in November. “If you’re receiving direct investment from government, you’d better make sure that there is real purpose behind it.”
As chief content officer, it was Oliver-Taylor’s role to commission and oversee production of all TV content. The 2025 slate he unveiled in November includes new drama The Family Next Door, comedy Optics and the return of Mystery Road: Origin, Bay of Fires, Austin, Mother and Son, and The Newsreader.
Oliver-Taylor came to the ABC from Netflix, where he was director of production for Australia and New Zealand, and is a former CEO at Fremantle and managing director at Matchbox Pictures. He had previous roles at both the ABC and BBC.
Anderson thanked Oliver-Taylor for delivering “significant results for the public during a challenging period for the entire media industry”.
He said among his achievements was delivering a 20% growth in weekly users on ABC iview and ensuring that it was the number-one ranked broadcast video on demand service in 2023–24.
The Lattouf affair has been damaging for the ABC’s reputation and very costly in terms of legal fees. A union meeting of ABC journalists called last year for Oliver-Taylor to stand down after what they said was his mismanagement of the case.
Documents before the commission showed that Oliver-Taylor asked radio executives to investigate whether Lattouf had breached the ABC’s editorial standards by tweeting about the Israel-Gaza conflict.
She was removed after sharing a post from Human Rights Watch alleging Israel was using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza. The ABC had reported on the Human Rights Watch claim.
