Australia’s media landscape has changed a lot since Green Left first launched 35 years ago.
Successive neoliberal governments oversaw News Corp’s accelerated monopolisation of the newspaper market, the decline of print media and destruction of local and regional news outlets.
Australia has one of the most concentrated media landscapes in the Global North. Just four companies capture 84% of newspaper revenue — television (87%) and radio (77%) are similarly concentrated.
This concentrated, corporate-owned media reflects the narrow interests of its billionaire owners — to normalise and obscure the injustices of the capitalist system that only benefits a handful of people.
In particular, the Australian corporate media’s reporting of Israel’s genocide in Gaza reveals its total allegiance to ruling class interests.
Despite the almost-universal consensus among human rights groups that Israel is committing a genocide against Palestinians — deliberate starvation, bombing of schools and hospitals, forced expulsions, ethnic cleansing, military occupation — this barely rates a mention in the mainstream media.
Instead, it has uncritically parroted Israeli government lies, characterising the genocide as a “conflict” and downplaying horrific human rights violations against Palestinians. The Sydney Morning Herald’s front page headline on July 29 last year, “No starvation in Gaza, Israel insists”, is just one of countless examples.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the supposedly independent public broadcaster, joined the corporate media in platforming Zionists, uncritically accepting Israeli propaganda and downplaying the genocide.
ABC journalists revealed that they were instructed not to use words such as “invasion”, “occupation”, “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” when describing Israel’s policies and instead rely on information provided by the Israel Defense Forces.
Its treatment of journalists that dared to criticise a settler-colonial state committing genocide is also revealing.
The ABC sacked Antoinette Lattouf in December 2023 for sharing a Human Rights Watch report on social media that detailed Israel’s deliberate starvation of Palestinians. The Federal Court later found her unfair dismissal contravened the Fair Work Act and was in response to Zionist lobbying.
Following Lattouf’s court case victory, the ABC introduced draconian social media rules limiting what staff can say on social media and in private messages, such as WhatsApp.
Lattouf was not the first to be targeted. The ABC sacked Jerusalem-based producer Fouad Abu Gosh in February 2023, over his social media posts criticising Israel.
The mainstream media’s shameful reporting and treatment of journalists are a disservice to the Palestinian journalists that gave up their lives to report on Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Despite Israel’s efforts to silence them, these journalists’ heroic reporting efforts cut through the Zionist propaganda and political leaders’ lies about what was happening in Gaza.
Israel, and other barbaric regimes around the world, understand the important role that journalists can play in exposing the realities of their atrocities. That’s why the Israeli military has specifically targeted journalists — murdering almost 300 Palestinian journalists since October 2023 — and essentially destroyed any non-Israeli media presence in Gaza.
In a sickening inversion of reality, right-wing media tried to smear the national Palestine solidarity movement as responsible for “terrorism”, “antisemitism” and “violence”, and attempted to justify ever-increasing government repression against peaceful protesters.
Green Left has reported on the weekly Palestine solidarity protests — including the historic 300,000-strong march over the Sydney Harbour Bridge last August — showing the huge mass of people peacefully protesting genocide and the Australian government’s complicity.
We have always stood with the Palestinian people resisting colonial occupation and is unwavering in its opposition to the Labor’s role in aiding the genocide — selling weapons to Israel, refusing to impose sanctions and providing political support, including inviting Israeli war criminal Isaac Herzog to visit.
In the current crises of escalating US imperialism, climate change and wars, Green Left is uncompromisingly on the side of the 99%.
We counter the right-wing media’s attempts to scapegoat migrants and workers for the housing and cost-of-living crises.
Because we are activist media, we are committed to building the movements that can bring about real change. We report on the grassroots campaigns — such as housing, climate, trade union, anti-AUKUS — that the mainstream media ignores.
Another way we try to build social movements is by hosting an events page, filled with upcoming protests, forums, gigs and film screenings. This helps profile the social movement organisations which are intrinsic to any real social change.
Our new weekly podcast, On the Streets, profiles the previous week’s actions and is designed to encourage listeners to attend and get involved in activities.
We report on the grassroots struggles and political developments across the world — always with the aim of both learning from them and strengthening international ties between activists with the similar goals.
We host regular forums to discuss global events, such as how to show solidarity with the powerful Kurdish-led, feminist revolution in Rojava and Why Labor is criminalising dissent, which provide class-based analysis, otherwise overlooked or distorted, and provide an entry point for those wanting to become active.
We don’t host corporate advertising and nor do we pay wall our content. That means we stay independent and accessible to all. We have been able to publish hard and soft copy for 35 years because of the many thousands of contributors who have helped along the way.
However, as we battle against the stream, we always face significant financial challenges. Last year, we fell short of our Fighting Fund target of $180,000. But thanks to the efforts of our social media team, we are now reaching a wider layer of people who value the work we do.
We do however need more paid-up supporters to make ends meet. For just $10 a month, the Green Left hard copy edition is delivered to your door every fortnight. And for $5, you receive the digital edition.
If you would like to volunteer your skills, such as graphic design, social media management and photography, please get in touch at [email protected].
Green Left has been speaking truth to power for 35 years — and with your help we’ll make it to the next 35!