Through its love affair with Israel and intimidated by the Zionist lobby, our legacy media has enabled the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, Israel’s apartheid regime and the illegal occupation of Palestinian land over the past century. (more…)
Category: Media
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Australian journalist in court accused of ‘antisemitism’
Mary Kostakidis was in federal court in Adelaide on Tuesday defending herself against racial discrimination charges for her reporting and commentary on Gaza, reports Joe Lauria. (more…)
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It shouldn’t have taken this much for mainstream voices to start speaking up about Gaza
Israel’s top human rights group B’Tselem has finally declared that Israel is committing genocide, as has the Israel-based Physicians for Human Rights. (more…)
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Message from the Editor
This week the news from Gaza has been so gut-wrenchingly awful that it is tempting to turn away. To stop reading. To stop looking. (more…)
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How’s my lippy? Polishing up impression management and memes
Nearly half a century ago Neville Wran, the gravel voiced powerbroking NSW Labor Premier from 1976-86, perfected the art of orchestrating TV press conferences. If a pesky journalist shoved a microphone in his face and asked a difficult question, Wran would just turn away from the offending mike and camera, using his eyes to invite someone else to ask their question. No sound, no visual, no story. Pretty Nifty indeed. (more…)
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Menadue on the dulling of the Australian conscience
Speaking with the Victorian Branch of Australian Fabians, P&I publisher, founder and editor-in-chief, John Menadue, reflects on the his life and work, the state of national leadership and public institutions including a debased mainstream media. (more…)
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National security ‘experts’ go ga-ga over China
There was a time when Australian writings on China were first-class. (more…)
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Stephen Colbert’s firing: the critical unanswered question
Why now? It was either pandering to Trump, management’s incompetence, or both. (more…)
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Message from the editor
Welcome to the week, the first sitting week of the 48th Australian Parliament, where we will see, for the first time, 94 ALP MPs, 43 Coalition members, 10 Independent MPs and three from minor parties on the floor of the House of Representatives. (more…)
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From media darling to persona non Grata: Greta Thunberg’s journey
Alan MacLeod looks at how the Swedish climate activist widened her focus to the capitalist system and Israeli genocide in Gaza and lost the attention of the corporate press. (more…)
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Let’s combat antisemitism, not use it to dehumanise others – Part 1
The state of Israel’s heinous conduct must not be seen solely as a “Jewish problem”. (more…)
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Trump makes tariffs example of Korea, Japan – Asian Media Report
In Asian media this week: No trade deal exceptions for US allies. Plus: An expert in a government of flunkies; Sex-scandal monks had lives of status and privilege; Corruption stymies Myanmar earthquake recovery; Anwar’s leadership glow starting to fade; ‘Comrade’ is out-of-fashion in Communist China. (more…)
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Round up the usual Chinese suspects
It’s a big week for headlines – and an even bigger week for fear. With Prime Minister Albanese landing in China, our media wasted no time rounding up their usual suspects. (more…)
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Headline news: Australia and China
The People’s Daily of 16 July featured the meeting between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in top position on page one. (more…)
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An ambitious plan to combat antisemitism or an effective plan to silence Israel’s critics?
I watched the 7.30 interview with the special envoy to combat antisemitism, Jillian Segal, with mounting alarm. By the end of the interview, I was afraid for the future of Australia. (more…)
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Systematic bias: how Western media reproduces the Israeli narrative
If words shape our consciousness, then the media holds the keys to minds. (more…)
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Message from the editor
Anthony Albanese left for China two days ago. If you relied solely on some parts of the Australian media, you’d think he was handing over the silverware and snuggling up with the People’s Liberation Army. (more…)
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Peter Russell-Clarke’s greatest gift was how he made you feel like one of the family
Throughout my teenage years, our lounge room sang “Come and get it, come and get it” and all in earshot would carol back, “with Peter. Russell. Clarke!” (more…)
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Abandoning our fears: how Australia should respond to US-China regional confrontation
A presentation by Professor Gareth Evans, former Australian foreign minister, to the University of Melbourne Australian Peace and Security Forum Webinar Abandoning our Fears: Finding Peace and Security in our Region, 8 July 2025. (more…)
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The greatest irony in our contemporary history
I just read the Sunday Age articles by Chip Le Grand. The writer and The Age have been engaged in a vicious propaganda campaign against the increasing mass protests in Australia that have also involved large numbers of artists, writers, academics and students opposed to the Gazan genocide. (more…)
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Every day is a bad day to visit China, apparently
Meeting the Chinese president is apparently now treason. At least, that’s what you’d think if you followed some of our media’s coverage of Anthony Albanese’s latest diplomatic sin: talking to Beijing. (more…)
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‘It is not antisemitic to criticise Israel,’ says Federal Court judge – and the Executive Council of Jewry agrees!
In the light of the revelations in the Lattouf v ABC decision about the way in which the Israel lobby hounded the ABC, the judgment in the recently decided Federal Court case Wertheim & Goot v Haddad is both significant, “interesting” and certainly more than revelatory. (more…)
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The fanatic’s gaze: Louis Theroux and the West Bank settlers
He has made it his bread and butter for years: finding society’s kooky representatives, the marginal, the crazed and the touched. (more…)
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The story most Israelis are not allowed to hear
I write this in quite a distressed state. On Sunday, I watched the award-winning documentary film – “No Other Land”. (more…)
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Missed opportunities in Japan
John Menadue points to the lack of Australian interest and involvement in Asia. (more…)
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Engulfed in a moral panic about childcare assaults
The moral panic enveloping Australia and the ABC over the existence of child molesters in the childcare system will do this nation no good. (more…)
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J’accuse (Part 2) – The Israel lobby
Readers may recall a piece published here on Pearls and Irritations (J’accuse!… the Jew who accuses his fellow Jews of being antisemites on 23 February, 2025 — in which I wrote about an offensive tweet Mark Leibler (lawyer and leader of AIJAC) posted on X — in which, amongst other things, he described those Jews criticising Israel as “vicious antisemites”. (more…)
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Israel: The true superpower? Journalist exposes global threat in explosive Sydney talk
In a searing address to a sold-out crowd in Sydney on Saturday night 28 June 2025, award-winning Australian investigative journalist Antony Loewenstein declared that Israel has quietly become the world’s most dangerous superpower, wielding weapons, surveillance technology, and AI systems perfected on Palestinians to control populations across many countries. (more…)
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Trump tariff deals with Japan, India bogged down – Asian Media Report
In Asian media this week: Trade pact sealed with Vietnam. Plus: Dalai Lama at 90 – the institution will continue; Region’s newspapers show disdain for NATO; China, Pakistan setting up new South Asian bloc; Canberra, Beijing squabble over project naming rights. (more…)
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Iran: The things it won’t do to say
If Thomas Friedman’s fairytale world of light-versus-darkness were to evaporate, less noble motives for US and Israeli actions might be revealed. (more…)