Protest outside ABC decries media silence on Gaza journalist killings
Hundreds rallied in Brisbane, urging ABC to report on Gaza honestly, honor slain journalists, and address free speech concerns after Lattouf's case.
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Pro-Palestine protesters demonstrate at the University of Sydney to protest the war on Gaza, Wednesday, April 24, 2024 (AP)
Protesters gathered in the Australian city of Brisbane on Sunday, with approximately 400 people attending a rally outside the offices of public broadcaster ABC in the South Bank neighborhood, to decry the silence over the deaths of journalists in Gaza, Anadolu reported.
Many participants of the protest wore “press” vests that displayed the names of slain journalists, and one rally attendee presented ABC staff with a list of media workers killed by "Israel" in its war on the enclave.
The event, which was titled “ABC Stop Silencing Palestine – Rally & March,” was organized by a group dedicated to building Palestinian solidarity in Brisbane called Justice for Palestine Magan-djin.
The protesters urged media outlets to increase their reporting on the war as it approaches its second anniversary on Oct. 7, 2023.
'ABC stop providing lip service for genocide!'
Organizers wrote on a section of the protest’s event page on Facebook, “ABC you can’t hide, you are covering up genocide!” and calling on people to “Join us … Demand the ABC stop providing lip service for genocide!”
The organizers stated that following the unfair dismissal of staffer Antoinette Lattouf, the ABC had unveiled a draconian social media policy for its employees that may impinge on workers' civil liberties. Lattouf won her case against the ABC in June when a court ruled that she had been unfairly dismissed in December 2023 over a social media post she made about the war in Gaza.
“This is our public broadcaster, with a $1 billion annual budget, which rather than examine its own complicity in promoting Israeli propaganda would instead crack down on workers’ rights to freedom of speech on their own personal platforms,” the protest group stated.
'Israel' murders a generation of Palestinian journalists
Since the beginning of the war on Gaza, "Israel" has killed more than 270 Palestinian journalists in futile attempts to bury the truth of its genocide. The number of journalists killed in Gaza is more than four times the number of journalists killed in World War II and exceeds the number of journalists killed in both World Wars, the Vietnam War, the Yugoslavian War, and the Afghanistan War combined.
According to a confirmation by the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), fifteen journalists, which included three female reporters, were killed by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) in Gaza during August 2025.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) confirmed that Israeli occupation forces (IOF) killed fifteen journalists, including three female reporters, in Gaza during August 2025.
An extensive investigation into an Israeli military strike on Gaza's Nasser Hospital that killed 22 people, including six journalists, on August 25 was conducted by The Associated Press.