Coverage of pro-Palestine university protests reflects Australia’s polarised, skewed media

To disclose this upfront, I’m opposed to Israel’s war in Gaza and I’ve signed several open letters in support of that position. As a university lecturer and an education union representative at Monash University, I’ve also seen the pro-Palestine university protests up close. 

It’s from this vantage point that I’ve been struck by the disconnect between the protests and the media coverage of them. Since the first Australian encampments began in April, the majority of reporting has painted them as chaotic, hateful and violent, and focused on contested interpretations of protesters’ chants rather than the issues about which they are protesting.