The Adelaide protest against the visit of Israel’s president drew thousands and passed peacefully. Yet its treatment in the media raises familiar questions about whose voices are amplified, whose are minimised, and how protest is framed for public consumption.

The protests in Australia over the visit of Israeli President Herzog tell us quite a lot about our media. Surely it is apparent that that media is a pro-Israel mouthpiece.

As a participant in the Adelaide rally I’ve been struck by how little coverage there has been of the rally. I considered that against the final paragraph of Pearls and Irritations’ Editor Catriona Jackson’s piece: _When peaceful protest is allowed to work, democracy works_. Catriona wrote:

“Some say, ‘no one cares what Australians think’. P&I correspondent Refaat Ibrahim who lives in Gaza does not agree. He said this after the Harbour Bridge protests: “The scenes of the massive demonstration were inspiring and carried a noble message. In these moments of extreme suffering … your voice rejecting genocide was like a window of hope from free peoples, carrying to us the message that there are still hearts that hold peace for the world”.”

The Adelaide rally started at Parliament House on North Terrace, where there were significant speeches. The crowd marched a few kilometres to Hindmarsh Square. I walked most of the distance. The police did a wonderful job – careful to ensure the safety of participants and bystanders/traffic alike. I saw no incidents. At one point I stood across North Terrace and attempted to assess the number of participants. I took real care and came up with the figure of 8,000 to 10,000. I later heard a radio assessment of 7,000 and am prepared to accept that – albeit reluctantly.

So, how was this rally, which from memory matched protest rallies against the Vietnam War, and later the Iraq War and Australia’s participation therein, reported by the press?

Adelaide’s principal newspaper is The Advertiser. On Tuesday it included an article ‘Chaos descends on city’ concerning the Sydney rally. It was quite a long piece taking up most of a full page, and included this line:

In Adelaide, more than 500 pro-Palestinian protesters lined the steps of Parliament House before marching to Hindmarsh Square, chanting “Free, free Palestine" and “From the river to the sea”.

There was no other mention of the rally in either the rest of the article or of the paper. Notable is the “500”.

People attend a rally to increase the numbers, to send a message to those non-committed, to the non-informed. The message is that this as an important event, an important issue. How best for the pro-Israel lobby and its agents to defeat that message? The answer is simple – downplay the number of attendees.

What is the answer to such misleading? Surely a media which includes proper progressive and leftist voices. Independent journalism is essential, ergo the importance of publications such as Pearls & Irritations.