Mainstream media. When silence becomes editorial policy

Mainstream media sets the tone, controls the narrative, and decides who gets scrutinized and who gets soft focus. It records the obvious without testifying. Andrew Brown.

A rift has opened in the Australian media and it is no longer subtle.

On one side is what people see on their phones every day. Raw footage, unedited testimonies, the terrible intimacy of a war recorded by those who lived in it. In the other Sydney Morning Herald: Written soberly, soberly, as if mass civilian deaths could be made bearable with style alone.

For many Australians, this toned down version is the only version.

My father is ninety-four years old. It doesn’t scroll. He does not watch live broadcasts from Refah. He doesn’t see the debris being moved under bare hands or hear the final messages sent from beneath the concrete. He reads the Herald to understand what is being done in our name.

He is not an extreme reader. He votes. It shapes the conversation. He believes the newspaper that calls itself the record will tell him what’s most important.

But the issue is no longer whether the Herald covers Gaza. The question is whether he witnessed it.

Gaza reporting bias

Since October 2023, Gaza has become the most documented civilian disaster of the modern era. Tens of thousands of dead. Entire neighborhoods were wiped out. Hunger warnings were issued. Aid workers killed Journalists killed unprecedented figures.

An examination of high-level international commentary on this period reveals something striking. The defining moral crisis of this decade has rarely required the sustained, front-facing analysis of the Herald’s most senior international voice, Peter Hartcher.

Hartcher appears to have written three significant articles between October 2023 and mid-2025, focusing primarily on Gaza and Palestine. Fly.

It’s not that the masthead lacks coverage. It is the absence of weight. A crisis of this magnitude would normally result in columns, follow-ups, moralizing and pressure. In its place,

Gaza entered the opinion pages largely through the language of diplomacy, optics and political management.

As the most disturbing events of the war emerged around the world, they were reported. What was missing was persistence. Drum rhythm. Editorial excitement.

Gaza facts

Consider what Australians are watching elsewhere. Outside of mainstream media.

Ambulance crews lost their lives in incidents that require investigation.

The case of 6-year-old Hind Rajab, whose desperate calls for rescue were recorded before an ambulance was sent to him, was later found destroyed.

Medical personnel were detained without pay for long periods.

Reports and images of mistreatment of detainees.

It was reported that there were mass graves in hospital areas.

Fatal shootings around food distribution points.

Seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, including Australian volunteer Zomi Frankum, were killed in three consecutive drone strikes along a previously cleared humanitarian aid route.

Each episode quickly traveled around the world. Each sparked international scrutiny. They passed the loop in Australia and continued on their way.

If China had killed an Australian aid worker aboard an apparent humanitarian aid convoy in 2023, it would still dominate commentary today.

There will be demands for results.

Panels. Pressure.

When Israel did this, the language softened. And it is in this opposition – the reflex of forgiveness of sins – that the story exists.

Herzog visit

While Gaza faces hunger and destruction, SMH He produced a lengthy profile of the president visiting Israel. Readers were guided through the biography, friendships in Australia, expressions of solidarity after Bondi and the repeated refrain: Bondi is largely symbolic. The executive is not the decision maker.

This is how moral distance is constructed.

Responsibility narrows. Power is being redefined downwards. The head of state becomes ceremonial rather than accountable.

But the symbolism is not harmless. This is representation. The president openly defended Israel’s conduct of the war. When asked whether civilian life could be better protected, he expressed no major reservations about the strategy, arguing that conflict in civilian space makes suffering painful but inevitable.

This position is political. This is a defense. The widely publicized image of the President signing an artillery shell later used in Gaza was briefly acknowledged and dismissed as in poor taste. There was no sustained questioning.

Instead the piece turned to protest. The protest was framed as divisive and unhelpful. Silence was presented as maturity.

The moral perspective has shifted from Gaza to Australian manners.

Disclosure and trust

There is another problem that legacy media rarely encounters.

Australian journalists have been participating in sponsored delegations and promotional tours to Israel for years. These programs are legal and common practice. But the Herald does not systematically explain in individual articles whether a commentator on Israel news has accepted such hospitality.

In an age where trust in the media is fragile, transparency is not optional. If your answer is no, say no. If your answer is yes, tell me when. Readers deserve clarity.

Reckoning

The public has already witnessed this war without filter. They’ve seen enough to know when cover-up works. When restriction turns into avoidance. When balance turns into paralysis.

So when they opened the Herald and came across diplomacy talk, where the human ledger should be,

They do not feel informed. They feel chosen.

This is not about a columnist. It’s a matter of corporate instinct. The Herald can be fierce when the power is distant and hostile. The tone changes when the power is familiar and harmonious.

This is a test of a document and a record does not filter reality.

It does not direct moral energy from those who use force to those who protest it. He does not confuse kindness with truth. The record is a witness.

History will remember Gaza and who clearly defined it. And who preferred security.

Ink can illuminate or embed. Once pressed, he cannot claim not to know.

UN Commissioner Sidoti: Arrest Herzog for war crimes