Peter Greste speaks in Murwillumbah

JOURNALIST and academic Peter Greste will speak in Murwillumbah later this month as part of the Politics of Life: This Stuff Matters series.

Discussing the Middle East and the media machine, Greste will explore the shifting sands of power in the region, the squeeze on journalism under authoritarianism, the concentration of media ownership, and AI’s radical reshaping of truth, trust, and narrative control.

A former foreign correspondent for the BBC, Al Jazeera, Reuters and CNN, Greste is now a Professor of Journalism at Macquarie University and serves as executive director of the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom.

Greste’s career has spanned conflict zones across the Middle East, Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2013–2014, his 400-day imprisonment in Egypt shone a glaring spotlight on the global erosion of press freedom and the rising cost of truth-telling.

His experience was the subject of his memoir, the subsequent film The Correspondent starring Richard Roxborough, and numerous speaking tours.

As part of the event, Greste will share his perspective on media coverage of the Middle East.

“One of the big problems we have is that of false equivalence,” Greste said.

“Often journalists, and I’ve done this myself and understand entirely, tend to hide behind the idea of neutrality by giving equal voice to both sides.

“In Yugoslavia during the civil war, they uncovered a mass grave that human rights workers had found — the evidence was blindingly obvious — Muslims murdered by Serbs.

“We reported that, but for the sake of balance, had to quote the Serbs denying all responsibility, which utterly undermined the significance of what we’d found and devalued the evidence right in front of us.”

Greste said the same issue arises in contemporary conflict coverage.

“In the case of Gaza, it’s been more out of the desire to avoid being accused of being partisan.

“The pursuit of an ideal of balance is not the same as accuracy.”

“Look, honestly, sometimes if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, then it’s a f****** genocide,” he said.

Doors open at 6 pm, and the night includes a musical performance by Angel White and an audience Q&A with Greste.

The conversation, to be held at M|Arts on July 24, will be presented by Times News Group journalist Sonia Caeiro Alvarez.

For information and tickets, visit trybooking.com/DDDVX