Speaking From the Encampment: Media Work in a Hostile Landscape

Published:

Being part of the ANU Gaza Solidarity Encampment media team was a unique experience, fast-paced, high-stakes work carried out in constantly shifting, often suboptimal conditions. We were navigating a largely hostile media environment in which institutional statements were granted automatic legitimacy, while we had to fight for even the opportunity to be heard.

With minimal experience, and none in front of a camera, my role focused primarily on drafting statements, preparing talking points, and liaising with journalists to arrange media comments or interviews with other members of the team. At times it felt as though each day brought a new fabrication or distraction from the University, a steady stream of excuses and distortions designed to obscure our demands for divestment and accountability. We were left to respond in real time, constantly correcting bad-faith narratives while still trying to articulate the truth of what was happening on the ground.

Media Articles


ABC Media:

Title: Pro-Palestine student group disbands encampment at Australian National University after nearly four months of protesting

Title: ANU Gaza solidarity encampment organiser says Hamas “deserves our unconditional support”

Title: ANU investigating reports of Nazi salute, death threats against Jewish students on campus as pro-Palestine encampment continues

Title: Australian National University officially orders seven students to vacate on-campus Gaza solidarity encampment

Title: ANU tells Gaza solidarity protestors to vacate encampment

Title: ANU student expelled after saying on ABC radio that Hamas deserves ‘unconditional support’

Title: Disciplinary Action taken against 10 students since pro-Palestine encampment begun, ANU vice-chancellor tells senate estimates

Title: Australian National University to review military investments after pro-Palestine protests

Title: Vice Chancellor Genevieve Bell says ANU spent almost $1 million responding to protests but won’t reveal if it monitored pro-Palestine students


Woroni

Title: ANU Gaza Solidarity Encampment disbands, launches ‘ANU for Palestine’ group

Title: ANU cuts off power from encampment

Title: ANU issues reminder to Encampment as exams begin

Title: Emails accessed by Woroni reveal the Encampment’s multiple attempts to negotiate with the ANU

Title: ANU orders students to vacate the Encampment

Title: The third week of Gaza Solidarity Encampment: “get off my lawn”

Title: Two weeks of Kambri’s Encampment

Title: ANU to divest from “controversial” weapons manufacturers but questions remain

Title: Human Rights Law Centre urges ANU not to discipline protesters

Title: ANU seeking feedback on its investment policy after student pressure to divest from weapons companies

Title: Stickers, Artwork and Vandalism: How tensions on campus are testing the limits of political and artistic expression


Canberra Times

Title: Pro-Palestine protestors relocate in the middle of the night

Title: The showdown at high noon scuttled by a midnight retreat

Title: Protesters told they ‘will be arrested’ if they don’t leave encampment

Title: Final test looms for students, university with a deadline at high noon

Title: ANU executives face grilling over pro-Palestine encampment, anti-semitism

Title: Can the ANU dismantle the protestcamp?

Title: ANU protest camp talks – but not quite yet

Title: ANU Students support Hamas as security at camp is ramped up

Title: ANU accused of lying over cutting investments in arms companies

Title: What brought on cold feet at the pro-Palestine protest camp?

Title: Cops arrive at Gaza protest as students refuse to budge


The Guardian

Title: ANU asks pro-Palestine encampments to disband as students claim ‘witch-hunt’ taking place

Title: Pro-Palestine protesters at ANU move campus camp by 50 meters ahead of noon deadline

Title: ANU launches review into investment portfolio after pro-Palestine protests

Title: Student protester suspended by ANU for expressing support for Hamas as police warn over encampments


The Australian

Title: Hamas deserves unconditional support, ANU pro-Palestine protest organiser Beatrice Tucker says

Title: Australian National University probe into claims of Nazi-inspired protests at student meeting

Title: ANU orders Pro-Palestine protesters to vacate campus

Title: ANU to be hauled before Senate for campus anti-Semitism response

Title: ANU expelled two students and referred four to police

Title: ANU invites students to review investment policies following protests

Title: ANU halts investments in weapons makers after pro-Palestine protests


Region Canberra

Title: ANU’s pro-Palestine protestors decamp over electricity supply issues

Title: ANU reverses expulsion of student who said Hamas ‘deserves our unconditional support’

Title: ANU says pro-Palestine protest has left the campus with $60,000 – worth of damage


Misc

Title: Students expelled from ANU, disciplinary inquiries continue after pro-Palestinian protests

Title: Pro-Palestine ANU student wins expulsion appeal

  • Honi Soit
  • By Jack Stubley
  • Sep 13, 2024

Title: ANU Student Encampment Update

About the author

Pip Grimshaw is a proud trans man currently living, writing, and studying on stolen Ngunnawal and Ngambri land. He has always had a passion for writing and story telling. As a white person living in the violent settler colony that is so called 'australia' he sees solidarity with First Nations liberatory movements as a moral duty, whether that be through literature, art, political or social means.

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