Kostakidis defended as journalists back Palestine in historic MEAA vote

On Wednesday 20 August 2025, history was made in the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) — the union that covers media and theatre workers.

Long-time MEAA activist and Independent Australia contributor, Dr Martin Hirst, was instrumental in moving the journalists’ union to a stronger position on Palestine and defending press freedom.

THE CAMPAIGN to defend journalist Mary Kostakidis from a Zionist witch-hunt got a boost this week when a national online rank-and-file meeting of freelance journalists – perhaps the largest ever in the history of the union – voted overwhelmingly (without any dissent) to stand up for Palestine.

MEAA members in Victorian Socialists drafted a series of motions to solidify support for journalists threatened by Zionist slander at home and to honour over 270 news workers martyred by the Israeli Occupation Force in Gaza. The meeting also endorsed the 24 August Nationwide March for Palestine.

Significantly, the meeting endorsed our motion to defend our freelance colleague Mary Kostakidis and affirm the principle that criticism of Zionism and Israel is not antisemitic. As we’ve reported in IA, Mary has been forced in front of the Federal Court to defend herself from accusations of antisemitism from the Zionist Federation of Australia.

These are the motions passed in solidarity with Palestine at a union meeting of freelance journalists this week. I'm so proud of my comrades. I’ve been in @withMEAA for 40 years.
The motions as carried without dissent. Drafted, moved and seconded by@vic_socialists MEAA members. pic.twitter.com/ts8z1NEI0r
— Marty (@ethicalmartini) August 21, 2025

The 20 August meeting was called to discuss the important MEAA campaign to raise freelancer rates and job conditions. Some good work has been done, and the union is committed to building this campaign and supporting more action against recalcitrant employers.

Freelance writers and photographers are getting screwed

Freelancers are getting screwed, right across the industry. Many are being paid around 20 cents per word at some outlets. The union is campaigning for an across-the-board 80 cents. Rates were historically higher than this, but have gone backwards in recent years. But even at 80 cents per word, you can work out that most freelancers are not making a lot of money. On top of that, freelancers don’t get holidays, sick pay or superannuation.

Pay rates are not the only problem. Editors sometimes take months to pay, or a story gets spiked and the writer doesn’t get paid. The situation is worse for photographers who often only make a few dollars for the sale of an image that they’ve worked all day to get. At the meeting, we also heard that two young photographers were attacked by Nazis a week ago. They were punched and kicked, and their car was damaged. Employed journalists have insurance coverage, but freelancers must pick up their own bills.

As several people commented in the Zoom chat at the meeting, freelancing is now precarious employment for many journalists; it is no longer a career. This situation is getting worse as the major news organisations cut their budgets. More people losing full-time jobs in newsrooms around the country puts even more downward pressure on freelance rates.

The union is campaigning to get individual employers to agree to a Freelance Charter of Rights with minimum pay rates for writers and photographers, and clauses about intellectual copyright. A couple have signed on, but many more, including so-called “progressive” outlets, are not signing up to the Charter.

It was an important step in the MEAA campaign to have such a huge meeting to endorse the freelance campaign.

However, the meeting was more than that for two reasons:

its historic size — at least 162 freelance union members participated; and
the historic (though accidental) timing of the meeting, at this juncture when the Zionist lies are falling apart, when public opinion is firmly on the side of Palestine and in the wake of the history-making March for Humanity on 3 August.

Zionist Federation v Mary Kostakidis: A defining moment for press freedom

Genocide is occurring in Gaza and Israel is currently a rogue state — but let’s be sure not to offend anyone by reporting the facts, writes managing editor Michelle Pini.

An opportunity presents itself

Across the world, journalists have been slow to take up the cause of the Palestinians. This is partly an issue of fear because Zionists have targeted journalists when they’ve been brave enough to speak up. But let’s be real; it’s also true that many journalists have been totally captured by the Zionist narrative and are willingly amplifying Israeli talking points or demonising pro-Palestine activists. That is why Victorian Socialist activists in the union felt it was a good time to agitate among the rank-and-file to see what the true feeling was among at least this group of Australian freelancers.

The 20 August meeting was an opportunity too good to miss.

The MEAA leadership has already taken a public position on Gaza. Federal officials had already endorsed both the March for Humanity on 3 August and the 24 August Nationwide March for Palestine. The federal MEAA officials had also issued a media release condemning the murder of journalists by Israel and a video calling for the killing to stop.

As the meeting got underway, I posted our motions into the chat, asking people to hit a “like” if they supported discussing the issues in the meeting. We got plenty of support. When it came time for the discussion, it was really good to see a national director of the MEAA, Cassie Derrick, step up and support our motions.

A historic vote for Palestine

We had three motions prepared for the meeting: support for Mary Kostakidis; one condemning the murder of journalists in Gaza; and one supporting the 24 August national mobilisation.

We wanted to send a strong message to MEAA members inside the major news organisations that they are not alone and that there is a strong sentiment in the rank-and-file of the union that supports them. We hope to encourage more acts of resistance inside the news machine. It may take some time to get this going, but by showing our strength, we hope to give them strength. This is also a signal to the union structure that they should be more on the front foot to defend members who are “inside the whale”.

Finally, by adding our voices to the union’s public position of opposing the genocide and the murder of news workers in Gaza, we want to signal that there is a groundswell of pro-Palestinian sentiment inside the union.

We made history this week and we put Australian freelance journalists firmly on the right side.