Mary Kostakidis was known as “the face” of Australia’s SBS evening news. A former head of SBS TV told CN’s award ceremony that Kostakidis was the “conscience” of SBS, for among things, wanting to tell the Palestinian’s story.
Mary Kostakidis, the winner of Consortium News‘ 2026 Gary Webb Freedom of the Press Award was known as “the face” of the national television network where she anchored the evening news. But at CN‘s award ceremony on Sunday, shown above, Sawsan Madina, who was the head of SBS Television, said that because Kostakidis fought to include marginalized voices, such as Palestinians, Madina considered her “the conscience” of SBS.
Because of her conscience and prominence, Kostakidis has been under relentless attack by the Zionist Federation of Australia for a handful of her tweets critical of Israeli aggression and genocide. The ZFA has brought her to federal court in Australia in a high-profile case accusing her of anti-Semitism. The conflation of anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism is the test and the outcome of the Kostakidis case will be of enormous international significance for press freedom.
Speakers: Joe Lauria, editor of Consortium News; Peter Cronau, journalist, former ABC Four Corners producer; Wendy Bacon, journalist and academic; Michael West, editor of Michael West Media; Cathy Vogan, executive producer of CN Live!; Sawsan Madina, former head of SBS Television; David Shoebridge, federal Australian senator; Eleni Elefterias-Kostakidis, songwriter and musician; Arthur Chesterfield-Evans, former member of the New South Wales parliament; and Mary Kostakidis, journalist and winner of the 2026 Gary Webb Freedom of the Press Award. Written messages were read from Prof. Tim Anderson; pundit Caitlin Johnstone; journalist Antony Lowenstein; and Prof. Stuart Rees.
Produced and edited by Cathy Vogan.
TRANSCRIPT of the SPEECHES
MARY KOSTAKIDIS [Outside the Federal Court of Australia in Adelaide]
I just want to thank everyone who has supported me in defending these allegations against me. I’m a strong believer in freedom of the press and the freedom of political expression. I will defend my right to reporting the news and the right of every journalist to do so, and the right of every Australian to engage in public debate. The matter before the court raises important questions about the limits on free speech. And I won’t be commenting on those matters while they are under the consideration of the court. Thank you.
Congratulations, Mary Kostakidis and welcome to the 2026 Gary Webb Freedom of the Press award ceremony. [You can read Joe Lauria‘s address here.]
I don’t think I’ve seen a journalist with quite as much courage and tenacity as Mary Kostakidis. And there have been some worthy past winners of this award: Oliver Stone, John Pilger, Julian Assange. Not only has Mary shone with her determined and heartfelt journalism, not only has Mary bravely stood up for silenced truth-tellers [David McBride, Dan Duggan, Julian Assange], but now she herself is being steadfast in the face of an unprecedented attack on her free speech and on a free press in Australia.
For tweeting facts and commentary on the words of the now dead Hezbollah leader, Mary is facing an expensive, time-consuming, and stressful trial in court. The weight of the backers of the formal Zionist lobby in Australia is ranged against her. Even many in the mainstream media have been too timid to take up her cause. Some have even colluded with her attackers.
It would have been simple for Mary to provide the apology the Zionists demand, to rein in her observations and commentary – her journalism – and to step back. But if the Zionists thought that’s what they could force her to do, then they don’t know Mary. If so-called leaders in the Israeli lobby expected her to disappear apologetically, they don’t know Mary.
If some of the lobby’s fellow travellers who dare to call themselves ‘journalists’ thought they could shame and embarrass her into silence, then they too don’t know Mary. The intimidation, the abuse, the threats, and now the lawfare – Mary has withstood them all. But she doesn’t stand alone. A huge family of activists, journalists and citizens stand with her. They have raised money, they have raised their voices, and best of all.. their efforts have helped raise Mary’s spirits.
Mary’s is a fight that must be won, that will be won. It is a fight for all the journalists who dedicate themselves to bringing the truth, no matter how confronting or distressing, to the public. In the end Mary’s is a fight for all the public, for all who seek the truth and for whom democracy has no other option.
I’m sure you’ll agree: Mary is the very worthy winner of this year’s Gary Webb Freedom of the Press Award.
He’s facing an expensive, time consuming and stressful trial in court. Why is it that this is the formal Zionist lobbying Australia and he’s running? The answer is yes. And yes. Even many in the mainstream media. The two tended to take up this cause. Some of the in collusion with her attackers is really suitable for Mary to provide an apology.
But the Zionist had demanded to rein in her observations and commentary on journalism and to step back. This is I thought, that that’s what they forced me to do, and I don’t know the area. You said the latest in Israel lobby to disappeared apologetically. You don’t know. Maybe you saw the release of the travellers today because of journalists.
So that is shame and embarrassment, really to silence. But I certainly don’t know. Mary. You use threats now. Lawfare that’s been raised against Mary. We’ll see. Mary stand all. But she doesn’t stand alone in a huge family of activists. But journalists and citizens stay with her. They’ve raised money, they’ve raised voices. And this was their efforts and failed to raise very serious Mary.
This is a fight that must be won. That will be won. This is a fight for all the journalists who dedicated themselves to bringing the truth, no matter how confronting or distressing to the public. In the end, Mary’s is a fight for all the public who seek the truth. This is democracy has no other option. The Mary is a world where the winner of the gathering of award for freedom of the press.
Cheers Mary.
Well, this is, an unexpected opportunity to follow Peter, who is himself a very courageous journalist, in congratulating Mary and contributing to an honorary of her work. Look, I have known Mary, of course like everyone else here for many years. Initially, I didn’t really know, but she was on SBS and she always seemed absolutely calm, resolute, clear in her presentation.
And then I really got to know Mary a little bit better during the WikiLeaks campaign. And I remember meeting Mary for a cup of coffee and her telling me all the work she’d been doing, including going to London to visit Julian. And she really did dedicate herself to that campaign. In a way that very few people, let alone very few journalists, did.
And, you know, that wasn’t always a popular cause. You know, even though Julian did get a Walkley Award, or WikiLeaks did, for the contribution to journalism, I was told by the MEAA leadership that it was not a popular decision. And so it took even some courage even on their part to give that award. So, I mean, I just had enormous respect for Mary, for the way she stood by WikiLeaks.
But also, Mary has stood for honesty in reporting on the cause of the Palestinians and speaking out about the Zionist lobby. And it’s a little bit tangential, but I’ll just mention an attack in recent weeks on Cathy Wilcox. I mean, almost anyone who stands up for independence is going to get attacked. And I would like someone to produce the cartoon that shows the influence of the Zionist lobby on the creation of a Royal Commission into anti-Semitism and its impact on the media and popular opinion.
I’d like those who have critiques of Cathy Wilcox to produce a cartoon that the Zionist lobby does not call anti-Semitic. So you have Mary and there are others. I was at a launch on Friday night of a book by Brian Toohey and, heard all the accolades for Brian on Friday night, very much deserved, as an independent journalist. But perhaps no one mentioned, I think, sufficiently, the price that Brian Toohey paid for being an independent journalist.
And that brings me back to Mary, because Mary has simply been doing her job as a commentator, someone who is involved and knowledgeable of the issue and, operating on Twitter, which is a journalistic thing to do. And now she is paying a huge price. And one of the things I think about press freedom and fighting for media or press freedom is the price people pay on the way.
I mean, journalists aren’t alone in this, but the enormous amount of work Mary has told me when I’ve seen her occasionally, the enormous amount of attention to detail , stress of work that goes into fighting this. So I’m really glad to be here today, Mary, to congratulate you. We stand by you. We will be with you. And I only hope that our judicial system in Australia stands for freedom. And really good judgment comes not only for Mary, but for all of us in defending freedom of communication.
Thank you very much and congratulations Mary.
It’s a privilege, especially to be speaking on behalf of Mary, who, when I looked at the lawsuit, it is of course, a vexatious lawsuit and I couldn’t believe the breadth of it.
There are 61 tweets I think, 61 posts going back to, you know, from Epstein to the creation of Israel to, you know, to spanning the whole of Israel’s history. And so effectively, Mary’s been required to argue to the whole – in court, in an Australian court – the whole of Israel’s history and American skullduggery as well.
So how this got that far into an Australian court, I just cannot understand. And for this case to prosecute. I think is a travesty of justice. I just don’t think it’s fair. And when you consider, that a couple of months ago – they’ve always denied that it’s apartheid, the Zionists – a couple of months ago the Knesset passed a bill basically allowing Palestinians to be executed, but of course, not Jewish Israelis.
So it’s blatantly enshrined in law. It’s always been the practice, as we know, that it’s an apartheid state, and they can’t really deny that anymore. But meanwhile, the envoys for an apartheid state, acting in terms of foreign interference, which is something which the mainstream media never really gets on to, this is all foreign interference. In America we see the journalists say Israel first or America first.
Well, to the Zionists, it’s messianic as we know. And I think that’s an incredible paradox, an amazing paradox, of the envoys meddling in Australian affairs, taking it out on an Australian legendary journalist and icon and labeling her racist, when in fact they are the envoys for a racist regime. I mean, it’s spectacularly ironic, and it’s sad that, as somebody who knows what it’s like to be sued, regularly threatened and having to go to court… I’ve done away with lawyers now just to survive, Your Honor. But, Mary’s one is particularly, particularly galling and the pressure on her. I spoke to her six months ago. I didn’t know what to say really. But I just said, really Mary, you have the whole… It’s a privilege in a sense, because you have been picked out to lead this fight.
And I think if we keep, as journalists, keep getting this fight out there in the media, then even the mainstream eventually may come around, despite the fact that they’ve been so resoundingly useless. So in a sense, although it’s an incredible pressure and I understand that, litigation, not quite at your level, because this is really bad, but it’s also a privilege.
I think that you have been picked out , such is the integrity of your voice in the media, that they’ve picked you to bully, in order to make an example of you. And it’s with huge respect – and I’m sure I speak for everybody here that we look up to you. We go geez, how is Mary handling it? And how strong is she to be able to withstand this kind of pressure?
Yeah. So thanks everybody.
Look, I’ll start by acknowledging we’re all here on Gadigal land. We know the whole country is First Nations land. And, you know, First Nations people get the similarity between the project happening in Israel and occupied Palestine and what’s happening in our own continent. And let’s not forget it either as we come together here. And solidarity for a free Palestine also means solidarity for First Nations people. So let’s remember that. Patricia close your ears. I feel like standing here with Michael and Mary, we could start a band called the defendants maybe. What do you think?
And I know that we’re here for a very serious purpose, but, unless you feel the joy of fighting for the right side, unless you get that sense of connection and solidarity, you know, that kind of global connection that you have, that fundamental sense of being a human, connecting with other humans in the struggle for freedom; unless we live that and enjoy that sometimes, it can all be bloody doom and gloom. So I don’t know about you, but I’m really grateful to be here amongst the room, celebrating the work of Mary and her strength and her courage, and of the humanity of Mary. It’s a pleasure and an honor to be here and share this space with you.
And, you know, this attack on journalism, this attack on critical thought, this attack on being able to debate and challenge, particularly challenge a powerful status quo, we can see how it sort of, those people in positions of power – I look at what the Labor Party is doing, nationally, what the coalition is doing, what light bodies doing in New South Wales,laws passed in Victoria, in Queensland, when the status quo is fundamentally threatened and they have power and money behind them and they can feel their power being challenged, they do what they do to Mary. They reach out and they lash out, and they use their power and their money and their privilege to try and silence criticism and critical thoughts.
And, Mary, I don’t know how you stood up for so long, and you remain as dignified, as strong and as principled as you were from the day this lot came at you. And I think we’ve all admired your courage. But I also, I think we also know – and Michael probably, more than any of us – the actual challenge that puts on you. You know, watching the emails come in, the anxiety when you open them up.
What does this mean in terms of legal costs? What does this mean in terms of, you know, my financial position and, you know, for you too, what does this mean in terms of your career? Like right now, you should be being celebrated by your peers. You’re at that stage of your career where you should be able to walk into a room of your peers, and they should be celebrating your work, wanting to learn from you and wanting to study you as a case study in brave, fearless Australian journalism.
And we know that’s the position you’re entitled to, and that’s why we’re here Mary. Thanks so much for showing strength. Film by Cathy Vogan that kicked off the awards ceremony:
SAWSAN MADINA [Former Head of SBS TV network]
I met Mary 39 years ago. Yes. Australians thought of Mary as the face of SBS as we all know. I often thought of Mary as the conscience of SBS. People looked at Mary, and they saw the beautiful, elegant woman who presented the news. Inside SBS, we saw Mary as a talented journalist who was very committed to social justice, to human rights, and who never, who was never afraid to speak up.
She looked at our newsroom, questioned our coverage. She never became a compliant journalist. She objected to bad editorial decisions. She was outspoken, and she always spoke up. And, Mary, you remain one of the most principled people I know.
Mary’s journalism was kept away from the public because at the time, news presenters were supposed to be neutral, supposed to just read the autocue. And perhaps most viewers thought Mary drove to work, read the autocue and went home. They couldn’t have been further from the truth. I’ll give you an example that comes to mind. Very few people know that during the war in Yugoslavia, it was Mary who broke the story about the two Australian aid workers who were spying for a NATO country. Anything to do with stories, or standing up for causes, that would have damaged the image they wanted to inculcate about Mary.
I have a few other examples. At the time when there was rarely any Palestinian perspective we had stories and we only crossed over to, we only had crosses to Israeli spokesperson. Mary asked the chief producer, who had just come from an Israeli junket, why don’t we have a cross to a Palestinian for a change? And he told her: “Why? They’re all mad”. Mary told me that she found it so disturbing that she has never forgotten it.
Another time she took on the news director, who had decided to pull a story because it had a Palestinian perspective, she argued, and actually got the decision reversed, and the story published.
And she fell out with the managing director, Sean Brown, because, or when she publicly spoke out against his decision to insert ads in the news bulletin. After that, her departure was inevitable. And sadly for SBS, and for Australia, everything that Mary expected to happen with the commercialization of the news has come to pass.
For many, moral clarity and press freedom were never theoretical concepts. They were things to be exercised for the common good and exercised them she did. It was not easy in SBS because you could count on every time we had a story or even showed a film, that the powerful lobby groups didn’t like, there would be an avalanche of complaints.
As a result, many journalists, good journalists, self-censor because they didn’t have the time or the resources to answer all these complaints. Other journalists kept quiet and stuck to the accepted narrative, but not Mary. She continued to speak up against injustice. She has always spoken up for the oppressed and the persecuted, and for this she paid a huge price.
Congratulations Mary, on winning this award. This award is a well-deserved recognition of your untiring work. Thank you for always speaking the truth and rejecting the lies of the vested interests, the press barons, the powerful lobby groups. We are all grateful to you and very proud of you.
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Mary Kostakidis is widely respected as an independent journalist and commentator, precisely because she uses her independence to focus on key values and issues ignored and buried by the Epstein class of stenographers that populate our deeply compromised state and corporate media. Her work on the Assange campaign and in support of the struggle of Palestinian people has been exceptional and, of course, that is precisely why the Zionists persecute her and the Epstein class stenographers look the other way. Her remarkable and consistent work makes her a truly worthy recipient of the Gary Webb Freedom of the Press Award.
Mary Kostakidis has taken an essential stand in the fight against the Israel lobby’s aggressive assault on free expression in Australia. Finding oneself targeted in a sweeping campaign to stomp out criticism of Israel is not a role anyone would choose for themselves, but, as the saying goes, some have greatness thrust upon them. Mary has navigated this obnoxious onslaught with grace and aplomb, and in 2026 I can think of no one more deserving of the Gary Webb Freedom of the Press Award than herself.
We live in an era of enforced silences, gutlessness and fear when talking about issues of war, peace and Palestine. There are some, however, like Mary, who refuse to be told to shut up. I wish her congratulations on this award and long may she cause trouble!
In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
George Orwell almost certainly never said this but that doesn’t make it less true. In our deceitful present, the most powerful people in society are defending the indefensible. Telling the truth is intolerable to them, even with the truth-tellers on the ground screaming at us through our mobile phones every hour of every day for nearly three years. So let’s take this precious moment to stop and say thank you to our friend, colleague and comrade. In a time of universal deceit, be like Mary Kostakidis. Congratulations dear Mary. Much love, [former Senator] Scott Ludlam
At a time when public life suffers from the cowardice of politicians, journalists, university managers and corporate leaders, Mary Kostakidis’s courage shines like a beacon to encourage others to stand up for human rights principles, for free speech, for the vulnerable and powerless. She also shows how to never be intimidated by bullies.
The Zionist lobby knows how to bully, and it expects to get its way unless gutsy, principled citizens refused to comply. Mary is such a citizen, brave in identifying justice and willing to confront the legal casuistry of those who want to silence her. Unfortunately for them, and luckily for us, Mary has summoned the stamina of the long distance runner willing to keep going even if the finishing tape seems as elusive for her as freedom and a peace with justice are for Palestinians.
Mary has been a leader in making gutsy stands to achieve a basic fairness in the conduct of institutions and in life’s politics. These qualities have been crafted, honed and preserved for decades. Small wonder that at a time of crisis when even international law is treated as of little consequence, this award is given to Mary in a place which has played a special role in the history of Sydney’s ‘Politics in the Pub’ traditions, which have witnessed vigorous discussion, pithy analyses and constant questions about justice, freedom of speech and the survival of democracy.
Congratulations Mary for being chosen for this award. You have our gratitude, praise and support, so please keep running.
Sorry I can’t be there, I’ll be in Verona Italy listening to a romantic tenor singing of love, justice and courage. In a sense I will be drinking the atmosphere of the Harold Park Hotel, though in Verona that atmosphere features an opera staged in a former Roman coliseum.
With many thanks, with love and in solidarity, Stuart
On behalf of all our family, I would like to thank every one of you. Not just for being here today, but for supporting my sister throughout this whole ordeal. My sister has more guts than any other woman I know. Any other human being I know actually, male or female.
And, she’s always been the one in our family that always knows the right thing to do. And we always trusted her. She’s got a lot of integrity. And I wanted to say one more thing. To call my sister anti-Semitic would be absolutely ridiculous. In 2023, we visited Varya when she was born in Greece. We stayed in the Jewish quarter, right next door to the synagogue, in a beautiful place called the Red House.
Some horrible things had occurred there during the German occupation, and a lot of members of our family are involved in the council in that area to restore the whole Jewish quarter. So to call my sister anti-Semitic is just ridiculous. But they don’t know who they have chosen to fight with. So I’m proud of my sister for being on the right side of humanity, for standing up for justice and the Australian way. Thank you very much everyone.
Thanks very much Joe and well done for the whole event today. And congratulations to Mary. As an ex-politician who was an Australian Democrats MP, and at one time, Green candidate, I first knew Mary…
I knew Mary for many years actually, quite well. She used to come into my lounge room every night, but it was considerably later that she actually met me when I delved into the peace movement. And we chose the winner of the Sydney Peace Prize that year. But the Sydney Peace Foundation had actually awarded a previous peace prize to Hannah Ashwari.
And before that,Stuart Rees had informed all the sponsor – and there were quite a number of corporate sponsors – that he was planning to award to a Palestinian peace activist. And they all said, issue the peace prize to whoever you like. So of course when he did give peace prize to Ashwari, all the sponsors disappeared and people said, you’re going to have to withdraw this peace prize.
You can’t do this. The Foundation won’t continue. And Stuart said it would continue with absolutely no credibility if he stopped at this point. And he copped the fact that all the corporate sponsors virtually disappeared overnight. This is the power of the Zionist lobby. So I think, as an ex politician, Im a bit loft to go for very long here, because everyone else has been so great with their brevity.
But I thought I’d just touch on pressures that are on the system, the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies was demoted within the university once they did the BDS campaign. And also speaking about the BDS campaign, there was a mayor of Marrickville called Fiona Byrne, who was tipped to win the Marrickville state election.
Because she had a BDS campaign, her billboards were sprayed with Nazi symbols and they never found who did it. A fellow called John Nemeth put up posters attacking BDS, he was accused, if that’s the word for it, of not putting who printed them and where they were to be found. And that was regarded as a technical breach of the electoral laws. It’s reported in Jewish Times, not much anywhere else.
The Zionists were very active at that time of BDS and that defeated the BDS campaign of the Greens candidate, who may have been in parliament, had that hysterical campaign against her not happened. So this is the power and this was in the mainstream media as well, the campaign against Fiona Byrne and the BDS – Boycotts, Divestment, Sanctions – against Israel.
AWARD PRESENTATION AND KOSTAKIDIS SPEECH
JOE LAURIA
We’re going to now ask Mary to come up here for the presentation of the award. We ask people to take photographs if you want, and tweet them out, so the whole world knows about. We’ve been quiet – invitation only – so there wasn’t an opportunity for certain groups to put pressure on this place to cancel it. Mary, it gives me a great honor to present you with this award.
I’m going to read the citation. It says Gary Webb, Freedom of the Press Award 2026, winner Mary Kostakidis, journalist. For courage in the face of organized resistance to press freedom and for a lifetime of achievement in journalism. Presented by the Consortium for Independent Journalism, publishers of Consortium News. There you go Mary.
MARY KOSTAKIDIS
How fortunate am I to have all this support with all of you here? I’m truly honored to receive the Gary Webb award, alongside legendary journalist, the late, great and much loved John Pliger, and Julian Assange, of course. I’m humbled, when there are so many more worthy contributors around the world, including several in this room.
I’d like to thank Consortium News. Consortium News were a pioneer in independent journalism and publishing. The late Robert Parry established it to ensure that there was a vehicle to publish vital information.
I’d like to pay tribute to Gary Webb, whose life and career was destroyed for exposing the truth, Gary said, or Gary attributed the impacts of his story to the internet – not only because it made headlines around the world, but because it allowed people to step into his story, to get on the website, the paper’s website, and look at all his photographs and read his contemporaneous notes.
And this was incredibly important because that illicit drug trade decimated the African-American community along the West Coast. A quarter of a century later, Gaza’s journalists have invited us to step inside their own genocide. 300 of them have paid the ultimate price. The very least that we can do, is call it out for what it is. And demand accountability for those who perpetrated this war crime, among other: the only nation on the planet it’s become a crime to criticize.
And finally, I’d like to acknowledge all independent journalists and publishers around the world. Our numbers are swelling. People are coming to you for vital information, knowledge and perspectives barred from the mainstream media, in particular the corporate media. And they are coming to you because they know that you will pursue the truth fearlessly. Here’s to you. Thank you.
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