Lalor was reporting on the Australia and Sri Lanka Test series when he was told that he could no longer cover the cricket for SEN because the “sound of my voice made people feel unsafe,” and people were “triggered by my voice” after he reshared posts about Israeli attacks in Gaza.
Lalor reposted videos and posts on X condemning Israel’s actions as ethnic cleansing and genocide and criticising Donald Trump and the mainstream mediass complicity.
SEN chief executive Craig Hutchinson has stated that “SEN Cricket is a celebration of differences and nationalities and a place where our SEN audience can escape what is an increasingly complex and sometimes triggering world.”
Lalor has not deleted his reposts since being dismissed and stands by his right to share his sympathy for the people of Palestine publicly. He released a statement defending his social media activity: “I retweet a lot of the stuff I see on social media because it needs to be seen.”
Lalor has been reporting on cricket for over 30 years, providing commentary for Channel 7 and SEN and co-hosting the cricket podcast Cricket, Et Cetera with The Australian journalist Gideon Haigh.
He won an Australian Sports Commission Media Award for Best Print Profile in 2006, and in 2018 he won the Kennedy Foundation Peter Frilingos Award for Outstanding Sport Reporting while working for The Australian.
Many people on X have shown support for Lalor, calling for a boycott of SEN radio and commending his courage to speak out. Among these is Australian cricket international Usman Khawaja, who wrote on Instagram that “Standing up for the people of Gaza is not antisemitic nor does it have anything to do with my Jewish brothers and sisters in Australia, but everything to do with the Israeli government and their deplorable actions.”
Lalor is among a growing number of journalists who have been fired for expressing views supporting Palestine and condemning Israel’s actions in Gaza. Australian journalist Antoinette Lattouf was dismissed by ABC for posting a Human Rights Watch report alleging that Israel was using starvation as a weapon of war in December 2023. Lattouf has since filed an unlawful termination case against ABC in a trial that began earlier this week.
Lalor also sheds some light on why more people in high-level positions have not spoken up, saying “People with more at stake are forced to be silent for fear of these reprisals. I’m in a more fortunate position and of a more careless disposition.”
Critics suggest that corporate cancel culture and the far-right media are intent on censoring support for Palestine and silencing dissent. This raises the question of whether journalists should have the right to express their views and opinions outside of their journalistic niche without fear of losing their platforms.
“Trent Bridge Test” by It’s No Game is licensed under CC BY 2.0.