Los Angeles Unrest: Is This What The US is Known For? Australian Journalist Shot At With Rubber Bullet

Even as the United States often positions itself as a global champion of democracy and press freedom, events on the ground continue to raise serious concerns. In a shocking incident caught live on camera, an Australian journalist was shot with a rubber bullet by U.S. police during ongoing unrest in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles Unrest: Is This What the US is Known For? Australian Journalist Shot at With Rubber Bullet

Australian journalist shot by U.S. police—caught on live camera. Yet, the West DS funded propaganda dares to lecture India on press freedom, citing biased, Western-funded “indexes.” pic.twitter.com/aMX0802E4w

— Megh Updates 🚨™ (@MeghUpdates) June 9, 2025

The visuals, now viral on international media platforms, show police officers targeting a clearly identified press crew—despite them doing nothing but reporting from the scene. The journalist sustained injuries, sparking outrage from both Australian citizens and global media watchdog.

Ironically, while incidents like these unfold on American soil, the West—through its donor-supported “freedom indexes”—regularly lectures other nations, including India, on how to treat their press. Such hypocrisy has not gone unnoticed.

India has often been criticised declining press freedom 

India has often been criticised in Western-funded reports for its so-called “declining press freedom,” but when journalists in the U.S. are being shot at during live coverage, one must ask: Who really needs the lecture?

This latest episode has added fuel to the ongoing debate about whether the West’s moral authority on global civil liberties and media rights is built more on narrative control than actual practice. 

This is not an isolated incident. In recent years, multiple cases have emerged where journalists—domestic and foreign—have faced aggression from U.S. law enforcement during protests or politically sensitive events. These repeated violations paint a grim picture of the supposed beacon of free press. When a country that touts itself as the guardian of civil liberties fails to protect the very institutions that uphold democracy, it raises uncomfortable questions about its credibility on the world stage.