Bringing Balance to Australia’s COVID-19 Story: The ‘Real Rukshan’ on Lockdown Protests

Rukshan Fernando, online live streamer and social media personality under the moniker "Real Rukshan" in Melbourne, Australia, on Nov. 20, 2021. Supplied/Armstrong Lazenby

For Rukshan Fernando, something simply didn’t add up—it didn’t make sense.

News outlets portrayed the “government as doing great, the police are doing great, and that everything was great” in Victoria’s handling of the pandemic.