SBS CQ debate on Indigenous stories

SBS hosts another of its SBS CQ debate series today, on issues relating to Australian media practice.

Stan Grant will host a debate on the question: Who should tell Indigenous stories?

Journalists have a duty to ensure balance in their reporting. During the debate, however, many guests state that the media fails to cover Indigenous issues in any depth, or that it only focuses on conflict and negativity.

The forum discusses how any negative portrayal of Indigenous stories in the media can shape society and affect public policy. It discusses the effect that the media can have on perceptions of Indigenous people, but also how negativity in the media can affect Indigenous people’s perception of themselves.

Prominent Indigenous people are joined by leading media figures in this passionate debate, to discuss whether there is a ‘right way’ for the media to cover Indigenous stories, the consequences when they get it wrong, and who has the right to report Indigenous stories.

Guests include:

Larisa Lee
Larisa is the Member for Arnhem Land. She says she has seen negative media reporting on Indigenous communities cause huge damage and trauma for families. She says that these often sensationalised reports only reinforce negative stereotypes of Aboriginal people and that this damages the psyche of Aboriginal Australia.

Prof Marcia Langton
Marcia is the Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne. Marcia says that more positive stories are being reported in the media now, which she thinks is due to Aboriginal success rather than a shift in the media’s generally adversarial approach. She says that hard hitting stories such as child abuse within communities must be highlighted by the media, especially when community services and the police have failed to act.

Jeff McMullen
Jeff is a highly acclaimed journalist who says the Australian media has seen decades of journalistic failure to report on the truth about Indigenous communities. He talks about how the prevailing reporting blames the problems in Aboriginal communities on the failures in Aboriginal culture, as opposed to historical and social factors. He says that the Australian media was complicit in the way it allowed the Northern Territory Intervention to be rolled out by the Howard Government.

Kirstie Parker
Kirstie is the Editor of the Koori Mail, a national Indigenous newspaper. While she acknowledges that in the past there was a tendency for Indigenous media to be a cheer squad for Indigenous causes, she says that now those times have passed and Indigenous journalists are becoming more balanced in their approach.

Patricia Karvelas
Patricia is Victorian Editor and Bureau Chief of The Australian newspaper. She says that the mainstream media should report more on Indigenous issues, but feels that The Australian does a good job in holding the government to account and advocating for change in impoverished communities.

Julian Wilcox
Julian is the General Manager of Maori Television. He says that while in the early days of Maori Television they received pressure from Maori leaders to ‘go soft’ in their reporting, they now do more in-depth and hard hitting reporting than the mainstream media on Indigenous issues.

As part of the CQ initiative, SBS is also developing online education resources based on the program for media students, practitioners and researchers.

Monday 27 May, 1.00pm on SBS ONE, repeated Tuesday 28 May, 8.30pm on NITV.