Networks respond to Diversity report

Networks have issued comment following the release of Who Gets to Tell Australian Stories which found more than 75% of TV news and current affairs presenters, commentators and reporters have an Anglo-Celtic background, while only 6 percent have an Indigenous or non-European background.

ABC

The ABC welcomes the release of the “Who Gets to Tell Australian Stories?” report into cultural diversity in television news. Its findings broadly reflect the results of our own tracking and show that, while we’re making good progress in how we reflect the diversity of the Australian community, we can certainly do better.

As the national broadcaster, the ABC has a responsibility to represent all Australians in our content and services and in our workforce. Ensuring we look and sound like contemporary Australia in all we do is central to our role. A broad range of perspectives, people and content makes us stronger, more creative and better able to engage with Australia’s many communities.

The ABC’s Diversity & Inclusion Plan 2019-22, which complements the key content priorities in the Content Plan, sets out our vision for diversity and inclusion and is centred around three strategic goals:

Recruiting, developing and retaining a diverse workforce
Fostering an inclusive, collaborative and accountable workplace culture
Reflecting and representing the diversity of the Australian community in our content and the services we provide

You can read more here.

SBS

We’re pleased the report reinforces SBS’s leading role in including and representing the diversity of Australia across our news and current affairs.

SBS is unique in the Australian media, not only reflecting Australia’s diverse communities through those presenting our news and current affairs programming, but also through the stories we cover. Our approach to local and international news, exploring stories from a multicultural and Indigenous perspective for all Australians, is unlike that of any other media organisation.

National Indigenous Television (NITV) – part of the SBS network – was not included in the report but plays a critical role in ensuring First Nations people are front and centre of coverage exploring issues with an Indigenous lens, and bringing those stories to a wider audience.

SBS has a proud tradition of developing the next generation of diverse talent, on and off screen. We remain committed to continuing our work in supporting greater diversity in the sector.

Jim Carroll, SBS Director of News & Current Affairs statement is here

Seven

Craig McPherson, Seven’s director of news and current affairs, told  Media Watch, “We are very aware of who our audiences are and the makeup of our workforce. Improving diversity is an ongoing challenge but this report does nothing to help the industry as a whole. It’s an exhaustive deep dive into names on a two week roster with shallow outcomes. It does little in looking at the supply system of prospective employees from all walks of life. There is a scant acknowledgment in the report that Free To Air TV employers simply aren’t hiring culturally diverse employees because they’re not applying. It writes that reality off with the untested reasoning people aren’t applying because those doing the hiring have been somehow collectively diagnosed with an “unconscious bias. For the past 30 years the pathway into journalism is predominantly through university courses and training. It would be far more beneficial to the industry and I would’ve thought to all those seriously wanting a career in television journalism to explore what is or isn’t occurring in our high priced university system.”

Nine

Darren Wick, Nine’s director of news and current affairs told Media Watch, “We all acknowledge that diversity in all media/newsrooms – not just television – is a challenge both in Australia and globally. However, I don’t think simply counting surnames on TV is an effective way of addressing the issue or helps in finding practical solutions to these challenges. “This report has clear errors / ignores the significant contribution of someone like Brooke Boney on Today, where she is one of four main hosts on the desk, instead simply listing her daily and regular contribution on the program at somewhere between 0.1 and 0 percent. This is not reflective of the real changes and proactive appointments we have been making in improving diversity in our television business. The methodology of this report is flawed and it is disappointing that Media Diversity Australia chose not to involve the networks in the project’s research questions, methodology or in focusing it on solutions which provide greater pathways into the media.”

10

Network 10’s director of news, Ross Dagan, told Media Watch, “We are committed to diversity on and off-screen and have a number of initiatives in place to continue and grow diversity representation across our business. We also believe that diversity goes beyond just ethnicity but also includes a balance of gender, age, geography, economic factors and physical ability. While we acknowledge that more needs to be done when it comes to diversity, we are working to ensure better representation on and off-screen across these categories. In the last year alone, we’ve launched three distinct university scholarships that better enable students from diverse or disadvantaged backgrounds to embark on a pathway into our newsrooms. We will continue to look for ways to ensure diverse representation across all our platforms.”

All networks are signatories to The Screen Diversity & Inclusion Network:

As members of The Screen Diversity Network (SDIN) we commit to a Charter of Inclusion. This commitment is made and delivered at board level by the CEO or equivalent in our respective enterprises. It is transparent, visible and known to all who come in to contact with each of our companies, be they employees, production companies, content creators or partners. We commit to providing equal opportunities for all people at all levels, irrespective of their gender, age, race, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, disability or geographic location.