tag:theconversation.com,2011:/nz/topics/logies-16711/articlesLogies – The Conversation2022-06-22T23:28:23Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1855852022-06-22T23:28:23Z2022-06-22T23:28:23ZWhy was the Brittany Higgins trial delayed, and what is ‘contempt of court’? A legal expert’s view on the Lisa Wilkinson saga<p>The judge in the trial of Bruce Lehrmann, the staffer alleged to have raped Brittany Higgins, ruled on Tuesday, “regrettably and with gritted teeth”, that his trial will need to be delayed.</p>
<p>This was because of the media coverage and social media attention that followed Logie Award-winning journalist Lisa Wilkinson’s acceptance speech (she won a Logie for her coverage on The Project of the Brittany Higgins allegations).</p>
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<p>In <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvMkzu4xe8I">the speech</a>, Wilkinson thanked Higgins for trusting her and The Project team with the story, and for changing the national conversation around allegations of sexual abuse. </p>
<p>Lehrmann’s lawyers successfully argued the speech was a potential “contempt of court”.</p>
<p>Chief Justice Lucy McCallum said:</p>
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<p>“What concerns me most about this recent round is that the distinction between an allegation and a finding of guilt has been completely obliterated… The implicit premise of [the speech] is to celebrate the truthfulness of the story she exposed.”</p>
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<p>One might have thought the exceptional umbrage taken by the courts against the media’s reporting of <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-have-media-outlets-been-fined-more-than-1-million-for-their-pell-reporting-162173">the George Pell case</a> might have made the veteran journalist a little more cautious about referring to matters that are either currently or imminently before the courts.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/the-projects-lisa-wilkinson-warned-by-prosecutor-her-logies-speech-could-delay-brittany-higgins-court-trial/news-story/53e77bd436ae844343563a9bed0933fc">news reports</a>, Wilkinson had been warned by ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold that her speech could delay the trial if it made reference to the case, but he reportedly didn’t want to listen when Wilkinson started to read it to him beforehand, offering that prosecutors “are not speech editors”.</p>
<p>Wilkinson reportedly <a href="https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/awards/logies/lisa-wilkinsons-logies-speech-lashed-in-court-as-brittany-higgins-trial-faces-potential-delay/news-story/d84b3775842395cf7c9a9a09c628f45e">told</a> him she was not expecting to win, so the speech would not likely be made.</p>
<p>There’s also the complication that the prosecution reportedly plans to call Wilkinson as a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/21/lawyers-for-brittany-higgins-accused-ask-to-delay-trial-after-lisa-wilkinsons-comments">witness</a> in the trial.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cleo-smith-interview-does-channel-nine-run-the-risk-of-being-in-contempt-of-court-176459">Cleo Smith interview: does Channel Nine run the risk of being in contempt of court?</a>
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<h2>What is ‘contempt of court’?</h2>
<p>So, what caused the judge to make her ruling to stop the case in its tracks, and list it for trial at a date yet to be determined? </p>
<p>It’s the law designed to ensure all criminal trials are fair and it’s guided by the principles of “contempt of court”.</p>
<p>Contempt of court can arise if any words or actions by the media (or indeed anyone who makes a public statement) are deemed to interfere with the administration of justice, or constitute a disregard for the authority of the court.</p>
<p>The principle of contempt law that pertains to this case is that a jury must decide the guilt or innocence of an accused on the basis of the evidence before them, and not to allow other considerations to taint their deliberations.</p>
<p>This could include commenting publicly on the credibility of a victim’s story, stoking the public’s disdain of an accused by a storm of social media, or calling for a social evil to be tackled. This is referred to as <em>sub judice</em> (“under a judge”) contempt.</p>
<p>Back in February this year, Channel 9 came <a href="https://theconversation.com/cleo-smith-interview-does-channel-nine-run-the-risk-of-being-in-contempt-of-court-176459">perilously close</a> to being in contempt of court after airing material that could have been deemed to have a tendency to prejudice the judge’s consideration of a sentence for the man convicted of kidnapping Western Australian four-year-old Cleo Smith.</p>
<p>There need only be evidence the content – whether it be a media article reporting a speech, a social media post, or some other public discussion – could have a tendency to affect the thinking of the jurors in their deliberations. Actual proof that it did, in fact, influence jurors isn’t required. If successfully argued, a trial can be shifted to another jurisdiction, or delayed, or, potentially, aborted permanently.</p>
<p>That’s what Lehrmann’s lawyers asked the court to consider. “This speech did not need to be made,” his barrister Steve Whybrow said. He added that his client had no interest in delaying the trial, but he wanted it to be a fair trial.</p>
<p>What’s clear is the speech had the potential to prejudice the imminent trial. Justice McCallum ruled the matter would be better dealt with when the dust has settled on Wilkinson’s acceptance speech, and the social media storm has died down. There would not have been a media lawyer in Australia who would have been surprised by the ruling. </p>
<p>The timing of the Logies was unfortunate. Wilkinson should have been counselled more wisely to generalise her remarks.</p>
<h2>Warnings should have been heeded</h2>
<p>Parliaments around Australia are facing growing calls to overhaul their contempt of court laws, with many advocates arguing the status quo does not meet public expectations.</p>
<p>But that’s a broader question about freedom of speech. In this instance, freedom of speech was not an issue. It was clear the case could be prejudiced, and the warnings should have been heeded.</p>
<p>No-one has made the allegation in Australia yet that Wilkinson’s remarks are in contempt of court, and only the judge can rule on that if she be so minded.</p>
<p>Whether there are legal ramifications for Wilkinson remains to be seen, but one could have some sympathy for her. Wilkinson had spoken with Drumgold on June 15 to discuss the evidence that she would give at the trial. Drumgold warned her against commenting publicly on Higgins’ case, but clearly not strongly enough. </p>
<p>Given the costly and annoying rescheduling that is now needed, Drumgold is probably regretting he didn’t simply give Wilkinson a firm “no”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185585/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rick Sarre is a member of the SA Council for Civil Liberties and the Australian Labor Party.</span></em></p>Complicating things is the fact the prosecution plans to call Wilkinson as a witness in the trial.Rick Sarre, Emeritus Professor of Law and Criminal Justice, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/765782017-04-24T02:24:21Z2017-04-24T02:24:21ZLogies 2017 – Samuel Johnson wins gold for Molly at a wonderfully daggy ceremony<p>The <a href="http://www.nowtolove.com.au/celebrity/tv/59th-tv-week-logie-awards-winners-36755">59th Annual Logie Awards</a> came with the usual ceremony and criticism. Is this really the best that the Australian television industry can offer? And if it is, why is it, at times, so daggy? Those criticisms forget that all awards ceremonies are (ironically) quite undignified – groups of people who are being celebrated for their day jobs are squeezed into uncomfortable clothes and pitted against each other for a little statue.</p>
<p>Last night’s ceremony showed an industry and public who are coming a little closer together in terms of values, however some gaps clearly remained. When Kerri-Anne Kennerley took the stage to receive her Logies Hall of Fame award (the third woman to do so in nearly 60 years), she also confessed to having been on Australian television, in some way, continuously for the last 50 years despite having never won an award.</p>
<p>“I am very excited to get this, and even more excited not to get it posthumously. Not that there haven’t been a few people who have tried to bury me,” she said with a smile that only a survivor with too much class to name names could muster. </p>
<p>“Working in television has given me so much joy. It’s a privilege, and an education in humanity, compassion … cruelty, and so much more.” </p>
<p>She ultimately thanked her audience, looking right down the barrel of the camera into our lounge rooms like a true professional, thanking the ordinary people she had spoken to as part of her work, “people who came on [television] to get a message out” to the rest of Australia. While network television may no longer have that scope (or at least, it now has social media to give it a run for its money), hers was an important acknowledgement of television’s role in letting ordinary Australia see itself.</p>
<p>The talk of the night was the triumph of the mini-series <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4158318/">Molly</a>, the biopic focused on Molly Meldrum’s life. The series created something of an upset given it took up relatively little airtime compared to other series it ran against – a mere couple of hours and two episodes instead of those that go for many weeks and series. The series received Best Drama, and its star Samuel Johnson won the Silver Logie for Best Actor as well as the Gold Logie itself. </p>
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<p>While Meldrum was acknowledged by the cameras each time the series won, his place in the pageant was distinctly different each time. When Johnson won Best Actor quite early in the night he didn’t mention Meldrum at all, or himself, but instead talked of his sister Connie’s continued battle with cancer and the “Love Your Sister” campaign to raise money for research. While there were some “tut tuts” on Twitter about the focus, from where I was sitting it was perfectly lovely and showed the sincerity that makes Sam such a compelling person to watch, in any capacity.</p>
<p>When the award for Best Drama was revealed producer and music industry icon Michael Gudinski did the talking. He did mention Meldrum a little (although with a joking dismissal), instead focusing on the “broader team” that worked on the project, including his own Liberation label and their role in the show’s soundtrack. He concluded with another appeal, “let’s celebrate Australian music, television and film – is our government listening?”</p>
<p>As Johnson took the stage to receive the Gold Logie for his portrayal of Meldrum, the cameras deliberately focused away from the real Meldrum as he was assisted up onto the stage. Now in his seventies and still a little worse for wear following his accident in 2011, he interrupted Johnson early on with some mock advice about not mumbling when presenting on television. He also told him never to tell anyone to “Do themselves a fucking favour” – dropping the expletive with the charm that only a drunk national treasure at the end of the Logies can muster.</p>
<p>Finally Johnson spoke a little of himself in a deliciously self-deprecating speech. “I have been insisting that my family address me as your royal Logie-ness”, he said of the leadup to the award. “I found my home here in the arts – a place that encouraged me to be truthful, to work harder, to peruse excellence; I did none of that,” he smiled to great applause. The camera flashed to Meldrum who laughed heartily here too. Clearly embarrassed by the attention, Meldrum took the microphone next to praise Johnson – a speech that wandered as the real Molly, overcome by the occasion, the hour, and perhaps the liquid accolades, swore more and made less and less sense. </p>
<p>He talked about his hesitation that Johnson may have wanted to learn “how to be gay” by observing him – something that made the room uncomfortable, but even through the slurring, was an important point to make. Meldrum, and all people, should be allowed to be seen as multidimensional. Just when it seemed presenter Dave Hughes was about to step in and gently remove him, Meldrum snapped back to present Johnson with a gold “Molly hat”, saying “on behalf of the drama queen of Australia, I would like to crown you with this golden hat”.</p>
<p>The conclusion showed the public’s love of two underdogs. Johnson’s win was not only the result of those couple of hours on the miniseries, but a swell of support for the <a href="http://www.loveyoursister.org/">Love Your Sister campaign</a> which he has tirelessly dedicated himself to. But it was also a win for Meldrum – and not just the Meldrum superglued into 1970s Countdown couch, but the Meldrum who has endured to be himself, in public, but on his own terms. It was all very daggy, yes. But it was wonderfully so.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76578/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Sam Johnson took home the Gold Logie for his portrayal as Molly Meldrum, in a ceremony that came with all the usual criticism.Liz Giuffre, Lecturer in Communication, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/697872016-12-11T23:36:53Z2016-12-11T23:36:53ZWhy we should care more about the Logies<p>This is the time of year when many of the nation’s good little boys and girls start making wish lists. It’s also when many of the good boys and girls of Australian television start asking their audiences to vote for them at the Logies.</p>
<p>You could, perhaps, dismiss each as an overly and unnecessarily commercial ritual – or you could look at the latter, at least, as a rare occasion where the audience gets to have a say about who represents them on television. No channel or potential nominee is immune at the moment; even SBS and Aunty are shamelessly plugging voting outlets and partitioning for support.</p>
<p>There is one notable exception – Lee Lin Chin. But she’s so wonderful the award is barely worthy of being bestowed on her, anyway.</p>
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<p>The Logies is a fantastically daggy institution. For nearly 60 years the awards have been typically held in a ballroom/hotel/casino space, punctuated by a shipped-in international (read: American) celebrity, where Australian television is celebrated in all its often low-budget glory. </p>
<p>At its best, the tension between these elements has simply been stared down and sent up. Take Shaun Micallef’s 2010 acceptance speech. Not wanting to appear “cocky” by writing a speech, nor wanting to waste time writing notes in case he didn’t win, he just downloaded a speech from the internet. Upon winning, he followed through with his plan, reading out Sir Laurence Olivier’s 1977 Academy Award winner’s speech, which – as he put it – “seems only appropriate” for the occasion.</p>
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<p>Importantly, the Logies provide space to compare public and industry definitions of achievement. And often the public and the industry make very different choices about what they want to celebrate in the Australian television industry. </p>
<p>As TV Week explains <a href="http://www.tvweeklogieawards.com.au/logies-faq">on its website</a>, “popular” (labelled as “best”) awards are voted by the public, while “outstanding” awards are voted by the TV industry. These categories and their descriptions are curious – implying that the public can assess what might be worthy of surface attention (“best”); while the industry determines what is lasting and of broader significance (“outstanding”). </p>
<p>You could assume, then, that different types of shows and artists win the audience and industry nominated categories. You might also even assume, particularly given recent political trends towards conservatism, that the audience awards would tend to favour traditional stereotypes of Australianness: male performers of a certain age and type with the right mix of camera-loving Crocodile enthusiasm and loveable roguishness. </p>
<p>It follows then, to assume that the industry awards might reflect artists that are a bit more diverse than this – perhaps more women, perhaps artists who are culturally and ethnically diverse, perhaps people of different ages and with a traditionally less prominent place in dominant Australian media culture.</p>
<p>However, if we compare the two big ticket industry and audience awards – the Hall of Fame (industry) and the Gold Logie (audience) – some interesting patterns emerge, breaking these assumption models. The Hall of Fame has only existed since 1984 so I compared both from there, drawing data from the <a href="http://www.tvweeklogieawards.com.au/logie-history/">Logies website</a>.</p>
<p>A quick comparison of these award winners shows the remarkably different way the audience and the industry recognises Australian television achievement. The Hall of Fame shows a place where the “old boys club” dominates, as does a very strong representation of Channel 9 and 7 alumni. It also shows a relatively mono-cultural view of Australian television. </p>
<p>In 2016, Noni Hazelhurst was added as the second woman in The Hall of Fame. In her acceptance speech she called the establishment’s slow acknowledgement of diversity as “glacial”, but also dug back, saying “the thing about glaciers though, is that if you’re not on them, you go under.”</p>
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<p>The Gold Logie results tell us that the audience has been comparatively much more appreciative of Australian television’s diversity than the industry. This includes almost an equal gender split (14 Gold Logie wins for women; 19 for men – including multiple award winners of both genders), but also performers representing different types of television programming and cultural identities. </p>
<p>Soap operas were acknowledged much earlier and more regularly in the audience rather than in the industry category, as has been young performers during their early careers. The Gold Logie voters seemed to know, much earlier than the industry did, that Kylie Minogue would go on to have a great and varied career: the sparks that Charlene the Ramsay Street mechanic set off were to be lasting. </p>
<p>The audience also seemed to value a different type of male presence on television – with the early 1990s domination of Ray Martin showing the importance of the broadcaster’s careful, considered approach – a quality that had previously gone underappreciated when compared to the flashiness of the Hogans and Newtons and Kennedys. The industry did eventually catch up and on to this, and of course, they kept on employing him, but why has it taken a while to celebrate these alternatives?</p>
<p>To me the most telling, and perhaps most inspiring, was the Gold Logie win of Waleed Aly last year. An academic, a proud Muslim man, a commentator with a “funny approach” who isn’t necessarily a comedian, he is also someone who sits right there in the commercial mainstream talking to a prime time, general audience. Notably, too, he’s not part of the commercial powerhouses of the Channel 9/Channel 7 boardrooms, or the (hopefully still) protected territories of diversity with the public service broadcasters ABC and SBS. </p>
<p>If you compare Aly’s profile to the rest of what the industry has seemed to value, it would have been easy to assume he didn’t have a chance. (Indeed, the industry <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/rendezview/six-reasons-why-waleed-aly-should-not-win-gold/news-story/b2ea6713f4f78a20878930c40f7c41aa">reasserted</a> those values when he was first nominated.) But there he was. The golden boy, as voted by ordinary, commercial TV watching, Australia. Their “best” and most “popular”.</p>
<p>The difference between the industry and audience awards at the Logies shows us why we should care about the event. The audience vote for variety, while the industry lags, shows where the real Australian “fair go” attitude actually lies. The difference in value systems between the audience and industry also serves as a stark warning. </p>
<p>If the industry is meant to be representing the audience, presenting their stories, entertainment and news, then they need to take seriously what the audience says they value. And what’s great about the audience is that their values clearly change over time. Just look at the journey from Bert to Jana, from Ray to Rove, and on to Asher and Waleed – I can’t wait to see who emerges in this round of nominations. </p>
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<p><em>The Logies are awarded in April 2017, and voting closes December 18.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69787/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The Logies are fantastically daggy, but they let us compare audience and industry definitions of achievement. Looking back, it’s clear the public celebrates new, diverse and varied television.Liz Giuffre, Lecturer in Communication, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/590602016-05-09T04:20:27Z2016-05-09T04:20:27ZThe Logies: a yearly advertisement for Australian TV<p>In the age of boutique TV, binge watching, and data drops of entire series, it is easy to forget the dominant function of television: the broadcasting of a stream of advertisements directly into the living room of the consumer. This stream is, of course, intermittently interrupted by content, otherwise known as “shows.”</p>
<p>Thankfully, we still have Channel Nine to remind us. Programs like The Voice have developed commercial integration so effectively that the distinction between content (ie, advertisements) and filler (ie, singing people) becomes at times almost unrecognisable.</p>
<p>Television has always been fuelled by advertising, and the Logies are the yearly advertisement for Australian TV – they are called, after all, the “TV Week Logies”. The writers of “Sydney Confidential” aside, it is difficult to imagine anyone getting too excited about this event, even if it has in the past offered up ample material for Australian comedians. </p>
<p>So how did this year’s broadcast fare? </p>
<p>Richard Wilkins, as usual, featured prominently. This is a good thing – it’s important to remember that people like Wilkins actually exist. Dave Hughes made some comical digs at media celebrities like Shane Warne and Kyle Sandilands and Kitty Flanagan appropriately ripped into cooking shows. Tim Minchin offered a heartfelt speech about Australia’s genocidal past, accepting his award of Most Outstanding Supporting Actor (The Secret River). </p>
<p>At the end of the night Waleed Aly won the Gold Logie. His acceptance speech began by drawing attention to the dominance of white faces on Australian TV. “Do not adjust your set … This is happening! It’s true – finally a male presenter on commercial TV has won the Gold Logie.” He celebrated Australian multiculturalism drawing attention to the award as proof of his acceptance by the Australian public. He also focused on the significance of the award for minority voices in Australia, alluding to the Islamaphobia at the core of the Australian television industry.</p>
<p>It was a simple speech in which Aly appeared to demonstrate significant humility. At the same time, it was lightly humorous and non-confrontational and, essentially, apolitical – grist to the mill for the televisual medium. </p>
<p>This contrasted starkly with the highlight of the night, Noni Hazelhurst’s earlier, explicitly political acceptance speech following her induction into the Logies Hall of Fame (surely a dubious honour?). Hazelhurst reflected on changes in the media-technological landscape over the past 40 years, and the necessity for empathy and love in the face of the current trend towards brutality in broadcasting practices. It was a speech full of warmth and intelligence, buoyed by a genuinely egalitarian spirit – bravo! </p>
<p>Some criticisms were raised by Rachael Jacobs in <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-as-an-indian-australian-ill-be-watching-sundays-logies-for-the-first-time-in-years-58930">The Conversation last week</a> regarding the lack of diversity on Australian television. The points Jacobs raises are valid and true, within a limited scope.</p>
<p>All advertising holds up a broad mirror reflecting the ugliness of its culture, whether that be through gender, sexuality, race, ability, body or age profiling. The experiences Jacobs describes simply demonstrate the racism that undergirds Australian culture. With an eye to Australian history, one might think this is to be expected. </p>
<p>“Diversity” on Australian TV, given the limited scope of the nature of commercial “broadcasting,” seems like something of an oxymoronic subject. </p>
<p>This kind of identity politics, furthermore, often assuages the need for genuine political engagement on a universal level.</p>
<p>To worry about “diversity” on TV rather than to worry about the actual power structures and media corporations that control and frame our tele/vision, is a bit like a passenger on the Titanic worrying about a bruised elbow from the ship’s collision with the iceberg. </p>
<p>What is in fact a far more interesting area for thought is the nature of television itself, and how the medium is radically changing with the proliferation of narrowcasting. </p>
<p>Will the transformation from “entertaining” programming like Magnum P.I. into the production of more cinematic works like Breaking Bad murder commercial broadcasting? </p>
<p>If you’re interested in the subject, some of the best works on Old Television include <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/734879.Television?from_search=true&search_version=service">Television</a>, by Raymond Williams, and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/761142.Echographies_of_Television?ac=1&from_search=true">Echographies of Television</a>, adapted from the transcript of a televised discussion between Jacques Derrida and Bernard Stiegler. Marshall McLuhan’s chapter in <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/126274.Understanding_Media?from_search=true&search_version=service">Understanding Media</a> is indispensable, and Niklas Luhmann offers a piercing analysis of the industrialisation of media in <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/992346.The_Reality_of_the_Mass_Media?from_search=true&search_version=service">The Reality of the Mass Media</a>. </p>
<p>The canon on New Television is yet to materialise. But can one really be bothered writing books anymore? The pharmacological effects of The Voice and its ilk are, after all, remarkably potent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59060/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
In the age of boutique TV, binge watching, and data drops of entire series, it is easy to forget the dominant function of television: the broadcasting of a stream of advertisements directly into the living…Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Media Studies, University of Notre Dame AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/589302016-05-05T04:12:35Z2016-05-05T04:12:35ZWhy as an Indian-Australian, I’ll be watching Sunday’s Logies for the first time in years<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121321/original/image-20160505-17469-1ndf4a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As someone who hasn’t watched the Logies in years, I’ll tune in this Sunday to cheer on <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/lee-lin-chin-waleed-aly-among-gold-logie-nominees-20160403-gnx9vu.html">Waleed Aly and Lee Lin Chin</a>. First and foremost, because they are outstanding examples of media excellence. But also because they give me hope that our accolades are open to all, and that Australians can learn to embrace diversity in their media a little bit more.</p>
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<span class="caption">Lee Lin Chine at last year’s Logie awards.</span>
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<p>Race in the media is a sensitive issue and we urgently need more diverse faces on our screens, more accents on our airwaves and a more accurate representation of the Australian population.</p>
<p>When Karl Stefanovic quipped that Lisa Wilkinson was <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/apr/05/today-presenter-jokes-lisa-wilkinson-too-white-logies">“too white"’ to be nominated for a Logie</a>, it became clear that our bias isn’t even subconscious. His comment was particularly disappointing, given that Stefanovic once sounded off about whitewashing on television, declaring that ”<a href="http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/karl-stefanovic-sounds-off-on-aussie-tv-whitewashing-white-people-are-pretty-bland/news-story/123935300b18c5a1fd8f6cad6b6dd871">white people are pretty bland</a>“. </p>
<p>As an Indian-Australian, I once pursued a career in drama and media, and found the bias to be all too evident. Casting calls for extras and auditions for television commercials constantly ended with me heading home early, being told I’d draw too much attention because of my ethic looks. At one audition I was told: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’ll be hard to fit you into the story, as there’s no reason for an Indian to be there.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>When I tried my hand at television presenting, the trainers at a commercial channel told me I "screamed SBS”, and encouraged me to pursue roles over there. Of course, I found instant success for roles that required my cultural stereotype, such as any ad for an Indian cooking product or Subway’s Chicken Tikka Sub.</p>
<p>Theatre was no different. Outside of community theatre, when the stakes got higher, directors would question their need for racially diverse actors. One explained to me that casting a “black Ophelia” would be making a political statement he didn’t wish to make.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121320/original/image-20160505-17469-1by35vd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121320/original/image-20160505-17469-1by35vd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121320/original/image-20160505-17469-1by35vd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121320/original/image-20160505-17469-1by35vd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121320/original/image-20160505-17469-1by35vd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121320/original/image-20160505-17469-1by35vd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121320/original/image-20160505-17469-1by35vd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121320/original/image-20160505-17469-1by35vd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Faustina Agolley.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">via IMDB</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I’m not going to blame my lack of media success on race. I had other interests and made an early decision to pursue a different career path. Frankly, I lacked the tenacity and the talent to make a go of it. I also know it’s not impossible for ethnically diverse Australians to make it on air. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3376906/">Yumi Stynes</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1884762/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1">Faustina “Fuzzy” Agolley</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0481092/">Jay Laga’aia</a> were all fantastic role models, particularly in the youth media sector.</p>
<p>But the fact remains that you can still watch an evening of television and be confronted by wall to wall whiteness that doesn’t represent the Australia of today. This is a stark contrast to British, American or Canadian television, where people from a wide range of racial backgrounds are regularly featured on air, with no justification needed for their inclusion. The viewing audience doesn’t bat an eyelid because the casting is so regularly inclusive.</p>
<p>The media agenda filters down. Despite having lived in Australia my entire life, I’m regularly asked where I’m “really from”, more so here than in the countries previously mentioned. </p>
<p>Our concept of Australian-ness is a very white one, in part because different skin tones, accents and dress codes aren’t presented as being the norm. Casting agents continually seek an “Australian look”, which is inherently Anglo-Saxon. Therefore anyone outside of that frame must be from somewhere else, and is unconsciously othered.</p>
<p>The media has a greater reach that we can imagine. As much as we consider ourselves a multicultural society, dominant ethic groups often have limited direct contact with people from <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/NIRV.pdf">marginalised racial groups</a> As a result, much of the information that Australians hold about marginalised groups comes from the mainstream media.</p>
<p>What television producers might term “good casting” can be downright dangerous. If <a href="http://www.damienriggs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/The-terms-on-which.pdf">Indigenous Australians</a> and refugees are presented as violent, threatening or unruly (as was found in numerous studies), next to white people cast as intelligible newsreaders, contented families or orderly citizens, it sends a disturbing message that some groups should be feared or avoided. </p>
<p>If the media avoids diverse accents, it contributes to the stereotype that people from diverse language groups are uneducated or can’t speak English.</p>
<p>This week, the new ABC boss, Michelle Guthrie used her first official day in the job to announce that she’d push for <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/abc-radio-staff-told-to-put-people-with-difficult-accents-on-air-20160502-gokjsh.html">more diversity on the public broadcaster</a>.</p>
<p>Reading over my shoulder, a colleague said to me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“How ridiculous. Why would I want to hear more accents on air?”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is precisely the reason why.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58930/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachael Jacobs is a member of The Greens</span></em></p>Doing ads for Chicken Tikka subs. Being told you ‘scream SBS’. When you’ve experienced the white bias of our cultural industries, watching Waleed Aly and Lee Lin Chin vie for the Gold Logie is a delicious prospect.Rachael Jacobs, Senior Lecturer in Arts Education , Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/412312015-05-07T19:54:20Z2015-05-07T19:54:20ZLet’s see all the faces of Team Australia on our TV screens<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80587/original/image-20150505-931-q1rx0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Miranda Tapsell used her speech at the Logies to issue a challenge to producers to reflect the diversity of Australia on our TV screens.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australian soapies are among our most successful media exports. Shows such as Home and Away and Neighbours earn “<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-more-soft-power-than-ever-but-can-we-keep-it-20698">soft power</a>” points and showcase our culture to more than 50 countries worldwide.</p>
<p>And last weekend, one of those soapies, <a href="https://au.tv.yahoo.com/home-and-away/">Home and Away</a>, was inducted into the Logie Awards Hall of Fame. </p>
<p>But what sort of Australia is it promoting?</p>
<p>I asked one of my international students, Nigerian-born Catherine Bassey, who just graduated with a Masters In Journalism.</p>
<p>“The first Australian drama I ever watched overseas a long time ago was Home and Away,” she told me.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Before I came to Australia I was already of the view that Australia is mostly a “white dominated” country. I was surprised when right at the airport, from the taxi man who picked me up, to the people I went on to encounter everyday – unless you are here, you may not get the picture of how diverse Australia really is.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I supervised Bassey’s final documentary project – a topic she was passionate about since arriving in Sydney. It was titled, “Why is Australia’s media so white?”. She felt that the screen did not match reality. And she is not alone.</p>
<p>Only minutes after Home and Away won its award, both industry and the viewing public recognised Miranda Tapsell, a young Larrakia woman, with the award for most outstanding newcomer.</p>
<p>Tapsell <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-04/put-more-people-of-colour-on-tv-miranda-tapsell-says/6443798">used her speech</a> to address the reality of Australian television: it’s too white.</p>
<p>Appropriating Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s controversial <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/tony-abbott-says-new-migrants-must-be-on-team-australia-as-he-steps-up-war-on-homegrown-jihadists/story-fncynjr2-1227027870342">term</a>, Team Australia, this is what she told the audience:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Put more beautiful people of colour on TV, and connect viewers in ways that transcend race and unite us. That is the real Team Australia.</p>
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<p>In the Nine network’s <a href="http://www.9jumpin.com.au/show/lovechild/">Love Child</a>, Tapsell plays Martha, a young woman from the Stolen Generation who works at a Kings Cross hospital. Her character has clearly resonated with mainstream viewers but, as she reminded the audience, such stories validate the experiences of those who have suffered.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Many ladies can relate to Martha but there’s something really special about reaching the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who had experiences like the girls in Love Child. </p>
<p>These women can look at Martha and think “that was me”, so if viewers clearly love seeing this, why deprive them of that?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It was a clear challenge to mainstream television executives to make their programs more diverse.</p>
<p>In its 27-year history, Home and Away has only ever featured one Aboriginal character and then only for three months. </p>
<p>The other big soap cultural export, 30-year-old Neighbours, only employed its first Indigenous actor last year.</p>
<p>Casting agent <a href="http://zarkesh.com.au/">Anousha Zarkesh</a> has placed Indigenous actors in productions such as Redfern Now, Mabo, and The Gods of Wheat Street. She has also worked with Home and Away. She told me in an interview for this article that she was able to cast 200 Indigenous actors in the Redfern Now series.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Networks are run by white middle class men in suits – they don’t see the culture we live in because they live in a small pocket. They don’t go to Cabramatta and Western Sydney in their daily life so they need to think outside their small world.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Miranda Tapsell’s first major role was in the award-winning 2012 musical hit,<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1673697/">The Sapphires</a>, based on the true story of four Aboriginal women from a mission who win an opportunity to sing for troops during the Vietnam war.</p>
<p>Rosemary Blight, a producer on The Sapphires and partner with <a href="http://goalpostpictures.com/">Goalpost Pictures</a>, the company that produced the film, told me that there was “resistance” to getting it made, “an unknown factor, a fear”.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think in terms of financing it’s still an uphill battle with an Aboriginal cast – it’s not something that is easy to do. To actually say that is depressing. Certainly, when The Sapphires came out, it was a battle to convince the world that this story had value.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Ironically, one person she easily convinced was the powerful Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein – who eventually distributed the film in America.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>He had a private screening and he came in with his arms open and said “I love this movie” and he wanted to understand Aboriginal Australia. He got it and the distinction of what was offered by Aboriginal culture, and wanted to talk about the original Sapphires.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Both Blight and Zarkesh say Miranda Tapsell’s win should give Australian executives a wake-up call. </p>
<p>“They will see it as being brave. They will be mindful that those characters rate well and are popular and [it should] give them confidence to continue outside the whitebread culture,” says Zarkesh.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In the last couple of years it’s been changing. People are sick of just watching white, white, white. They are now wanting more.“ </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Zarkesh says there is a new generation of Indigenous actors emerging from places such as the <a href="http://acpa.net.au">Aboriginal Centre for Performing Arts</a> in Brisbane and the <a href="http://www.waapa.ecu.edu.au">Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts</a> that has just opened a new Indigenous Unit.</p>
<p>Australia has moved a long way from the 70s series <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159157/">Boney</a>, for which New Zealand-born actor James Laurenson was hired to play a half-Aboriginal detective – but we’re still a very long way from achieving colour-blind casting across the board in our productions.</p>
<h2>What is colour-blind casting?</h2>
<p>Colour-blind casting is casting without bias – there is no restriction or tokenism. The leading actor could be of any ethnic background. Such is the case with the casting of Deborah Mailman as a nurse in Offspring – in which there is no mention of her Aboriginality. </p>
<p>Zarkesh says colour-blind casting is always requested by the ABC and SBS in their productions, but commercial networks are less forthcoming. </p>
<p>Last year, leading Australian screen writer Andrew Bovell made an important <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMIhu7WiVNs">keynote speech</a> at the National Play Festival in which he asked:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Why does our theatre look so white and Anglo? We need to brace ourselves otherwise we lose a generation of great writers for lack of opportunity or support.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A similar warning was <a href="http://www.alliance.org.au/documents/equity_conference_program.pdf">delivered</a> at the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance’s Summit of Creativity and Diversity in October 2014. </p>
<p>Adam Moore, the EEO of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, said at the same summit that producers had no excuses for not making content diverse:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Reality television is pushing them, user generated content is pushing them, and independent new media content is pushing them in the direction to actually reflect the world we live in.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As far as Zarkesh and Blight are concerned – their latest venture is doing just that .</p>
<p><a href="http://if.com.au/2015/04/29/article/Cleverman-breaks-new-ground-for-original-drama/VBORCGWQKL.html">Cleverman</a> is an Australia-New Zealand co-production that has been described as our answer to Game of Thrones.</p>
<p>It’s a six-part futuristic series to be aired on the ABC. Speaking to me from the set of Cleverman, Blight said the show was the idea of a young Aboriginal man, Ryan Griffin, who went back to his elders and got permission to tell their ”<a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/the-dreamtime-series">Dreamtime</a>“ stories.</p>
<p>"It’s the creatures from the Dreamtime meet District 9 – a high-concept genre series,” she says. A moment later, Zarkesh adds that 90% of the cast is non-white. </p>
<p>And that to me sounds like the work of a colour-blind Team Australia. </p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Correction:</strong> This article previously stated that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>in its 27-year history, Home and Away has never featured an Aboriginal character. The other big soap cultural export, 30-year-old Neighbours, only employed its first Indigenous actor last year.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This information was incorrect and has now been updated.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41231/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Vatsikopoulos does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When Miranda Tapsell called for more diversity in Australian television in her Logies speech, she hit the nail on the head. It’s time for Australian producers to take colour-blind casting seriously.Helen Vatsikopoulos, Lecturer in Journalism, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.