tag:theconversation.com,2011:/nz/topics/media-diversity-4066/articlesMedia diversity – The Conversation2023-05-24T09:23:51Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1990612023-05-24T09:23:51Z2023-05-24T09:23:51ZMale video game characters speak twice as much as females, largest study of its kind reveals<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527727/original/file-20230523-27-ygtyeh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">lightningreturns</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Video games are played by nearly <a href="https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-games-market-report-2021-free-version">three billion people worldwide</a> and make <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-46746593">more money annually than the film industry</a>. Around <a href="https://www.isfe.eu/data-key-facts/key-facts-from-2021-europe-video-games-sector/">50% of gamers are female</a> but gaming has <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-online-gaming-ditch-its-sexist-ways-74493">chronic problems with gender bias</a>. </p>
<p>Female players have recounted <a href="https://www.eurogamer.net/this-is-how-women-are-really-treated-in-competitive-multiplayer-games">receiving sexist abuse online</a> and there have been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/games/2021/dec/28/riot-games-to-pay-100m-to-settle-gender-discrimination-lawsuit">claims of gender discrimination in video-game development</a>. Let’s not forget <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/1/20/20808875/gamergate-lessons-cultural-impact-changes-harassment-laws">“Gamergate”</a>, the year-long campaign of harassment between 2014 and 2015 of prominent female gamers and developers.</p>
<p>The results of the biggest-ever study of video game dialogue, reveal another stark gender imbalance in the industry. Our analysis, <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.221095">published in the Royal Society Open Science today</a> studied over 13,000 video game characters and found that twice as much dialogue is given to male characters than to female characters.</p>
<p>At least some of the burden for change rests on the content of video games themselves. Games are <a href="https://www.spir.aoir.org/ojs/index.php/spir/article/view/11229">more likely to have male protagonists</a> than female and many games <a href="https://kotaku.com/how-princess-peachs-story-draws-on-2000-years-of-women-1830342699">constrain women to stereotypical roles</a> – Princess Peach, for instance, is often the damsel in distress. </p>
<p>Studying dialogue is one way of gaining insight into patterns of gender bias. <a href="https://pudding.cool/2017/03/film-dialogue/">Previous studies have shown</a> that most films and TV shows give more dialogue to male characters. Creating the largest-ever open-source database of video-game dialogue, we found video games are no different.</p>
<p>Our study of 13,000 characters from 50 video games found that video games include twice as much male as female dialogue on average. Secondly, 94% of games we analysed had more male dialogue than female dialogue, including games with multiple female protagonists (e.g. Final Fantasy X-2, King’s Quest VII). The exceptions were King’s Quest games from the 1980s and Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns, which has a female protagonist but still manages only 55% female dialogue.</p>
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<p>However, the bias wasn’t just with protagonists – we found the same imbalances in minor characters. The pattern persisted even when taking into account player choices about a protagonist’s gender and optional dialogue.</p>
<p>The proportion of female dialogue is slowly increasing. Even so, we also found that female characters are more likely to apologise, hesitate or be polite, perpetuating stereotypes about gendered behaviour. </p>
<p>Finally, while the results reported here concern male and female characters, we were interested in the dialogue distribution for all genders. Unfortunately, we couldn’t run reliable analyses on non-binary and other genders since there were so few characters in these categories, which is itself revealing.</p>
<h2>Quest for data</h2>
<p>We were inspired by <a href="https://pudding.cool/2017/03/film-dialogue/">a study of gender balance in Disney film dialogue</a>, showing that men had more dialogue than women in 88% of films. This simple statistic was a striking demonstration of a systematic imbalance. We wanted to measure this statistic for games but quickly discovered several challenges.</p>
<p>First, which games to include? We selected 50 role-playing games where dialogue is crucial. These were balanced across sub-genre, target audience age, and year of publication. They included games from major developers – Final Fantasy, Persona, Mass Effect, The Elder Scrolls – and games from smaller developers such as Monkey Island and Stardew Valley.</p>
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<p>Accessing the data was harder than anticipated. Some games have accessible scripts, others needed to be hunted down. For many, we relied on fan transcripts, though we needed to make over 20,000 manual corrections. Even when game code was available, converting it to a script could be an epic side-quest of its own. Games from the Elder Scrolls or Dragon Age series can contain 1,000 characters speaking half a million words. We wrote more than 10,000 lines of code to process the data.</p>
<p>Finally, identifying the gender of 13,000 characters was not always straightforward. How should we code characters in disguise? What gender is a talking book? What about a “guard” who appears for just one line of dialogue?</p>
<p>We coded for conferred gender: a character’s gender as likely to be experienced by a typical player. This took meticulous research, scouring “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkxctb0jr8vwa4Do6c6su0Q">lets-play</a>” videos (videos of people playing the games), fan wikis, and discussion boards for clues.</p>
<h2>How can game-makers address the imbalance?</h2>
<p>First, developers can monitor the distribution of dialogue, using our findings to determine how their games compare with others.</p>
<p>Secondly, we found that the average male character doesn’t say more than the average female character. The overall imbalance is driven by there being twice as many male characters as female characters. So a key strategy would be simply to increase the proportion of female characters, major and minor. </p>
<p>There’s an important caveat here: more dialogue doesn’t guarantee better gender representation. In the recent remake of Final Fantasy VII, the female character Jessie has ten times more dialogue than in the original. However, most of it is spent flirting with the main character.</p>
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<p>Another approach is “gender-flipping” – writing characters as one gender and then changing them during development, as with <a href="https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Oerba_Yun_Fang#Behind_the_scenes">Fang from Final Fantasy XIII</a> who started male and ended female.</p>
<p>There’s more work to do here, not least studying non-binary characters, and harmful male behaviour stereotypes (for example, dangerous work always being assigned to men). Our <a href="https://correlation-machine.com/VideoGameDialogueCorpus/">resources are open-source</a>, and we hope that gamers, programmers and other academics will contribute to the expansion of the database.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199061/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steph Rennick receives funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Seán Roberts 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>Even games with female protagonists had more dialogue from male characters.Seán Roberts, Lecturer in Linguistics, Cardiff UniversitySteph Rennick, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2003542023-02-24T01:23:27Z2023-02-24T01:23:27ZBillionaire stoush over alleged media bias highlights the need for greater media diversity<p>The <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-17/twiggy-forrest-kerry-stokes-michelle-rowland-spat-media/101990722">recent stoush</a> between mining magnate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest and media mogul Kerry Stokes is just the latest flashing neon sign above the parlous state of media diversity in Australia. </p>
<p>Laws protecting media diversity in Australia have been gradually dismantled in recent decades. Because of this, their objective of preventing a select few media owners or voices from having too much influence over public opinion and the political agenda has been placed at risk.</p>
<p>But traditional approaches to protecting media diversity may be less effective as the role of online news – now curated for us using algorithms – becomes ever more prominent in our news diets. This could require a new approach. </p>
<h2>Misuse of media power?</h2>
<p>Stokes’ Seven West Media owns the West Australian Newspaper, the only major daily paper in Perth. Stokes also has a controlling interest in the mining equipment company WesTrac, which supplies Caterpillar mining machinery. </p>
<p>Forrest’s Fortescue Metals previously had a supply arrangement with WesTrac. But he then placed on order to purchase 120 emission-free, hauling trucks from the German Liebherr company, putting him in direct competition with WesTrac. </p>
<p>Forrest claims this move was met with “<a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/forrest-stokes-in-battle-of-billionaires-over-media-coverage-20230215-p5cknp">biased, inflammatory and inaccurate</a>” coverage about his company in Seven West Media.</p>
<p>In a complaint to Communications Minister Michelle Rowland, Mark Hutchinson, the chief executive of Fortescue Future Industries, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-17/twiggy-forrest-kerry-stokes-michelle-rowland-spat-media/101990722?utm_medium=social&utm_content=sf264324662&utm_campaign=abc_news&utm_source=m.facebook.com&sf264324662=1&fbclid=IwAR0ykr77aP7SV6ewUk31BQiDupuYRZTMXMpV-hbcnf7bFhFLbbPdTf5JErA">described</a> what he calls “the misuse of the West Australian newspaper to pursue commercial interests”. He added, according to the ABC: </p>
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<p>The West’s coverage has gone far beyond fair scrutiny and is clearly driven by fossil fuel interests with the aim of damaging Fortescue’s green energy mission.</p>
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<h2>‘System not fit-for-purpose’</h2>
<p>Hutchinson says the issues points to a wider problem: the lack of media diversity in Perth, which has only one major daily newspaper for a city of two million. </p>
<p>That Seven West Media is one of only three major commercial corporations owning the bulk of Australian media – alongside <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/australia-needs-more-media-diversity-and-there-are-ways-to-achieve-it-20210413-p57iso.html">News Corp and Nine Entertainment</a> – is a sad indictment of the state of our media ownership laws.</p>
<p>With such a highly concentrated media ownership, the partisanship of big news brands has become the norm. The Senate inquiry into media diversity has investigated a litany of problems associated with this, deeming Australian media regulation a “<a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/Mediadiversity/Report">system not fit-for-purpose</a>”. </p>
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<p>For example, Australia’s relationship with China, its largest trading partner, is typically cast in hyperbolic “war drums” language by the Murdoch media. And during the pandemic, News Corp’s online tabloids were especially keen to link COVID with China. China scholar David Brophy documented in his book, <a href="https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/books/china-panic">China Panic</a>, how Sky News seized on a “dodgy-dossier” linking COVID to a laboratory in the city of Wuhan. </p>
<p>More recently, News Corp is at it again, this time airing an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUD-sCvtDE0&t=9s">hour-long special</a> advocating for a doubling of Australia’s military spending so the country can be protected against the imminent and “inevitable” Chinese invasion. </p>
<p>In its <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/Mediadiversity/Report/section?id=committees%2Freportsen%2F024602%2F78577">final report</a>, the media diversity inquiry commented,</p>
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<p>It is noteworthy that the overwhelming majority of the evidence to this inquiry relates to one dominant media organisation, News Corp. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/news-corps-job-cuts-cast-a-shadow-over-the-future-of-its-newspapers-199762">News Corp's job cuts cast a shadow over the future of its newspapers</a>
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<h2>How Europe is leading the way</h2>
<p>To counter unaccountable media power and a lack of transparency in media ownership, the European Commission has recently proposed a new regulatory framework: the <a href="https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/european-media-freedom-act-proposal-regulation-and-recommendation">European Media Freedom Act (EMFA)</a>. </p>
<p>Introducing the new framework, EU commissioner Thierry Breton <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_5504">said it contains</a></p>
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<p>[…]common safeguards at EU level to guarantee a plurality of voices and that our media are able to operate without any interference, be it private or public. </p>
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<p>He said a new European watchdog would be set up to ensure transparency in media ownership. Another key feature will require EU member states to test the impact of media market concentrations on media pluralism and editorial independence. </p>
<p>At a <a href="https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/webstreaming/cult-committee-meeting_20230206-1500-COMMITTEE-CULT">recent EU parliament hearing</a>, a media freedom expert, Elda Brogi, explained how the new measures benefit the public as well as regulators: </p>
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<p>[…] it helps media users to understand how ownership may influence the [news] content.</p>
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<h2>A better method for measuring media diversity</h2>
<p>The Australian government and its principal media regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), have recently released a <a href="https://www.acma.gov.au/consultations/2023-01/new-framework-measuring-media-diversity-australia?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ACMA%2520seeks%2520feedback%2520on%2520news%2520measurement%2520tool&utm_content=ACMA%2520seeks%2520feedback%2520on%2520news%2520measurement%2520tool+CID_042b83509756ee8b7018e52ad73be76b&utm_source=SendEmailCampaigns&utm_term=consultation%2520paper">discussion paper</a> seeking comment on developing a sophisticated new way to monitor media diversity in Australia.</p>
<p>This is the second phase of a process begun in 2020. The goal is to assess how Australians actually consume online news, including personalised news delivered to them through social media, search engines and news aggregators. </p>
<p>The current media diversity rules are based on an assessment of the ownership and control of traditional media outlets. However, as ACMA says, this misses the volume of news being published and consumed online. This omission is “notable”, the agency says, given 81% of Australians access news content online. </p>
<p>This news measurement model will be able to track the level of connection of stories (news connected to localities), the extent of originality (unique news stories), and the level of civic journalism (news of public significance). </p>
<p>This kind of internationally informed and evidenced-based approach is urgently needed to truly gauge the level of media concentration in Australia and determine its impact on public interest journalism and the news people read. Only then can we put in place new regulations that will have a real impact. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/forget-calls-for-a-royal-commission-into-australias-big-media-players-this-is-the-inquiry-we-really-need-171842">Forget calls for a royal commission into Australia's big media players – this is the inquiry we really need</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200354/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Dwyer receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>In such a highly concentrated media market as Australia, the partisanship of big news brands has become the norm.Tim Dwyer, Associate Professor, Discipline of Media and Communications, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1950912022-11-22T02:15:05Z2022-11-22T02:15:05Z‘Overwhelmingly Anglo-Celtic’: new report shows diversity still lacking on Australian free-to-air TV news<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496622/original/file-20221122-18440-54nq3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4928%2C3061&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>Research from the Who Gets to Tell Australian Stories? 2.0 <a href="https://www.mediadiversityaustralia.org/who-gets-to-tell-australian-stories-2-0/">report released today</a> shows newsrooms across Australia are responsible for reinforcing and reproducing racial inequalities because they fail to represent the voices and faces of the society they serve.</p>
<p>Australia’s population is more diverse than ever. The latest ABS Census data <a href="https://www.mediadiversityaustralia.org/who-gets-to-tell-australian-stories-2-0/">shows</a> just 54% of Australians now claim an Anglo-Celtic background. Around 25% have a non-European background, 18% have a European background, and 3% have an Indigenous background.</p>
<p>Yet new research from the University of Sydney, UTS Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research, and Media Diversity Australia confirms the journalist workforce remains overwhelmingly Anglo-Celtic and white. The research found that almost 80% of television news and current affairs presenters on the major free-to-air networks are Anglo-Celtic. Likewise, 78% of senior network news editors are Anglo-Celtic. Just 1.3% of on-air talent on commercial networks are from a non-European background.</p>
<p>Concerningly, the new report shows that little progress has been made since the <a href="https://www.mediadiversityaustralia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Who-Gets-To-Tell-Australian-Stories_LAUNCH-VERSION.pdf">first report in 2020</a>. </p>
<p>Particularly problematic are regional newsrooms. Regional newspapers, radio and TV stations are said to be more closely aligned with their communities than metropolitan media outlets. Regional newsrooms are also a recognised training ground for journalists and an important pathway for those seeking a foothold into Australian media more broadly.</p>
<p>But editors acknowledge that recruitment processes often lead to the employment of Anglo-Celtic journalists, effectively shutting the door to a more diverse workforce that will more properly represent the population it serves.</p>
<h2>The importance of diversity in journalism</h2>
<p>The media hold a mirror to our society – reflecting culture and helping to form opinions.</p>
<p>If the people framing the stories are from just one sector of society, we risk reinforcing stereotypes and reproducing inequalities. We know that a white Anglo-Celtic point of view alone is not representative of Australia in 2022.</p>
<p>Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/stuck-in-a-rut-diversity-rules-to-be-overhauled-in-major-media-reform-20221113-p5bxur.html">said</a> last week that “media policy in this country has been ‘stuck in a rut’ of unambitious agendas and failed execution”, and that the media sector is urgently in need of a diversity strategy.</p>
<p>We argue that diversity must not only be measured in terms of media ownership, but in the diversity of the faces and voices being broadcast and published in the work produced by newsrooms nationally.</p>
<p>Our research shows the pathway to a career in journalism is too often blocked for Indigenous and culturally diverse faces and voices.</p>
<p>Regional newsrooms are a good place to start clearing the blockage.</p>
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<h2>What editors say about diversity</h2>
<p>In the first half of 2022, we interviewed 19 editorial leaders from five regional media organisations around the country. The leaders were evenly split in terms of gender, age and experience. All identified as Anglo-Celtic.</p>
<p>We asked the leaders about the diversity of their audiences and if they considered cultural diversity when hiring staff.</p>
<p>The aim was to discover any practices that might be hindering the appointment of journalists from Indigenous and culturally diverse backgrounds, and to suggest ways to support the recruitment of a more diverse workforce.</p>
<p>Most of the editorial leaders described their communities as diverse, and said they would welcome having journalists from Indigenous or other culturally diverse backgrounds in their newsrooms.</p>
<p>One editor said</p>
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<p>The best stories are forged by people working together to create a shared narrative. So, it’s critical that we are making sure that not everyone is like me in the room.</p>
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<p>However, most also agreed that their newsrooms were mainly filled with white faces. </p>
<p>As captured by one interviewee:</p>
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<p>It’s very easy to just start thinking from a mainstream white point of view, because that’s what our entire newsroom is made up of.</p>
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<h2>Where are the diverse faces and voices?</h2>
<p>The editorial leaders suggested several reasons why the journalist workforce remains stubbornly Anglo-Celtic, including:</p>
<ul>
<li>a lack of applicants from diverse backgrounds</li>
<li>requirements for tertiary qualifications</li>
<li>time pressures that meant they looked for “easy” hires</li>
<li>concerns about English language standards</li>
<li>the need to ensure new recruits would “fit” the newsroom</li>
<li>and a lack of industry role models.</li>
</ul>
<p>Their responses indicate that both personal bias and structural racism – embedded in traditional recruitment strategies – could be creating barriers to journalists from Indigenous or culturally diverse backgrounds.</p>
<p>The editors acknowledged media organisations could do better in their efforts to recruit for diversity. But many felt the required changes were outside their scope of influence, especially given the heavy demands of local newsroom management.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-media-has-been-too-white-for-too-long-this-is-how-to-bring-more-diversity-to-newsrooms-141602">Australia's media has been too white for too long. This is how to bring more diversity to newsrooms</a>
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<h2>How can media improve?</h2>
<p>This signals that senior media leadership, including media company board members, need to step up to create the conditions to support and promote newsroom diversity.</p>
<p>In particular, they could:</p>
<ul>
<li>offer journalism scholarships and traineeships to students from diverse backgrounds</li>
<li>introduce blind-screening and skills-focused criteria to the recruitment process to minimise the risk of discrimination on racial grounds</li>
<li>provide a welcoming work environment that promotes role models and mentors.</li>
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<p>Underpinning it all is the need to measure, monitor and report on diversity across the entire sector. We know that what gets measured, gets done. It’s therefore critical to monitor progress and gaps as we work towards a more inclusive and representative media.</p>
<p>Greater diversity isn’t just the right thing to do, it also makes good business sense. This multi-billion-dollar industry needs to start taking account of audience representation and the stories they trust, as a white Anglo-Celtic point of view alone fails to represent Australia in 2022.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195091/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This article is part of The Conversation’s Breaking the Cycle series, which is supported by a philanthropic grant from the Paul Ramsay Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanne Crawford 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>Australia’s population is more diverse than ever. But new research confirms Australia’s journalist workforce remains overwhelmingly Anglo-Celtic and white.Dimitria Groutsis, Associate professor, University of SydneyJoanne Crawford, Research assistant (contract), University of Sydney Business School, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1927392022-11-07T22:47:15Z2022-11-07T22:47:15ZMoving beyond the media’s ‘deficit lens’ is essential for racialised peoples to claim belonging. Here’s how they’re doing it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493725/original/file-20221107-3575-630wha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C6000%2C3979&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>Australia’s mainstream media has long viewed refugees, migrants and Indigenous communities through a “deficit lens”. That’s where these populations – in all their glorious complexity – are framed simply as a “problem” that needs to be “fixed”. Never achieving enough. Never grateful enough. Just never quite deserving enough to be seen as legitimate Australians.</p>
<p>This deficit discourse is created, in part, by a mainstream media and screen culture that is overwhelmingly white and doesn’t reflect the cultural diversity of its population. <a href="https://www.mediadiversityaustralia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Who-Gets-To-Tell-Australian-Stories_LAUNCH-VERSION.pdf">Media Diversity Australia reports</a> that 75% of presenters, commentators and reporters have an Anglo-Celtic background, while only 6% have an Indigenous or non-European background. This is despite <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-07/multicultural-suburbs-cultural-diversity-census-point-cook/101200006">Census data</a> indicating nearly half of all Australians had at least one parent born overseas.</p>
<p>Fixing this under-representation in the media workforce is only a starting point. As I describe in my new book, <a href="https://www.bookshop.unsw.edu.au/details.cgi?ITEMNO=9781529218237&10582780">Mediated Emotions of Migration: Reclaiming Affect for Agency</a>, second-generation migrant content-creators are taking matters into their own hands. </p>
<p>Moving beyond the deficit lens is essential for racialised peoples to claim belonging, and have agency in their own stories. Here are some examples of how they’re doing it.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/census-data-shows-were-more-culturally-diverse-than-ever-our-institutions-must-reflect-this-185575">Census data shows we're more culturally diverse than ever. Our institutions must reflect this</a>
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<h2>Moving beyond ‘precarity’</h2>
<p>When I see writer Hani Abdile <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV32lE6v-3o">perform her poetry</a>, I also witness my research participants – many of whom are migrants or their children – nod their heads in collective validation. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.wordtravels.info/hani-abdile">Abdile</a> is a Somali-Australian civil war refugee who credits poetry as having saved her. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.routledge.com/Performance-Resistance-and-Refugees/Little-Suliman-Wake/p/book/9780367696696">My book chapter</a> looks at how Abdile’s work avoids the lens of “precarity” usually applied to the work of refugees. “Precarity” is part of deficit discourse. It’s where a refugee is framed as having to be in real need or distress to be accepted here; to have a refugee story “good enough” to justify their presence in Australia.</p>
<p>Abdile’s poem “<a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/Submission%20No%2021%20-%20Name%20withheld%20-%20Unaccompanied%20child%20asylum%20seeker.pdf">I will live, survive and be asked</a>” recounts the story of leaving her country of birth and boarding a boat. She wrote it while in a refugee detention centre.</p>
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<p>This poem is peppered with questions you can imagine Abdile has faced again and again. Being asked to recount the details of her escape story and perform for us the “right” emotions. To prove she has a “good enough” plan for her future. This poem analyses questions mainstream Australia and its legal system ask of refugees to justify their presence and account for future plans.</p>
<p>On the surface, this poem might sound like any other precarious story expected of a refugee or ex-refugee subject. On closer examination, a subtext of defiance is revealed.</p>
<p>When asked, “what do you want to be in the future?” she replies she wants to be a journalist, thereby defying the expectations of a grateful refugee who does not question the establishment.</p>
<p>This is a poet critiquing and moving beyond the deficit lens and firmly in control of her own story. </p>
<h2>Change is underway</h2>
<p>My previous <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07256868.2020.1831457">research</a> has looked at the lack of representation in TV and film of Australians who aren’t white and middle class. </p>
<p>And it’s not just my research participants saying this. <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-au/2022/09/11111394/heartbreak-high-ayesha-madon">Ayesha Madon</a>, a young Australian actor of South Asian origin who plays the feisty Amerie Wadia on <a href="https://www.netflix.com/au/title/81342553">Netflix’s Heartbreak High</a>, has also noted she never saw people like her on Australian media when she was growing up.</p>
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<p>But change is underway. The arrival of online streaming platforms, the popularity of “ethnic” comedy, and the relatability of social media accounts of young politicians of colour means the tide is slowly shifting. </p>
<p>Second and further-generation migrants like <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/netflix-s-local-content-boss-talks-diversity-and-inclusion-20210225-p575xq">Que Minh-Luu</a> (Netflix head of content for Australia and New Zealand) are now in decision-making roles. That helps.</p>
<p>Change is also occurring because people of colour are finding platforms to self-represent.</p>
<p>Take for example, Indian-American <a href="https://www.instagram.com/hasanminhaj/?hl=en">Hasan Minhaj</a>. In his Netflix series, <a href="https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80239931">Patriot Act</a>, Minhaj uses political satire to draw in an international audience of racialised millennial youth.</p>
<p>Newsy bits are interspersed with ethnic and generational in-jokes, covering everything from US-Saudi relations, the role of Amazon, social media content moderation and free speech, to Asian Americans in politics. </p>
<p>Minhaj is both “<a href="https://www.vulture.com/article/best-patriot-act-episodes-hasan-minhaj-netflix.html">unapologetically Indian</a>” and the “<a href="https://muslimgirl.com/hasan-minhaj-the-immigrant-wonder-kid/">rapper who made it</a>”. As one writer <a href="https://muslimgirl.com/hasan-minhaj-the-immigrant-wonder-kid/">put</a> it:</p>
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<p>For many brown Americans […] he’s the kid from the block that people within our communities take a look at and think: “I could do that, too.”</p>
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<p>In other words, Minhaj appeals to both ethnic and mainstream cultural spheres – and he does so by laying claim to both cultures. When South Asian-Americans are critiqued, such as in relation to attitudes to racial justice issues in the US, the approach is educative rather than one of otherness or deficit.</p>
<h2>Telling your own story</h2>
<p>There’s also a lesson to be learned in the social media profiles of young politicians of colour, like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) in the US and Jagmeet Singh in Canada. They’re using social media to build digital intimacy and collective aspiration for their followers.</p>
<p>Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for instance, uses Instagram and Twitter strategically and creatively to build an engaging, personalised, and professional persona. On Instagram, she is talking policy details one minute and cooking an Instant Pot mac and cheese the next. She is in firm control of the way her story, in all its nuance, is told.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CfP3349AM_3/?hl=en","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Over on Canadian politician Jagmeet Singh’s <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jagmeetsingh/?hl=en">Instagram</a>, serious policy discussion is mixed in with family Halloween pics as well as mentions of Diwali and the Sikh celebration Bandi Chhor Divas.</p>
<h2>More to be done</h2>
<p>We can celebrate the strides made by the children of migrants and refugees who have access to education and the mobility it enables. But it’s also important to underscore that many newly-arrived refugees have to strive harder to feel a sense of belonging.</p>
<p>For these communities, it is vital the mainstream media disavow the deficit lens, take <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23736992.2018.1509713">ethical obligations</a> seriously, and create space for racialised peoples to tell their own stories.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/here-out-west-a-film-that-centres-western-sydney-through-tales-of-marginality-176449">Here Out West: a film that centres Western Sydney through tales of marginality</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192739/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sukhmani Khorana has received funding from the Australia Research Council as well as several internal grants from the University of Wollongong and Western Sydney University for the research cited in this article. This article is part of The Conversation’s Breaking the Cycle series, which is supported by a philanthropic grant from the Paul Ramsay Foundation.</span></em></p>Deficit discourse is created, in part, by a mainstream media and screen culture that is overwhelmingly white and doesn’t reflect the cultural diversity of its population.Sukhmani Khorana, Senior Research Fellow, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1812552022-04-21T05:12:48Z2022-04-21T05:12:48ZRegional journalism is dying: advertising subsidies won’t help<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457865/original/file-20220413-18-bjtcq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5538%2C2731&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>Australia’s regional news outlets are dying a not-so-slow death, and COVID-19 has accelerated their decline. </p>
<p>Over the past two years more than a hundred of the 435 regional and community newspapers that existed in 2019 ceased printing, continuing as digital-only publications or being <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/apr/29/news-corp-australia-merges-more-than-20-regional-newspapers-with-capital-city-mastheads">merged with other mastheads</a>. </p>
<p>More seem set to follow if a <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/reportrep/024888/toc_pdf/TheFutureofRegionalNewspapersinaDigitalWorld.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">federal parliamentary inquiry</a> into regional journalism is anything to go by. </p>
<p>The inquiry, chaired by National Party backbencher Anne Webster, was established in late 2020 to investigate the impact of dozens of local print editions being suspended in 2020, and if there has been any recovery since.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/another-savage-blow-to-regional-media-spells-disaster-for-the-communities-they-serve-139559">Another savage blow to regional media spells disaster for the communities they serve</a>
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<p>Its findings, published last month, aren’t optimistic. While some suspended <a href="https://mumbrella.com.au/acm-to-resume-print-publications-in-regional-nsw-qld-sa-677991">print runs have resumed</a>, global supply shortages have increased printing costs. Meanhwile the internet continues to strip away readers and advertising dollars.</p>
<p>The committee’s recommendations on what to do about it leave even less room for optimism. They show the federal government is ill-equipped to provide meaningful assistance despite committing tens of millions of dollars to support regional journalism.</p>
<h2>News deserts</h2>
<p>In 2018 the Australian Competition Consumer Commission counted 21 local government areas in Australia lacking a single local newspaper. Sixteen were regional areas. </p>
<p>Such “news deserts” – communities not covered by local journalists – have serious consequences for the quality of local democracy. Newspapers in particular have been cornerstones of local news ecosystems, setting the agenda for local television and radio.</p>
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<span class="caption">More than 20 local government areas in Australia lack a local newspaper.</span>
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<p>The committee’s report, “The Future of Regional Newspapers in a Digital World”, doesn’t update the competition watchdog’s numbers. It notes only the submission from the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance that in the past two years 68% of 182 news “contractions” – covering masthead or newsroom closures and suspensions – were in regional Australia.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/digital-only-local-newspapers-will-struggle-to-serve-the-communities-that-need-them-most-139649">Digital-only local newspapers will struggle to serve the communities that need them most</a>
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<p>So what do about it? </p>
<p>The committee made 12 recommendations. The first is to have another, more comprehensive inquiry, into the viability of regional newspapers. </p>
<p>Of the other 11, the two most significant are to amend 30-year-old legislation to enable better data collection on the state of the industry, and to effectively subsidise rural papers through government advertising. </p>
<h2>Amending the Broadcasting Service Act</h2>
<p>The first recommendation relates to the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2022C00079">Broadcasting Services Act (1992)</a>, which imposed limits on how many TV stations, radio stations and newspapers a media company can control in a media market. </p>
<p>This leglisation was passed by the Keating government in response to Australia’s then richest man Kerry Packer, the owner of the Nine Network and magazine empire Australian Consolidated Press, making <a href="https://insidestory.org.au/how-packer-slipped-on-fairfax-with-help-from-malcolm-turnbull/">a bid for the Fairfax empire</a> in 1991. </p>
<p>The act’s purpose was to avoid media monopolies by limiting the number of broadcast licences and newspapers a company could own in a media market. </p>
<p>The internet has rendered differences between print and broadcast news largely redundant. But the Broadcasting Services Act (1992) continues to be important to bureaucrats as the one piece of federal legislation defining regional media – albeit only for radio and TV. </p>
<p>This could explain why the report is fuzzy on the precise number of regional newspaper closures over the past two years; bureaucrats didn’t have a definition of “regional newspaper” to work with.</p>
<p>The recommendation to amend the act is to give the Australian Communications and Media Authority definitions that enable it to better assess the state of diversity and localism in news media, in line with recommendations the media regulator <a href="https://www.acma.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-12/News%20in%20Australia_Diversity%20and%20localism_News%20measurement%20framework_1.pdf">proposed in 2020</a>.</p>
<p>So this a useful recommendation, though not one that can make any difference on its own.</p>
<h2>Subsidising through advertising</h2>
<p>The second big recommendation is that at least 20% of federal government print advertising be placed in regional newspapers. </p>
<p>This is a very blunt instrument to effectively subsidise regional newspapers. </p>
<p>Government advertising has long been an important revenue stream for newspapers. But there are good reasons to think government largesse can’t make up for the private advertising dollars lost to better targeted, cost-effective digital alternatives.</p>
<p>The Victorian government, for example, has plans to drop <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-18/government-plan-to-cancel-public-notices-victorian-newspapers/100838462">all notices</a> in newspapers. It instead wants to use the internet to publicise things like legislation changes, planning permits and road closures. The economics are clearly on its side.</p>
<p>The problem facing regional media, and all newspapers generally, is that the old advertising model is broken. No amount of government advertising will fix it.</p>
<h2>Deeper community connections needed</h2>
<p>A better way to help regional media should start with acknowledging print is dead, So is the the old advertising-funded model of news services. The new model is digital only, and user pays – where readers fund the service. </p>
<p>Shifting from advertising to a reader revenue model requires developing diverse streams, collecting money not just from subscriptions but events, e-commerce, mobile messages, event sponsorships, and so on. </p>
<p>This requires developing community-based news gathering. </p>
<p>News organisations overseas are starting to use artificial intelligence to achieve this, augmenting the work of journalists.</p>
<p>One example is Trib Total Media, a <a href="https://www.wesa.fm/economy-business/2020-02-21/pittsburgh-news-organization-to-test-new-platform-that-uses-ai-to-select-content">newspaper company in Pennsylvania</a>. It partnered with AI company Crivella Technologies to develop its <a href="https://www.neighborhoodnewsnetwork.com/">Neighbourhood News Network</a>.</p>
<p>This platform enables the building of neighbourhood-level websites that deliver “hyper-local content based on the reader’s geography, habits and interests”. The platform also enables local contributors to submit and publish.</p>
<p>To help local news organisations emulate these efforts requires funding for specific technological innovations and partnerships. It also requires deepening links between regional newspapers and the communities they serve. </p>
<p>These are the issues the next review of the viability of regional newspapers in Australia ought to look at in more depth.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181255/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leon Gettler 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>Australia’s regional news outlets are dying a not-so-slow death, and COVID-19 has accelerated their decline.Leon Gettler, PhD, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1684152021-09-22T14:11:34Z2021-09-22T14:11:34ZPlans for more distinctly ‘British’ TV could threaten the industry’s potential for diverse brilliance<p>What makes a TV show British? Former media minister John Whittingdale had some ideas when he recently announced government plans to require UK public service broadcasters to produce “<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/john-whittingdale-british-tv-rts-b1921183.html">distinctly British</a>” programmes. Speaking at the Royal Television Society convention in Cambridge he noted:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Britishness is, of course, a nebulous concept. It means different things to each and every one of us in this room. And yet we all know it when we see it on our screens. The sort of things we’ve all grown up with. Only Fools and Horses, Dad’s Army, Carry On. More recently, The Great British Bake Off and Line of Duty.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While such shows undoubtedly have an enduring appeal, Whittingdale’s announcement, whether intentionally or not, situated the government’s vision for entertainment firmly within the current <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/13/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-the-culture-wars-but-were-afraid-to-ask">culture wars</a>. His assumption of a common “we” represented by and enjoying these shows is, arguably, where the problem begins. </p>
<p>The programmes that Whittingdale references speak for a Britain that is distinctly white, male, able-bodied and English. If, as Whittingdale insisted in his speech, “our national identity relies on the culture industries”, it is important to see why such attempts to define and control the UK’s identity are sinister and to know who is erased in this vision of “Britishness”. </p>
<p>In the last two years alone, British television has showcased serials that speak to a more modern Britain. The astounding <a href="https://www.channel4.com/programmes/we-are-lady-parts">We Are Lady Parts</a>, directed and produced by <a href="https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/we-are-lady-parts-nida-manzoor-channel-4-991333">Nida Manzoor</a>, was a riot, pushing front and centre a varied group of Muslim women being themselves. Russell T Davies’s <a href="https://www.channel4.com/programmes/its-a-sin">It’s A Sin</a> told the story of gay men’s experience of AIDS in the 1980s with such joy, power and political punch, that it amassed 19 million views on the streaming platform All 4. </p>
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<p><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3948190/">Michaela Coel</a>’s Emmy winning <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m000jyxy/i-may-destroy-you">I May Destroy You</a> broke the mould, with Guardian Journalist <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/08/i-may-destroy-you-review-michaela-coel-could-this-be-the-best-drama-of-the-year">Lucy Mangan</a> proclaiming it “an extraordinary, breathtaking exploration of consent, race and millennial life that works on every level”. More recently, Sophie Willan’s semi-autobiographical sitcom <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000h3mf">Alma’s Not Normal</a> explored the life of a newly single Bolton-born care-leaver, trying to pay her bills, get it together and support her addicted mum. The show’s humour is exuberant and deliberately immoderate, a throwback to the genius of Paul Abbott’s early <a href="https://www.channel4.com/programmes/shameless">Shameless</a>.</p>
<p>What all these shows have in common is a diversity of real-life experience drawn on by their creators and writers to create brilliant TV. These shows aren’t drab or dreary. They are ballsy, taut, and turn audience emotions on a penny. They speak and represent in ways that feel familiar because the stories and characters are based in the real modern Britain, rather than an imagined version of it. They represent a country that is a far cry from Whittingdale’s examples.</p>
<h2>The crisis of culture</h2>
<p>Yet they don’t represent the typical output of the TV industry, nor most of the people who run it. The crisis of contemporary and indeed future television is not, I would argue, one of “Britishness” as Whittingdale suggests, but one of inequality and diversity. As <a href="https://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/broadcasters/michaela-coel-mactaggart-lecture-in-full/5131910.article">Michaela Coel</a>, historian and broadcaster <a href="https://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/david-olusoga-mactaggart-lecture-in-full/5152544.article">David Olusoga</a> and, most recently, screenwriter <a href="https://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/mactaggart-lecture-in-full/5162627.article">Jack Thorne</a> have pointed out in their respective MacTaggart Lectures over the last three years, the one constant in the ever-innovating sphere of British television is structural exclusion: of women, of the working class, of people of colour, of the disabled. </p>
<p>This has been backed up by <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/Race+and+the+Cultural+Industries-p-9781509505319">many</a> <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1527476418778426">other</a> <a href="https://www.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.7228/manchester/9781526100986.001.0001/upso-9781526100986">academic</a> <a href="https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526144164/">researchers</a>, as well as my own recent <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13675494211006089">study</a> which showed that social mobility for female screenwriters in the UK is inherently different and unequal to that of their male counterparts.</p>
<p>As part of my recent <a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/media/staff/312/dr-beth-johnson">research</a> into television representation and UK production cultures, I interviewed those with experience of working in the screen industries. This involved collaborating with professionals from across the UK and the independent production company <a href="https://candour.tv/films">Candour</a> to create a series of short films called <a href="https://youtu.be/4HrYbyi3PN4">Industry Voices</a>. </p>
<p>As the research-led films show, people of colour, the disabled, women, mothers, those from working-class backgrounds and those living outside of London, do not get equal opportunities and the disadvantages are compounded if they fall into more than one of these groups. The barriers to their progress are built into the structure of the industry and, if they do get a starting break, remain throughout their careers.</p>
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<p>Television needs more diverse voices and stories. It is crying out for it both off and on-screen. Yet the <a href="https://creativediversitynetwork.com/diamond/diamond-reports/the-fourth-cut/">evidence</a> shows that British television remains predominantly white, wealthy, able-bodied and male, even when those in front of the camera aren’t. </p>
<p>Whittingdale’s vision of and for Britain may feel like a safe one to him, but it is not reflective of the country’s present or future. Plans for a “distinctly British” quota in this mould are only likely to perpetuate the exclusion we see today.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168415/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beth Johnson receives funding from Research England. </span></em></p>British TV is at its best when representing the modern reality of the country.Beth Johnson, Professor of Television & Media Studies; Deputy Head of School of Media and Communication, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1569922021-03-12T09:20:42Z2021-03-12T09:20:42ZMeghan Markle, the UK press and the problem of diversity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389043/original/file-20210311-17-1j7tptc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C54%2C6038%2C3796&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Women of colour are under-represented both on and behind the camera in the UK media.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image courtesy of ITV Pictures</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56355274">resignation</a> of the executive director of the Society of Editors, Ian Murray, represents a welcome step in the long battle to tackle structural racism in the UK media. Murray stepped down after his assertion that the “<a href="https://www.societyofeditors.org/soe_news/uk-media-not-bigoted-soe-responds-to-sussexes-claims-of-racism/">UK media is not bigoted</a>” caused an outcry in the industry. </p>
<p>His comment came in response to Oprah Winfrey’s interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, where they spoke of being subjected to racist treatment by the tabloids. During the interview, headlines were shown highlighting the different way Meghan Markle had been treated by the UK press compared with her sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge. Buzzfeed pulled together <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/meghan-markle-kate-middleton-double-standards-royal">20 headlines</a> to compare the way they are treated. </p>
<p>Journalists across the industry <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/mar/10/society-of-editors-chief-quits-after-row-over-meghan-racism-statement">came together</a> in a show of allyship to counter Murray’s assertion. ITV News anchor Charlene White pulled out of the Society’s National Press Awards, due to be held on March 31. White, the first Black woman to present ITV News at Ten, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/charlene-white-quits-national-press-awards-society-of-editors_uk_6048cb55c5b65bed87d7874a">wrote</a>: “Perhaps it’s best for you to look elsewhere for a host for your awards this year. Perhaps someone whose views align with yours.”</p>
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<p>Among many senior journalists to comment on the issue of race and diversity in the media, <a href="https://twitter.com/GuardianComms/status/1369279171143294976">Katherine Viner</a>, the editor-in-chief of The Guardian said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Every institution in the United Kingdom is currently examining its own position on vital issues of race and the treatment of people of colour … the media must do the same. It must be much more representative and more self-aware.“</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Murray’s insistence that, "The UK media has a proud record of calling out racism … If sometimes the questions asked are awkward and embarrassing, then so be it, but the press is most certainly not racist,” bears no relation to my experience as a woman of colour and experienced journalist. But there is a growing body of research to demonstrate how the media fails to represent the voices people from diverse ethnic backgrounds people and women.</p>
<p>In 18 years as a journalist I have seen more and more “dog whistling” on race, ethnicity and immigration issues by the UK press, something that became hugely pronounced during the Brexit campaign. Coverage of Eastern European migration <a href="https://migration.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/2019/03/13/brexit-and-migration-our-new-research-highlights-fact-free-news-coverage/">using language</a> emphasising “floods” and “hordes” of migrants to a country under “siege” was followed by an increase in hate crime. Home Office data showed a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37640982">41% increase</a> in race and religious hate crimes in 2016 after the Brexit vote. Language has consequences.</p>
<h2>Diversity problem</h2>
<p>According to a <a href="https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/research/files/Journalists%2520in%2520the%2520UK.pdf">Reuters Institute report (2015)</a> UK journalism has a “significant” diversity problem with Black Britons underrepresented by a “factor of more than ten”. A 2017 report from the National Council for the Training of Journalists <a href="https://www.nctj.com/downloadlibrary/DIVERSITY%20JOURNALISM%204WEB.pdf">found that</a> 94% of journalists in the UK are white. When you consider that most news organisations are based in London, where 2011 census data shows the population is 60% white, that suggests a considerable shortfall in people from diverse ethnic backgrounds in those newsrooms.</p>
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<p>A <a href="http://womeninjournalism.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/WIJ-2020-full-report.pdf">Women in Journalism</a> snapshot analysis in September 2020 analysing a week of news coverage on TV, radio and newspaper front pages found that, of 111 voices quoted, just one belonged to a Black person. </p>
<p>More important than the race for numbers is the lack of inclusion. Inclusion means you are included in the workplace team and not made to feel like an “outsider” for being “different”. Being on the outside, with a constant feeling of being undermined and misunderstood, has a cumulative and damaging effect. </p>
<p>My colleague Marverine Duffy, head of undergraduate journalism at Birmingham City University (BCU), has called out what she sees as a “culture of fear and cliquiness” in some newsrooms. This sense of non-inclusion often leads to people of colour prematurely leaving the profession. So an overemphasis on entry-level diversity schemes in media organisations is the wrong approach.</p>
<h2>Who are the gatekeepers?</h2>
<p>My research project for the <a href="https://www.bcu.ac.uk/media/research/sir-lenny-henry-centre-for-media-diversity">Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity</a> is looking at the “gatekeepers” of radio news, collating data on the ethnic background of senior managers in the sector to look at how power is distributed in the industry.</p>
<p>It’s the senior managers who determine hiring and firing, support and sponsorship. They decide which stories to cover and how. A story I worked on with a Black colleague about immigration to the UK was supposed to look positively at the improvement of Eastern European children’s language skills as they settled into Britain. One of the senior editors stepped in and changed the focus of the piece to emphasise a “flood” of families overwhelming schools. We were powerless to do anything about it. </p>
<p>The BBC’s <a href="http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/reports/annualreport/2019-20.pdf">Annual Report for 2019-20</a> admitted it was “a long way from our leadership target for BAME representation”, adding that “there is still a lot more … to do to increase the percentages of women and people from ethnic minority backgrounds at the highest levels of the BBC”.</p>
<h2>Media matters</h2>
<p>An <a href="https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/159421/diversity-in-radio-2019-report.pdf">Ofcom report</a> from 2019 found there serious diversity issues in the UK’s radio broadcasting industry, with only 7% of employees from BAME backgrounds compared to 12% in the wider population. This matters because the media amplifies and projects a narrative to the whole of the UK. It is a reflection of the nation and if we are putting out a one-sided picture where people of colour are portrayed with (often negative) stereotypes, it breeds division and hostility in the wider community. </p>
<p>In their 2021 book Access All Areas, Marcus Ryder, a visiting professor at BCU’s Centre for Media Diversity, and Sir Lenny Henry argue that representation of “minorities” in the media industry is the wrong way to view the data. They make the point that the group that holds the most power in the UK media still tends to be white, able-bodied, heterosexual men from London and the south-east – who actually only <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2021/01/09/we-are-not-minorities-we-are-the-majority-13869502/">make up 3%</a> of the UK’s population. </p>
<p>Women – who are also <a href="https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/women-and-leadership-news-media-2020-evidence-ten-markets">woefully under-represented</a> in the top echelons of the media – people of colour, the LGBTQ+ community, people who are disabled or live outside London and the south-east make up the vast majority of the UK population. </p>
<p>Their voices must be heard and represented fully in the media for any well-functioning democracy. Anyone who doesn’t recognise this – or worse still, denies there’s even a problem – should not be speaking on our behalf.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156992/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nina Robinson 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>A large body of research shows the lack of diversity in the UK news media.Nina Robinson, Lecturer, Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity, School of Journalism, Birmingham City UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1467592020-09-23T07:50:38Z2020-09-23T07:50:38ZIs fast-tracking funds to Foxtel the best way to support the media during COVID?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359508/original/file-20200923-16-k6glr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=636%2C49%2C2974%2C1999&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>According to an ABC report, government funds were <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-23/foxtel-benefited-from-fast-tracked-federal-government-funds/12690954">fast-tracked to Foxtel</a> during the coronavirus pandemic. </p>
<p>This news will raise eyebrows, as the media — like so many industries — tries to survive the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/apr/14/dozens-of-australian-newspapers-stop-printing-as-coronavirus-crisis-hits-advertising">pain and disruption</a> brought by COVID-19. </p>
<p>Why are some outlets missing out when others have their requests prioritised? </p>
<h2>The Foxtel fast-track</h2>
<p>The background to these latest Foxtel funds is a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jul/19/government-declines-to-explain-foxtels-30m-handout-for-sports-broadcasting">$30 million grant</a>, controversially awarded to the subscription broadcaster in 2017. </p>
<p>This was to</p>
<blockquote>
<p>support the broadcast of underrepresented sports on subscription television, including women’s sports, niche sports and sports with a high level of community involvement and participation.</p>
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<p>At the time, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jul/19/government-declines-to-explain-foxtels-30m-handout-for-sports-broadcasting">media reports noted</a> the government did not adequately explain why it had given the funds to Foxtel. </p>
<p>Fast-forward to April 2020 and COVID-19 was <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/content-quotas-spectrum-fees-waived-for-2020-20200415-p54jxh">wreaking havoc</a> in the media sector. The federal government announced a <a href="https://www.paulfletcher.com.au/media-releases/media-relase-immediate-covid-19-relief-for-australian-media-as-harmonisation-reform">support package</a> for the media, but Foxtel missed out. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/that-was-the-news-a-sad-farewell-to-the-abcs-7-45am-bulletin-146478">That was the news: a sad farewell to the ABC's 7:45am bulletin</a>
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<p>However, as the ABC reported, after a letter from Foxtel chief executive Patrick Delany, the TV service quickly received $17.5 million. </p>
<p>This included bringing forward $7.5 million of taxpayer money already granted to Foxtel. In July 2020, a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jul/22/coalition-gives-another-10m-to-foxtel-to-boost-womens-sport-on-tv">further $10 million</a> was awarded to Foxtel, with the same opaque justification as the 2017 grant. </p>
<p>The ABC was able to report the process behind these developments following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.</p>
<h2>Foxtel supported as national broadcaster struggles</h2>
<p>The Foxtel funds came amid yet another round of cost-cutting and job losses at the ABC. In June, the ABC announced <a href="https://theconversation.com/latest-84-million-cuts-rip-the-heart-out-of-the-abc-and-our-democracy-141355">250 job losses</a> to deal with an $84 million budget shortfall. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="ABC logo against colourful light backdrop" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359510/original/file-20200923-24-1cvpcrx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359510/original/file-20200923-24-1cvpcrx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359510/original/file-20200923-24-1cvpcrx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359510/original/file-20200923-24-1cvpcrx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359510/original/file-20200923-24-1cvpcrx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359510/original/file-20200923-24-1cvpcrx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359510/original/file-20200923-24-1cvpcrx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The ABC recently announced 250 job losses.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>As of this week, the iconic <a href="https://theconversation.com/that-was-the-news-a-sad-farewell-to-the-abcs-7-45am-bulletin-146478">7:45am radio bulletin</a> no longer features in Australians’ morning routines as a result of the cuts. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, regional media outlets have been <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-governments-regional-media-bailout-doesnt-go-far-enough-here-are-reforms-we-really-need-144666">particularly hard hit</a> during COVID. We have also seen recent job losses at <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-28/news-corp-to-cut-jobs-in-restructure-towards-digital-newspapers/12294970">News Corp</a> (who is a part owner of Foxtel) and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-11/network-10-announce-staff-cuts-news-bulletin-changes/12546122">Channel 10</a>. </p>
<h2>What support have media companies had during COVID?</h2>
<p>The government announced a COVID-support package <a href="https://www.paulfletcher.com.au/media-releases/media-relase-immediate-covid-19-relief-for-australian-media-as-harmonisation-reform">for the media</a> in April. </p>
<p>This included $41 million in rebates for use of the broadcasting spectrum, targeted at commercial television and radio broadcasters. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-governments-regional-media-bailout-doesnt-go-far-enough-here-are-reforms-we-really-need-144666">The government's regional media bailout doesn't go far enough — here are reforms we really need</a>
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<p>A $50 million <a href="https://www.communications.gov.au/what-we-do/television/relief-australian-media-during-covid-19">Public Interest News Gathering program</a> was also announced to support public interest journalism delivered by commercial television, newspaper and radio businesses in regional Australia.</p>
<h2>Is this the best use of taxpayer funds?</h2>
<p>The reports of the fast-tracked funds to Foxtel beg the question, where is public money best spent? On the public broadcaster so it can maintain its crucial services (with another bushfire season around the corner) — or on a subscription-based commercial broadcaster?</p>
<p>When you consider the <a href="https://theconversation.com/whatll-happen-when-the-moneys-snatched-back-our-looming-coronavirus-support-cliff-138527">different support packages</a> the Morrison government has launched as part of its pandemic response, there is one glaring omission — support for the national broadcaster. </p>
<p>The ABC is the <a href="https://theconversation.com/cutting-the-abc-cuts-public-trust-a-cost-no-democracy-can-afford-140438">most trusted media brand</a> in the country. But instead of supporting it, to help us get through the pandemic, the Coalition continues to bleed it. This is the polar opposite to its support of News Corp-owned Foxtel, <a href="https://theconversation.com/whether-a-ratings-chase-or-ideological-war-news-corps-coronavirus-coverage-is-dangerous-143003">a relationship</a> the government seems much more comfortable with and clearly prioritises.</p>
<h2>Not enough information</h2>
<p>When considering whether Foxtel deserves its funding, it would be useful to see a government-issued summary of how it used the first $30 million. </p>
<p>We have seen <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/how-foxtel-is-spending-its-30-million-government-handout-20180907-p502fy.html">some reporting</a> (again via FOI requests) of how the initial $7 million was used to boost sports coverage. But given this is taxpayers’ money, best practice would be open and transparent government reporting on how the funding is utilised.</p>
<p>It would also be useful to have an explanation of why the extra funds were provided now. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, information access and openness has not been the Morrison government’s forte. </p>
<p>We have seen a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jan/02/how-a-flawed-freedom-of-information-regime-keeps-australians-in-the-dark">number of cases</a> where the FOI process has been contrary to the spirit of the <a href="https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/the-foi-act/">Freedom of Information Act</a>, which holds that as much information as possible should be made available to the public. </p>
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<img alt="Open filing cabinet, with paper files" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359513/original/file-20200923-16-1bc25dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359513/original/file-20200923-16-1bc25dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359513/original/file-20200923-16-1bc25dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359513/original/file-20200923-16-1bc25dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359513/original/file-20200923-16-1bc25dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359513/original/file-20200923-16-1bc25dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359513/original/file-20200923-16-1bc25dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Australian government has been criticised for the high rate of FOI refusals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
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<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/26/government-blocks-access-to-emails-about-angus-taylors-attack-on-clover-moore">blocking of FOI requests</a> over Energy Minister Angus Taylor’s attack on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/oct/23/doctored-documents-angus-taylor-news-corp-climate-clover-moore">Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore</a> is one recent example. </p>
<p>The recent requests to the Morrison government about Foxtel is another. According <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-23/foxtel-benefited-from-fast-tracked-federal-government-funds/12690954">to the ABC</a>, more than half of the hundreds of pages released were blacked out and 80% of the rest had substantial redactions. Communications Minister Paul Fletcher’s chief of staff, Ryan Bloxsom, was one of the FOI decision makers and justified the extensive redactions in this way:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I do not consider it would inform debate on a matter of public importance or promote effective oversight of public expenditure.</p>
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<p>This is not just out of line with the aims of the FOI Act, it means Australians remain ill-informed about how and why tax payer money is being spent. Our public discourse is worse of for it. </p>
<p>This makes funding public interest journalism even more important — especially in the regions where coverage of courts and local councils is the engine room of our democracy.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/funding-public-interest-journalism-requires-creative-solutions-a-tax-rebate-for-news-media-could-work-146563">Funding public interest journalism requires creative solutions. A tax rebate for news media could work</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146759/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Johan Lidberg 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>The news Foxtel received a speedy funding boost as the ABC faces another round of damaging cost cuts will raise eyebrows. And questions about how we spend taxpayers’ money.Johan Lidberg, Associate Professor, School of Media, Film and Journalism, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1424852020-07-15T20:00:48Z2020-07-15T20:00:48ZThe Mukbang controversy is a chance to discuss race and Australian films. Let’s not squander it<p>Eliza Scanlen’s film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10969320/">Mukbang</a> (2020) has become <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/movies/deeply-sorry-director-apologises-after-sydney-film-festival-racism-outcry-20200621-p554o4.html">a flashpoint</a> in race relations in the Australian screen industry. Scanlen’s film is famous not for winning Best Director in the short film category at this year’s Sydney Film Festival, but for the controversy it has sparked.</p>
<p>The film features a white teenager who has a “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Twady6UQsH4">sexual awakening</a>” after discovering the Korean internet fad of Mukbang: a live broadcast of a host <a href="https://www.mashed.com/182485/the-untold-truth-of-mukbang/">over eating</a>. </p>
<p>Most controversially, the film featured a drawing of the lead character strangling a Black classmate – a scene <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/movies/deeply-sorry-director-apologises-after-sydney-film-festival-racism-outcry-20200621-p554o4.html">edited out</a> of the film after it won.</p>
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<p>Filmmaker and writer Michelle Law labelled Mukbang <a href="https://twitter.com/ms_michellelaw/status/1274124817206095872">an example of</a> “how racist and broken the screen industry is in Australia”. </p>
<p>(To her credit, Scanlen has made a <a href="https://www.pedestrian.tv/entertainment/eliza-scanlen-mukbang-sydney-film-festival-problematic/">full apology</a>, and Fat Salmon Productions has committed to a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CBrufMpBwlN/">quota of</a> 30% Black, Indigenous and people of colour in crews, heads of departments, and casts in all future productions".) </p>
<p>I have not seen Mukbang, despite my best efforts to obtain a copy, but my comments are not about evaluating whether the film is indeed racist or a cultural appropriation. I am more interested in what this debate represents, and the lessons it can impart for the Australian screen industry.</p>
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<p>I am thankful for the attention the film has brought to the topic of race on Australian screens (and behind them) but somewhat disturbed by an undercurrent of division between “free speech” and open debate.</p>
<h2>Open letter, open debate</h2>
<p>On July 8, the Sydney Morning Herald published an <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/movies/something-dangerously-askew-with-the-way-we-re-talking-about-race-and-the-arts-20200706-p559bz.html">open letter</a> signed by 27 prominent Australian filmmakers, including <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/after-childhood-tragedy-storytelling-helped-tony-cope-now-he-s-making-a-multi-million-dollar-netflix-show">Tony Ayres</a>, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-radio/director-rachel-perkins-and-deborah-mailman-take-control-in-political-drama-20190927-p52vjl.html">Rachel Perkins</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/review-warwick-thorntons-the-beach-is-a-delicate-conversation-with-country-139464">Warwick Thornton</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/ivan-sens-goldstone-a-taut-layered-exploration-of-what-echoes-in-the-silences-60619">Ivan Sen</a> and <a href="http://www.mtv.com.au/joel-edgerton/news/how-joel-and-nash-edgerton-became-the-best-aussie-film-talent-weve-ever-seen">Joel and Nash Edgerton</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man sits in moody shadows in a tin shack." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337796/original/file-20200527-106815-1a67dph.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337796/original/file-20200527-106815-1a67dph.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337796/original/file-20200527-106815-1a67dph.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337796/original/file-20200527-106815-1a67dph.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337796/original/file-20200527-106815-1a67dph.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337796/original/file-20200527-106815-1a67dph.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337796/original/file-20200527-106815-1a67dph.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Warwick Thornton’s latest project was a documentary series, The Beach.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">SBS/NITV</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The letter defends the festival’s director, Nashen Moodley, against claims that the festival is “part of a white supremacist system”. It points out Moodley is a South African person of colour who has “long championed the works of filmmakers from Africa and Asia”. </p>
<p>The letter also looks outwards to the rest of the industry, noting an Indigenous woman, Sally Riley, is head of scripted production at the ABC, and Que Minh Luu has been appointed head of Australian programming at Netflix.</p>
<p>The letter (which came the day after the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/07/harpers-letter-free-speech/614080/">infamous Harper’s Magazine</a> open letter for “justice and open debate”) expresses the view that those speaking out online are bullies, interested in “public shaming and ‘burning down’ the industry”. </p>
<p>In turn, this letter has been <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/movies/thumbs-up-thumbs-down-the-cycles-of-cancel-culture-20200710-p55ast.html">harshly criticised</a> by some of those it seeks to champion. Author Michael Mohammed Ahmad called it a “distraction which derail[s] our attempts to hold white people and white institutions […] accountable for their role in systemic and structural racism”.</p>
<p>How can we move from this division to a more productive dialogue about who is being excluded, and why there might be a need to speak up?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-cancel-culture-silencing-open-debate-there-are-risks-to-shutting-down-opinions-we-disagree-with-142377">Is cancel culture silencing open debate? There are risks to shutting down opinions we disagree with</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>There is a long history of excluding representations of Asians on Australian screens, with Asians more often <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/176527415">spoken for</a> than allowed to speak. I applaud Law and director Corrie Chen for speaking up, and for their unqualified <a href="https://amp.smh.com.au/culture/movies/writer-michelle-law-issues-apology-for-racist-scene-20200710-p55azg.html">apologies</a> when subsequently called out for a blackface scene in their 2013 short film, Bloomers. </p>
<p>Like many other Asian Australians, I am thankful we have Asian Australian creatives such as Law, Chen and Tony Ayres to provide greater diversity to the stories we see on Australian screens, but also for the leadership they are providing in navigating both sides of the debate. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A film still, set in an immigration detention centre, a woman and a man stand behind a fence." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347487/original/file-20200715-19-1bd7yq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347487/original/file-20200715-19-1bd7yq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347487/original/file-20200715-19-1bd7yq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347487/original/file-20200715-19-1bd7yq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347487/original/file-20200715-19-1bd7yq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347487/original/file-20200715-19-1bd7yq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347487/original/file-20200715-19-1bd7yq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tony Ayres was most recently a creator and executive producer on Stateless.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ABC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Cultural diversity in leadership</h2>
<p>This conversation touches every part of Australia’s cultural industries. </p>
<p>In 2019, Diversity Arts Australia published <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-art-institutions-dont-reflect-our-diversity-its-time-to-change-that-122308">a report</a> finding 59% of Australia’s screen and radio organisations had no culturally and linguistically diverse representation at the leadership level. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-art-institutions-dont-reflect-our-diversity-its-time-to-change-that-122308">Australia's art institutions don't reflect our diversity: it's time to change that</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>On July 12, writer and editor Nick Bhasin published an <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/sbs-seemed-like-a-miracle-then-i-realised-it-was-not-a-place-for-people-who-looked-like-me-20200710-p55axd.html">opinion piece</a> condemning the predominantly white leadership team of the SBS. </p>
<p>Bhasin’s article came after <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/white-people-can-do-those-stories-former-sbs-bosses-dispute-need-for-leadership-diversity-20200702-p558f3.html">an interview</a> with former SBS head Michael Ebeid in which he said white people were just as capable of telling culturally diverse stories (“a white man can do that”). </p>
<p>With full respect to Ebeid and the talent he has championed at SBS, this misses the point. Leadership needs to reflect the community it represents.</p>
<p>The debate we are being asked to participate in is based on a misleading distinction between two “opposing” viewpoints, both of which were, interestingly, expressed in the open letter: on the one hand it called for an “open and safe debate”, while also accusing those who engage in criticism as “bullying.”</p>
<p>The impulse to assume conversation on social media is bullying can subsume a discussion of broader issues being legitimately raised: power imbalances, a lack of diversity in leadership (on judging panels, production sets and in boardrooms) and empty gestures of activism without change — exactly what the filmmakers’ letter calls for.</p>
<p>We need to keep race at the foreground of debates in the Australian screen industry. We are at a turning point. Let’s not waste this moment either by burning everything down, or by smothering the discussion in censure and silence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142485/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Olivia Khoo receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>We are being told we must choose between free speech or bullying. These aren’t the real options.Olivia Khoo, Associate Professor, Film & Screen Studies, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1315732020-02-12T09:57:03Z2020-02-12T09:57:03ZSouth Africa has a rich bag of big, small and eclectic community radio stations<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314793/original/file-20200211-146678-ef4h7k.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">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa’s community radio sector has grown to be a significant player. But there’s comparatively little hard information on the sector. To fill in some of the gaps, the Wits Radio Academy conducted a survey of community radio stations. </p>
<p>We wanted to know where stations are and develop a sense of the different types, employment in the sector, languages used and much else. The results were recently published in a map and some graphs at <a href="http://www.localvoices.co.za">www.localvoices.co.za</a>, produced for us by <a href="https://mediahack.co.za/">MediaHack</a>.</p>
<p>The map allows users to zoom into particular towns and areas, find specific information, including contact details of particular stations, and see how the various types cluster.</p>
<p>Getting information was hard. But we managed to capture detailed data from 68 stations of the 200 we counted as being on air at the time. Though the numbers need to be treated with caution, they represent a first attempt to provide some figures about this important sector.</p>
<p>Two decades after South Africa created a framework for community radio, the sector has grown exponentially, boosted by state support. The extent of this support, not always disinterested, is unusual internationally. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, there are significant challenges, and our information points to major disjunctures between policy and the reality on the ground. A better understanding of the sector is essential if it is to fulfil its promise of diversity.</p>
<h2>Hurdles</h2>
<p>It proved surprisingly difficult to get solid information. Even such basic information as which stations are on air is difficult to come by: the official list of licensees we were sent by the licensing authority itself, the <a href="https://www.icasa.org.za/">Independent Communications Authority of South Africa</a>, was dramatically out of date.</p>
<p>Stations themselves were often difficult to contact, not always keen to participate and often unsure of basic information about themselves. At one station, two informants gave radically different numbers for the station’s overall budget, for instance.</p>
<p>In addition, the survey took place in the midst of the regulator <a href="https://www.icasa.org.za/news/2019/new-community-broadcasting-regulations">publishing new, stricter regulations</a> for community radio. Within months it was <a href="https://www.icasa.org.za/news/2019/icasa-encourages-the-community-broadcasting-service-licensees-to-comply-with-regulatory-requirements">moving to close down</a> up to 29 stations for non-compliance.</p>
<p>After years of a very lax regime, it seems that little effort was put into assisting stations to meet the new requirements. </p>
<h2>Findings and surprises</h2>
<p>We found a plethora of community stations across the country. They are to be found in some very remote areas, although most are concentrated in more densely populated areas. So Gauteng province, South Africa’s economic hub, has the largest number of stations, with 52. It is followed by KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, Limpopo and Eastern Cape, each between 36 and 30.</p>
<p>Over 70% of the stations are bound to a particular geography and serve various disadvantaged communities. This is clearly in line with the intention behind the creation of the sector just over two decades ago. </p>
<p>We identified 14 campus stations as well as six entertainment stations. The remainder of stations serve religious or ethnic groups.</p>
<p>What was a surprise was the range of languages spoken. One of radio’s great strengths is its capacity to engage audiences in whatever language they prefer. But the range of languages being used goes far beyond South Africa’s 11 official languages. The languages on air include not only German, Arabic and Urdu, for example, but also languages whose status as separate languages is not officially recognised. Among them are isiMpondo, isiPhuti, isiHlubi and isiBhaca.</p>
<p>The stations include giants like Soweto’s <a href="https://www.jozifm.co.za/">JoziFM</a>. It has a weekly audience of 571,000, which puts it ahead of many commercial and South African Broadcasting Corporation stations, as well as 14 other stations with over <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=https://brcsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/BRC-RAM-Release-Presentation_February-2019-FINAL.pdf&hl=en">100,000 listeners</a>. </p>
<p>Many others are too small to show up in the listenership surveys.</p>
<h2>Opportunities for youth</h2>
<p>We were also interested in employment in the sector. We found that our sample of 68 stations employs 2,296 people, 38% of them fully paid, 32% partly paid and 30% fully voluntary. It suggests that South Africa’s community radio as a whole may employ somewhere between 6,000 and 7,000 people. </p>
<p>These are media jobs that are often not counted in the general concern about the decline in employment in journalism. Often, community radio stations hire local youth, offering them an opportunity to learn skills and a route out of unemployment.</p>
<p>Most of the stations operate on a survivalist level and should be seen as struggling small, medium and micro enterprises. Some have achieved reasonable stability, while many struggle to stay afloat. Half of our respondents said they have an annual budget of under R500,000 (US$33,562). Another 32% put themselves in the next highest bracket, between R500,000 and R2m ($134,248). This is not a lot of money to run radio stations with, on average, around 30 staff.</p>
<p>This is just some of the data that emerged. It underpins a picture of a media sector that plays an important role in bringing information to disadvantaged communities, reaching millions in a rich range of languages. </p>
<h2>Downside</h2>
<p>The sector’s growth over two decades is undeniable. But instability is rife, and the ability to serve communities independently of local power holders is low. <a href="https://theconversation.com/local-radio-is-plugging-gaps-in-south-africas-mainstream-media-coverage-116543">Community radio’s</a> isolation from the mainstream media has created an information ghetto that is bad for the country as a whole.</p>
<p>Our limited survey has barely scratched the surface of information on South Africa’s community radio. The general lack of available knowledge needs to be addressed or it will undermine sensible policy making.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131573/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Franz Krüger is employed as the Director of the Wits Radio Academy. The research was funded by the Raith Foundation. </span></em></p>Most of the community radio stations operate on a survivalist level, and should be seen as struggling small, medium and micro enterprises.Franz Krüger, Adjunct Professor of Journalism and Director of the Wits Radio Academy, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1245712019-12-06T13:04:51Z2019-12-06T13:04:51ZNPR is still expanding the range of what authority sounds like after 50 years<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304753/original/file-20191202-67002-zzs54k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Susan Stamberg interviewed President Jimmy Carter during a National Public Radio call-in program in 1979.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Watchf-AP-A-DC-USA-APHS360022-Jimmy-Carter/d55ff92e8bc7403097980e2b0a36e1a0/4/0">AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>From its start half a century ago, National Public Radio heralded a new approach to the sound of radio in the United States.</p>
<p>NPR “would speak with many voices and many dialects,” according to “<a href="https://current.org/2012/05/national-public-radio-purposes/">Purposes</a>,” its founding document.</p>
<p>Written in 1970, this blueprint rang with emotional immediacy. NPR would go on the air for the first time a year later, on <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/192827079/overview-and-history">April 20, 1971</a>.</p>
<p>NPR is sometimes mocked, perhaps most memorably in a 1998 “Saturday Night Live” sketch starring <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPpcfH_HHH8">actor Alec Baldwin</a>, for its staid sound production and its hosts’ carefully modulated vocal quality. But the nonprofit network’s commitment to including “many voices” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/fashion/npr-voice-has-taken-over-the-airwaves.html">hatched a small sonic revolution</a> on the airwaves.</p>
<p>As a radio historian, I have written about the medium’s unique blend of <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/radioas-intimate-public">intimate voices and public address</a>. As the 50th anniversary of public radio draws near, I’m interested in NPR’s contradictory legacy of <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/publiceditor/2019/08/07/749060986/sounding-like-a-reporter-and-a-real-person-too">sonic innovation and monotony</a>.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bPpcfH_HHH8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Saturday Night Live’‘s Schweddy Balls sketch spoofed NPR.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>This is NPR</h2>
<p>One of the first voices to become associated with NPR’s flagship evening news program was <a href="https://www.npr.org/people/2101242/susan-stamberg">Susan Stamberg</a>. Hired in 1971, she soon became the first woman to co-anchor a national nightly newscast on radio or television in U.S. history.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.radiodiaries.org/the-man-who-put-the-p-in-npr/">William Siemering</a>, the network’s first program director and the <a href="https://current.org/2012/05/national-public-radio-purposes/">author of “Purposes</a>,” wanted the voice of the network to communicate curiosity rather than authority.</p>
<p>Stamberg, 31 when she was hired, brought youthful exuberance to the job. And, in another departure from newscasting’s baritones, with their <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/product/174425">supposedly neutral midwestern</a> accents, Stamberg’s voice was “<a href="http://www.lisaaphillips.com/PublicRadio.html">nasal, quizzical, and unashamedly female,</a>” as Lisa Phillips put it. It came she said, “with a hometown – New York – and an ethnicity – Jewish.”</p>
<p>The decision to stick with young and relatively unproven voices came at a cost, according to <a href="https://experts.news.wisc.edu/experts/jack-mitchell">Jack Mitchell</a>, the original director of the “All Things Considered” evening newscast.</p>
<p>In his account of NPR’s beginnings, “<a href="https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/56608245/lists">Listener Supported</a>,” Mitchell later recalled how Siemering passed up Ford Foundation funding tied to hiring the proven and respected newscaster <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/clearing-the-air/oclc/1358484">Edward P. Morgan</a>, a white man originally from Walla Walla, Washington. Instead, NPR stood by the less “authoritative” and more engaging voices of Stamberg and her peers, even if they sometimes sounded “less than professional.” </p>
<p>“Masculine, commanding” voices were “exactly how we DON’T want to sound,” Siemering told his staff, as Stamberg later recalled in “<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8492866-this-is-npr">This Is NPR: The First Forty Years</a>.”</p>
<p>Early feedback on Stamberg from station managers around the country wasn’t encouraging. She sounded too New York, too Jewish, too off-putting, Mitchell wrote.</p>
<p>Siemering hid these negative reviews from Stamberg as she found her own broadcast voice, which helped her win many prestigious <a href="https://www.npr.org/people/2101242/susan-stamberg">awards in broadcast and digital journalism</a>. The network regards her as one of its “founding mothers.”</p>
<iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/409531204/409531205" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"></iframe>
<h2>Women as anchors</h2>
<p>NPR has kept speaking with many voices that would sound out of place on the air anywhere else. Many, if not most, have been female. As hosts and anchors, correspondents and reporters, women have played a key role in giving NPR its distinctive sound.</p>
<p><a href="https://law.nd.edu/news-events/news/npr-nina-totenberg-notre-dame-law/">Nina Totenberg</a>, <a href="https://www.wellesley.edu/alumnae/awards/achievementawards/allrecipients/linda-cozby-wertheimer-65">Linda Wertheimer</a> and <a href="https://www.biography.com/news/cokie-roberts-obituary">Cokie Roberts</a> brought hard-nosed journalism and inside-the-Beltway sensibility to the fledgling network in the 1970s. In the process, these white women changed what the news sounded like.</p>
<p>By the time Wertheimer took over as an “All Things Considered” co-anchor in 1989, it was no longer controversial to hear women deliver the news of the day.</p>
<p>But on network television, most of the early stints for the women who were the first to anchor daily news programs were short-lived. <a href="https://variety.com/2017/tv/features/barbara-walters-abc-tv-news-1202379901/">Barbara Walters</a> lasted two years in the mid-1970s as an “ABC Evening News” co-anchor. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Diane-Sawyer">Diane Sawyer</a> co-anchored the “CBS Morning News,” from 1981 to 1984 and <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/katie-couric-makes-network-anchor-debut">Katie Couric</a> spent five years, starting in 2006, as the sole “CBS Evening News” anchor. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/every-night-at-five-susan-stambergs-all-things-considered-book/oclc/7998543">Curating distinctive voices</a> “rich with the rhythms and accents of their regions” was another explicit way in which “All Things Considered” initially sought to sonically mark its difference from what had come before, according to Stamberg.</p>
<h2>A wider range?</h2>
<p>NPR’s commitment to many voices included those who brought regional, as well as gender, diversity to the airwaves.</p>
<p>Occasional commentators <a href="https://baxter-black.merchmadeeasy.com/">Baxter Black</a>, a cowboy poet from Texas; <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/09/04/470547500/remembering-culinary-griot-and-npr-commentator-vertamae-smart-grosvenor">Vertamae Grosvenor</a>, a culinary anthropologist born in the Gullah community of North Carolina; and <a href="https://apnews.com/053ede322d28a32b87570b1e85f04ee3">Kim Williams</a>, a naturalist, checked in during the late 1970s and early 1980s, with field reports from their corners of the country. <a href="https://www.codrescu.com/">Andrei Codrescu</a>, a Romanian-American artist living in New Orleans, began to bring his thickly accented English and droll humor to NPR in 1983.</p>
<p>Putting these folks on air seemed to address the network’s vision of speaking in many voices and accents. The intent, Mitchell wrote, was <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/56608245/lists">explicitly democratic</a>, to be “representative of the nation. That meant white, black, Hispanic, Asian and as many women as men.”</p>
<p>NPR’s growth led to the opening of foreign bureaus, even as print publications hemorrhaged these expensive positions. International coverage further expanded its vocal range.</p>
<p>Some of the women now working as the network’s anchors got their start as foreign correspondents. <a href="https://www.npr.org/people/102828890/doualy-xaykaothao">Doualy Xaykaothao</a> spent years reporting from Asia and <a href="https://www.npr.org/people/4462099/lourdes-garcia-navarro">Lulu Garcia-Navarro</a> covered Latin America and the Middle East for NPR.</p>
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<p>Other women with nonconventional news voices, including <a href="https://www.npr.org/people/17796129/eleanor-beardsley">Eleanor Beardsley</a> in Paris, <a href="https://www.npr.org/people/2101034/sylvia-poggioli">Sylvia Poggioli</a> in Rome and <a href="https://www.npr.org/people/4513318/ofeibea-quist-arcton">Ofeabia Quist-Arcton</a> in Dakar, are still overseas. Their signature approach to signing off with their name and locale is a sonic pleasure for many NPR fans.</p>
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<p>Even so, by the turn of the century, the network faced complaints about its <a href="https://www.bostonmagazine.com/2006/05/15/fear-on-the-air-1/">tight control over pronunciation</a>, cadence <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/01/30/382612791/is-there-a-pubradiovoice-that-sounds-like-america">and accent</a>, especially for <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12359.Radio_On">women</a> and <a href="https://transom.org/2015/stephanie-foo/">people</a> of <a href="https://transom.org/2015/chenjerai-kumanyika/">color</a>. </p>
<p>Critics denounced a sense that the voices of NPR’s female journalists sounded “<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12359.Radio_On">alike in their sober nasal condescension</a>,” as the writer and actor Sarah Vowell put it – hinting at a class-related critique, along with a gendered one.</p>
<p>NPR’s women, some of these naysayers contend, have low-pitched voices that sound too much like men and that NPR voices in general sound more like each other than everyone else. Writer <a href="http://scottgsherman.com/bio.php">Scott Sherman</a> calls it the “<a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/good-gray-npr/">NPR drone</a>.”</p>
<p>Even Stamberg said in a 2010 interview that one price of NPR’s success was that listeners weren’t “<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27110828-lost-sound">hearing great voices anymore</a>.” </p>
<p>Another round of criticism, this one aimed primarily at young women, identified “<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/publiceditor/2019/08/07/749060986/sounding-like-a-reporter-and-a-real-person-too">vocal fry</a>,” a <a href="https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/is-vocal-fry-ruining-my-voice">low creaky way</a> of speaking, as an irritating feature of public radio voices. The critique, which <a href="https://www.npr.org/2015/07/23/425608745/from-upspeak-to-vocal-fry-are-we-policing-young-womens-voices">came mostly from men and older folks</a>, suggested that despite what the critics were saying, NPR’s sound was not static but evolving.</p>
<iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/425608745/425637903" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"></iframe>
<p>NPR’s sonic palette and its range of voices has broadened in recent years, especially through its podcasts and on weekends – when Navarro, who is Latina, and <a href="https://www.npr.org/people/5201175/michel-martin">Michel Martin</a>, an African American woman, are two of the network’s main three news anchors.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510317/its-been-a-minute-with-sam-sanders">Sam Sanders</a>, an openly gay African American man, hosts a cultural talk show branded with his own name. Programs like “<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/altlatino/">Alt.Latino</a>” and “<a href="https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510315/radio-ambulante">Radio Ambulante</a>,” which are either in Spanish or in English punctuated with Spanish words, indicate that the network aims to serve new listeners. </p>
<p>As NPR looks forward to the next 50 years, its decisions over whose voices belong on the air will determine how well it lives up to its founding commitment to sound like America. And it is likely that criticism of how those voices sound will reflect dominant attitudes about who gets to speak. </p>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124571/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason Loviglio does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From the beginning, National Public Radio vowed that it would speak with ‘many voices.’Jason Loviglio, Chair and Associate Professor of Media and Communication Studies, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1223082019-08-27T04:53:50Z2019-08-27T04:53:50ZAustralia’s art institutions don’t reflect our diversity: it’s time to change that<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289171/original/file-20190823-170910-xayc8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The cast of The Golden Shield by Anchuli Felicia King, currently on at Melbourne Theatre Company, shows faces too rarely seen on stage.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jeff Busby/MTC</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For most of us, it is easy to pass judgement on others while finding it difficult to reflect on ourselves.</p>
<p>Diversity Arts Australia recently undertook a research project, <a href="http://diversityarts.org.au/app/uploads/Shifting-the-Balance-DARTS-small.pdf">Shifting the Balance</a>, with the assistance of Western Sydney University and BYP Group. We investigated representation of culturally and/or linguistically diverse (CALD) Australians in leadership positions within our major arts, screen and cultural organisations.</p>
<p>The focus was on CALD rather than other measures because we wanted to reflect the Australian Human Rights Commission’s <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/Leading%20for%20Change_Blueprint2018_FINAL_Web.pdf">classification of cultural backgrounds</a>. Where participants self-identified as First Nations people we recorded this data but we did not include it in this report (we aim to expand the focus in collaboration at a future date).</p>
<p>We began with an analysis of the publicly available biographical information about board chairs and members, CEOs, creative directors, senior executives and award panel judges from 200 major cultural organisations, awards and government bodies. These findings were then returned to these organisations to confirm or review the data. </p>
<p>We made it clear the information would be non-identifiable – our aim, after all, is to identify issues, not attack organisations.</p>
<p>It did not take long for some of our funders to call us about concerns that had been raised with them regarding our research.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289357/original/file-20190826-170931-agsfo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289357/original/file-20190826-170931-agsfo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289357/original/file-20190826-170931-agsfo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289357/original/file-20190826-170931-agsfo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289357/original/file-20190826-170931-agsfo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289357/original/file-20190826-170931-agsfo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289357/original/file-20190826-170931-agsfo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The 2019 Ramsay Art Prize displaying exciting work from young Australian artists of many cultural backgrounds.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Saul Steed/Art Gallery of South Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A number of organisations and individuals told us they would not participate. We were accused of not understanding the complexity of the organisations or, indeed, diversity. </p>
<p>One respondent explained to us that, because their spouse was ethnically Chinese, they did not see themselves as “Anglo-Australian”. Privately, I was even told by one potential funder that migrant populations did not prioritise “the arts” - so such research was a waste of time.</p>
<p>This sort of sensitivity demonstrates exactly why we need this research: many Australians are not aware of how far their misunderstanding of lack of diversity extends.</p>
<p>Despite such reactions, we made the decision to persist with the research. When organisations refused to participate, we thanked them for their consideration, removed them from our database and replaced them with alternative ones. </p>
<h2>Overwhelmingly non-migrant</h2>
<p>The findings were staggering. Despite public commitments to diversity, leaders, directors and board members of Australia’s major cultural bodies are overwhelmingly from non-migrant backgrounds.</p>
<p>Less than half of our nation’s museums, music and opera companies, screen organisations and theatre companies have any representatives from diverse cultural or linguistic heritage among their leadership teams. </p>
<p>Less than 10% of artistic directors come from culturally diverse backgrounds.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289184/original/file-20190823-170922-gqbcyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289184/original/file-20190823-170922-gqbcyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289184/original/file-20190823-170922-gqbcyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289184/original/file-20190823-170922-gqbcyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289184/original/file-20190823-170922-gqbcyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289184/original/file-20190823-170922-gqbcyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289184/original/file-20190823-170922-gqbcyi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Belvoir Theatre’s Counting and Cracking (2018) had a primarily Sri Lankan-Australian cast.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brett Boardman/Belvoir</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The literary and publishing industry had the highest CALD representation among leaders, 14%. This figure in theatre, dance and stage was just 5% – mirroring numbers found by the Australian Human Rights Commission when looking at the broader corporate sector. </p>
<h2>A progressive sector?</h2>
<p>Australia’s arts sector sees itself – and is seen by others – as progressive and <a href="https://www.arts.qld.gov.au/aq-blog/arts-education/multiculturalism-and-the-main-stage">inclusive</a>. So understanding why it falls short in actual representation is complex. </p>
<p>England’s primary art funding body, Arts Council England, has released an annual diversity report since 2016. In the introduction to this year’s report, chair Nicholas Serota noted “in some respects there are improvements; in others we are still treading water”. </p>
<p>Writing on this for the Guardian, Clive Nwonka, a fellow at the London School of Economics, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/15/arts-diversity-arts-council-england-inequality">argued</a> that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A combination of industries placing economic interests over social interests, resistance and disinterest from stakeholders, and poorly conceptualised initiatives left diversity in the wilderness. […] The sector became littered with the corpses of failed diversity schemes.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While it is difficult to compare the experience of different nations, the response from our research shows similar resistance in some sections of the community.</p>
<h2>A culture of resistance</h2>
<p>Australia has a history of separating “ethnic art” from the mainstream arts community. Non-English language companies peaked in the late 1980s, with companies such as the Greek-language Filiki Players in Melbourne and the Italian-language Doppio Teatro in Adelaide. </p>
<p>Despite almost 50% of Australians having at least <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/lookup/Media%20Release3">one parent born overseas</a>, this separation between “mainstream” and “ethnic” art has continued. </p>
<p>Through many symposium and discussion forums, we confirmed many artists and creatives felt major organisations often saw diversity as the <a href="https://issuu.com/diversityartsaustralia/docs/beyond_tick_boxes_report">domain of minor organisations</a>.</p>
<p>This bias is likely to be unconscious. Recognition of such bias within orchestras saw the introduction of “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership/2013/oct/14/blind-auditions-orchestras-gender-bias">blind auditions</a>”, which have increased the representation of female musicians in top orchestras from 5% in 1970 to over 30% today. </p>
<h2>What can be done?</h2>
<p>The arts are there to tell the stories that capture the rich tapestry of our nation – and to do this, we must seek out artists and artistic leaders that reflect this diversity. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289169/original/file-20190823-170922-prgp4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289169/original/file-20190823-170922-prgp4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289169/original/file-20190823-170922-prgp4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289169/original/file-20190823-170922-prgp4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289169/original/file-20190823-170922-prgp4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289169/original/file-20190823-170922-prgp4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289169/original/file-20190823-170922-prgp4h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The cast of The Heights, a new Australian soap showing the diversity of Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ben King/ABC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The cultural and screen sectors must set targets, design, and implement diversity inclusion plans. These should not be undertaken via a tick-the box-training session, but progressive and ongoing strategies that are embedded into the organisation.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-heights-at-last-a-credible-australian-working-class-soap-112961">The Heights - at last, a credible Australian working-class soap</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We need strong arts policy (Australia doesn’t have a national arts policy at all) with diversity at its core.</p>
<p>As in the UK, funding bodies must tie funding to meeting <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/dec/08/arts-council-england-make-progress-diversity-funding-axed-bazalgette">minimum diversity targets</a>, ensuring organisations reflect on what it means to tell an Australian story. </p>
<p>The arts act as a mirror to who we are. If the arts community simply reflects on Australia of a bygone era we fail to acknowledge our complexity, exclude most Australians and lack authenticity. </p>
<p>Finally, while 22 organisations refused to participate in our research, and many did not respond, we must remember 49% did send through their data - giving us the potential for an arts and screen community that really reflects Australia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122308/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Arvanitakis received funding from the Australian Research Council, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network and the Office of Learning and Teaching. He is the Chair of Diversity Arts Australia, an Academic Fellow: Australia India Institute and on the Advisory Board Member: Herbert and Valmae Freilich Foundation.</span></em></p>New research shows less than 10% of Australia’s artistic directors come from culturally diverse backgrounds – but many didn’t want the research to be done at all.James Arvanitakis, Professor in Cultural and Social Analysis, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1162802019-06-20T19:59:55Z2019-06-20T19:59:55ZFriday essay: diversity in the media is vital - but Australia has a long way to go<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280122/original/file-20190619-118535-kibqmv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Michelle Guthrie in 2018: the former ABC managing director made greater staff diversity a top priority. But her final Equity and Diversity annual report failed to meet several long-held targets.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joel Carrett/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Walkley Foundation’s inaugural <a href="https://www.walkleys.com/awards/media-diversity-australia-award/">Media Diversity Australia award</a> will be announced on June 26, and has had an impressive number of entries for what was once regarded as a niche area.</p>
<p>Diversity in the media is no longer just about minorities; it is well and truly a mainstream issue. Streaming company <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-netflix-inclusion-20180829-story.html">Netflix </a> has appointed an executive to oversee its diversity and inclusion strategy. British media companies like The Financial Times, The Telegraph and Sky <a href="https://digiday.com/media/think-silver-bullet-uk-publishers-hiring-diversity-execs/">are following suit</a>. </p>
<p>As we face a growing tide of unregulated hate speech, the role of the media is crucial in normalising diversity and demolishing the “othering” of difference that divides us. So how is the Australian media faring in the diversity stakes?</p>
<p>Last year, the <a href="https://www.sdin.com.au/diversity/">Screen Diversity Inclusion Network</a> (SDIN) introduced an inaugural award for producers and projects delivering diverse storytelling. It went to Ned Lander Media for the first Australian Indigenous animated children’s series “<a href="https://www.if.com.au/little-j-and-big-cuz-wins-sdin-award/">Little J and Big Cuz</a>”, broadcast on NITV and ABC.</p>
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<p>The screen diversity network represents the peak commercial network body FreeTV as well as the public broadcasters and national and state screen funding bodies; all 22 members have signed a <a href="https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/media-centre/news/2017/08-01-media-organisations-sign-diversity-charter">charter</a> to promote diversity. </p>
<p>SDIN spokeswoman Georgie McClean says things are changing. Network Ten and Screen Australia’s <a href="https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/media-centre/news/2019/03-25-network-10-screen-australia-out-here">“Out Here” initiative</a>, for instance, supports filmmakers with funds to make documentaries on LGBTQI+ communities in regional and rural Australia. </p>
<p>The Nine Network’s Today Show is fronted by two women; its entertainment reporter is Indigenous journalist Brooke Boney, and Syrian-born Sara Abo is a journalist on 60 Minutes. Channel Seven was recently given an <a href="https://pressroom.mipcom.com/press-release-en-2019/mipcom-diversify-tv-excellence-awards-2018and-the-winners-are-1017-680">international TV Excellence award </a>for its portrayal of LGBTQ issues on Home and Away. It has also promoted female directors. </p>
<p>But there is still much work to be done in the journalistic sphere. <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-research-shows-how-australias-newsrooms-are-failing-minority-communities-104569">Recent research </a> by Deakin University academics, for instance, found that more than a third of media articles reflected negative views of minority communities. </p>
<p>The Media Diversity award will honour reporting that is nuanced enough to alter perceptions and attitudes, challenge stereotypes and fight misinformation. (The <a href="https://www.walkleys.com/2019-walkley-mid-year-celebration-finalists-announced/">finalists</a> are all ABC journalists). The Walkley Foundation created the award with the assistance of a non-profit organisation called <a href="https://www.mediadiversityaustralia.org/">Media Diversity Australia</a>, set up by two ex-ABC employees, Isabel Lo and Antoinette Lattouf. </p>
<p>“It’s not a ‘brown award for brown people’ because all journalists irrespective of background have a responsibility to be fair and balanced in the often complex area of culture and disability reporting,” said Lattouf, director of the organisation and a senior reporter with Channel 10.</p>
<p>Media Diversity Australia has begun a diversity audit of free to air journalism across all Australian networks. From morning television to late night current affairs, it will interview content makers and senior editorial staff. The research will be carried out by several academics, including former Race Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane. As Latouff explains: “The academics will then draw on international comparisons and evaluate strategies that have worked abroad in places like Canada and the United Kingdom and America and make suggestions for local media outlets.”</p>
<p>So how much catching up has Australia got to do? Deborah Williams is the executive director of the UK’s Creative Diversity Network, which works to improve representation in the United Kingdom. Recently, she was <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/speakingout/deborah-williams/10975694">asked this question </a> by Professor Larissa Behrendt on ABC Radio. </p>
<p>Australia, she replied, “is where the UK was 20 years ago”. Both women then erupted into embarrassed giggles, agreeing there was still work to be done.</p>
<h2>The importance of empathy</h2>
<p>That diversity is <a href="https://www.pwc.com.au/press-room/2016/media-outlook-jun16.html">good for business</a> is well documented. Advertising campaigns now regularly feature diverse faces and blended families. But the media has an important role in reflecting difference and eliciting empathy for those from diverse backgrounds. </p>
<p>When the Easter Sri Lankan suicide bombings devastated a country that had only just emerged from a 30-year civil war, the world was shocked. But incredibly, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/sri-lanka-why-do-we-care-more-about-notre-dame/11039992">according to Google Trends,</a> there was up to nine times more search interest in the Paris Notre Dame fire than there was for the Christian dead in Sri Lanka within 24 hours of each event. </p>
<p>ABC journalist Avani Dias <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/sri-lanka-why-do-we-care-more-about-notre-dame/11039992">wrote a moving oped</a> challenging our deficit of empathy for the victims of this bombing. “You may have also been at an Easter service or celebrating the holiday with your family,” she wrote. “This is relatable. … Maybe you haven’t travelled to Sri Lanka - it’s true that fewer Australians travel there than France - but all of this is relatable. All of this should be close to home.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279961/original/file-20190618-118535-1c8duus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279961/original/file-20190618-118535-1c8duus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279961/original/file-20190618-118535-1c8duus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279961/original/file-20190618-118535-1c8duus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279961/original/file-20190618-118535-1c8duus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279961/original/file-20190618-118535-1c8duus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279961/original/file-20190618-118535-1c8duus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279961/original/file-20190618-118535-1c8duus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Relatives and friends bury the victims of a series of bomb blasts at cemetery Don David Katuwapitiya in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 23 April 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">M.A. Pushpa Kumara/EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Relatability and empathy is <a href="https://www.cjr.org/analysis/journalism_and_the_power_of_emotions.php">what makes storytelling powerful</a>.
<a href="https://9now.nine.com.au/today/brooke-boney/0bc4bd16-8a55-4285-8339-22385df54abf">Brooke Boney</a> is a young Gamilaroi Gomeroi woman who moved from morning radio on ABC Triple J’s Hack to Channel Nine’s Today Show. Within days of starting work there, she had made an impact. </p>
<p>For a moment, last January, I thought I was watching SBS when presenter Deborah Knight declared “we are a country with a diversity of cultures” and then threw to Boney for her thoughts on the significance of Australia Day. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yrg2gRp8Q28?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>“I can’t separate the 26th of January with the fact that my brothers are more likely to go to jail than they are to school,” said Boney. “Or that my little sister or my mum are more likely to be beaten and raped than anyone else’s sisters or mum. And that started from that day. So, for me it’s a difficult day and I don’t want to celebrate it … That is the day that it changed for us. What some people would say is the end. That’s the turning point. </p>
<p>The audience got a measured, normalised discussion and a dose of empathy. Co-host Georgie Gardner finished with, "Thank you for the insight Brooke”. And at breakfast tables across the country, a conversation was started.</p>
<h2>Pigeonholing</h2>
<p>The ABC should be commended for its work in hiring and training journalists like Boney and Dias, but it has a problem retaining them. </p>
<p>Media Diversity Australia has been conducting workshops in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and surveying former ABC staff of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Chair Isabel Lo says there is dissatisfaction in how some are treated at the national broadcaster. </p>
<p>One experienced reporter, she says, was often mistaken for a cadet or work experience junior. “They often feel pigeon-holed when it comes to stories they are enlisted to cover or when their opinion is sought.”</p>
<p>The ABC has had various programs in place aimed at achieving diversity in staff and content. Several years ago, there was the <a href="https://theconversation.com/whose-australian-stories-cultural-diversity-at-the-abc-29481">Diversity Action Group</a>. That was disbanded and there is now a Diversity and Inclusion Standing Committee. It has series of interconnecting groups containing heads of departments at the top, who work across and down to diversity “champions”. </p>
<p>These are people representing women, Indigenous, disabled and LGBTIQ employees and those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The champions are often consulted on broadcasting content issues relating to diversity.</p>
<p>But Isabel Lo says this can inadvertently lead to pigeonholing. “One reporter was continually referred to as Chinese and asked about Chinese New Year and for Mandarin translations, despite repeatedly telling them that is not where the individual’s family hails from, they are in fact Vietnamese.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280131/original/file-20190619-118514-177r6e2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280131/original/file-20190619-118514-177r6e2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280131/original/file-20190619-118514-177r6e2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280131/original/file-20190619-118514-177r6e2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280131/original/file-20190619-118514-177r6e2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280131/original/file-20190619-118514-177r6e2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280131/original/file-20190619-118514-177r6e2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280131/original/file-20190619-118514-177r6e2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Migrants from Vietnam wait for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to arrive at a multicultural event at Koondoola, north of Perth, in April.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Done badly, diversity policies can backfire. According to <a href="https://pressgazette.co.uk/ex-broadcaster-trevor-phillips-claims-uk-media-diversity-efforts-have-been-tokenistic/">former UK broadcaster Trevor Phillips</a>, some efforts at diversity are “tokenistic” with many television stations “self-congratulating their efforts”. </p>
<p>Quoted in the Press Gazette, he said a lack of diversity at the top of the industry had led to “big mistakes”. </p>
<p>“Our efforts, I would be generous to describe them as tokenistic. The gap between the self-estimation in this field and its actual reality is probably wider than in any other sector I know.” </p>
<p>He said policy is driven by fear of being seen to be racist rather than actually facilitating equality of opportunity.</p>
<h2>Is the ABC meeting its own diversity targets?</h2>
<p>When Michelle Guthrie <a href="https://theconversation.com/michelle-guthrie-should-look-to-uk-and-reality-tv-to-achieve-a-more-diverse-abc-58931">took over</a> from Mark Scott as ABC managing director, she made a commitment to diversity a top priority. Speaking in <a href="http://about.abc.net.au/speeches/abc-news-dexterity-diversity-and-collaboration/">October 2016</a>, she stressed that diversity is key to relevance.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I have driven this issue hard in my first six months at the ABC. Not because as a daughter of Chinese Australian parents I can claim some sort of moral superiority on the issue. But it is because the ABC Board and I fervently believe that the national broadcaster can only truly reflect cultural diversity if it lives it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But at the time of her departure three years later, her final <a href="http://about.abc.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/ABC-ED-Annual-Report-2017-2018.pdf">Equity and Diversity Annual Report</a> had failed to meet several long-held targets.</p>
<p>While targets for a required percentage of employees across the board to be women and Indigenous employees were met, the percentage of senior executive roles occupied by those from non-English speaking backgrounds fell to 10.2% (despite a target of 15%). Meanwhile, the percentage of content makers from a non-English speaking background rose marginally from 8.7% to 9% - well short of the 12% target. </p>
<p>The percentage of employees with disabilities - across the board - actually fell from 7% to 5.7%. </p>
<p>While the ABC publishes its diversity figures online, all other free to air television stations were also contacted for information on their diverse hires. Either none was available or emails were not returned.</p>
<p>After three email requests, SBS sent a response that was too late to be analysed properly for this publication. An SBS spokesman said 51% of employees speak a language other than English at home and 44% were born overseas. However, these figures also include the specialist language radio programs. The overall figure for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees is 4%, but this includes NITV.
14% of employees identify as being members of the LGBTIQ community and SBS took home brand of the year for the third year in a row at the LGBTI Awards. </p>
<p>I sent a list of questions to the ABC seeking a response to its diversity figures and to Media Diversity Australia’s claims about the pigeonholing of employees from culturally diverse backgrounds. An ABC spokesperson said having a diverse workforce is a strategic priority and a standing agenda item at every leadership team and board meeting. Said the spokeswoman:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There is clearly more work to do to achieve our goals and targets – particularly in relation to cultural diversity. Its disappointing the diversity measures we have in place haven’t yet had more of an impact on the representation of cultural diversity in our content making teams and that we fell short in our targets for the representation of NESB employees in our workforce.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280132/original/file-20190619-118514-d2nquj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280132/original/file-20190619-118514-d2nquj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280132/original/file-20190619-118514-d2nquj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280132/original/file-20190619-118514-d2nquj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280132/original/file-20190619-118514-d2nquj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280132/original/file-20190619-118514-d2nquj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280132/original/file-20190619-118514-d2nquj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280132/original/file-20190619-118514-d2nquj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The ABC: more work to be done in representing cultural diversity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joel Carrett/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The ABC endured debilitating funding cuts during Guthrie’s tenure, with an <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-abc-didnt-receive-a-reprieve-in-the-budget-its-still-facing-staggering-cuts-114922">estimated accumulated reduction of $393 million</a> over five years. The spokesperson says external pressures such as a climate of budget cuts and hiring freezes have affected the ABC’s ability to meet its diversity targets.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Following the most recent headcount freeze, initiated in early July 2018, the number of jobs advertised externally dropped from 64% (in the second quarter) to 28% (in the third quarter) reducing the opportunity to pursue our diversity targets through external recruitment.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Research worldwide <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/26/success/layoffs-women-minorities/index.html">shows that</a> when budgets are cut, so are diverse hires. </p>
<p>Isabel Lo agrees. Working under the spectre of austerity is “stressful at the best of times,” she says, but tends to penalise those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. “They are arguably the newer and more junior hires on short-term contracts, easily expendable when making budget cuts.”</p>
<p>The ABC is facing more cuts, <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/abc-warns-tough-decisions-will-need-to-be-made-on-staffing-and-services-in-wake-of-budget/news-story/940d5ab717d2b38c09c582a23f7e4170">according to</a> managing Director David Anderson, and this does not bode well for diversity. This week he flagged <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/abc-boss-to-push-for-more-diversity-of-views-among-panel-show-guests-20190616-p51y7k.html">prioritising a diversity of political views</a> among panel show guests. </p>
<p>ABC Chair Ita Buttrose has already highlighted the need for an ABC board with relevant media experience. But what has never been achieved, and arguably is needed more than ever, is a board that reflects the diversity of Australia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116280/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Vatsikopoulos is affiliated with ABC Alumni</span></em></p>As we face a growing tide of unregulated hate speech, the media is crucial in normalising diversity. Yet progress here has been slow. Even the ABC has failed to meet some of its own targets for hiring a diversity of employees.Helen Vatsikopoulos, Lecturer in Journalism, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1067072018-11-29T00:19:59Z2018-11-29T00:19:59ZThe problem with Apu: why we need better portrayals of people of colour on television<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244721/original/file-20181109-116826-vcjsup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">After 28 years on screen, the controversial character of Apu is set to be written out of The Simpsons. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096697/mediaviewer/rm1961031936">20th Century Fox</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This piece is part of a series on race and racism in Australia. The series examines this complex and incendiary topic, and the role it plays in contemporary Australia. You can read the rest of the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-racism-is-so-hard-to-define-and-even-harder-to-understand-106236">here</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/twelve-charts-on-race-and-racism-in-australia-105961">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>While giving a talk at <a href="https://ice.org.au/">a community arts organisation in Parramatta</a> on why the stories of diverse areas like Western Sydney are not seen on mainstream screens, I was introduced to a screenwriter who had formerly worked for one of Australia’s longest-running soaps, Home and Away. </p>
<p>His take was that having studied post-colonial theory as a white person in the 1990s, he was hesitant to write stories based on experiences and cultures other than his own. Another prominent producer on the panel declared that he never thought about diversity when deciding what stories to invest in. </p>
<p>These perspectives – avoidance for fear of offending and a colour-blind disregard for diversity, respectively – are emblematic of our faltering progress on the issue of media diversity. Most recently, the issue has been in the spotlight due to <a href="https://thebrag.com/the-simpsons-apu-written-out/">reports that the controversial character of Apu</a> is going to be written out of the iconic animated sitcom, The Simpsons. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/goodbye-apu-heres-what-you-meant-to-us-105948">Goodbye Apu -- here's what you meant to us</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The problem with Apu</h2>
<p>The fact that the Apu issue has made international headlines speaks to not only the wide appeal of The Simpsons, but also the grief this characterisation has caused viewers of South Asian origin over the years. </p>
<p>In his 2017 documentary <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/nov/15/problem-with-apu-simpsons-hari-konabolu-documentary">The Problem with Apu</a>, Indian-American comedian Hari Kondabolu explored how this prime-time stereotyping has been a source of racial micro-aggressions and slurs, even for Simpsons’ fans who appreciate the bent rules of comedy. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zGzvEqBvkP8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘It’s funny because it’s racist,’ Kondabolu says of Apu’s characterisation.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The controversy surrounding Apu is not a case of taking offence at a benign joke. Research has shown that being exposed to certain comedic devices and conventions over the long term <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c6f9/d7fb692e4ad80dac58fea756580941bf7a1e.pdf">naturalises racial stereotypes and differences</a> for audiences of all backgrounds. </p>
<p>The characterisation of Apu has real implications for the lives of people of colour who bear the <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/life/culture/article/2018/05/03/how-bullies-used-apu-taunt-me-school">brunt of bullying based on the character</a>, and for actors of South Asian origin who are only seen as authentic if they <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/paxx4n/south-asian-actors-are-fighting-hollywoods-racism">sound and act like they run a Kwik-E-Mart</a>. </p>
<p>Kondabolu’s documentary recognises Apu as a form of “<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-why-blackface-and-brownface-offend-65881">brownface</a>”, where a white actor dons the exaggerated characteristics of another racial group. Turning characters into caricatures, this practice <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/10/29/7089591/why-is-blackface-offensive-halloween-costume">perpetuates demeaning stereotypes</a> and <a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/47wsn3an9780252037405.html">distances the viewer from the characters in question</a>. </p>
<p>A non-Indian actor (Hank Azaria) voicing Apu in a thick, exaggerated accent may not have been out of place in 1990. However, a growing awareness of the potentially harmful repercussions of such characterisations means that it is no longer so. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cqidvgTzZgA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Apu is characterised by an exaggerated Indian accent and his stories often draw on racial stereotypes.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So what are the alternatives for maintaining the essence of good comedy while portraying non-white communities in a substantive and ethical manner?</p>
<h2>The need for stories created by people of colour</h2>
<p>Since 2016, I have been working on an <a href="http://www.utas.edu.au/arts-law-education/research/migration-cultural-diversity-and-television">Australia Research Council-funded Linkage project</a> that examines the parallel histories of migration and television in Australia. Through interviews with creators of “diverse” content, it has become evident that comedy is often a lightning rod for broader conversations about racial stereotyping. For people of colour, it can serve as a specific narrative tool to help them create their own authentic stories. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/shock-horror-the-big-end-of-town-has-finally-discovered-australias-media-is-a-whitewash-63809">Shock horror: the big end of town has finally discovered Australia's media is a whitewash</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Part of comedy’s draw is its ability to comment on current cultural and social issues in an often more engaging way than the traditional news media. In the context of racial representation, comedy can be used as a hook to engage audiences who might not otherwise watch a show explicitly about race. </p>
<p>Ben Law, the writer of SBS’s <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/programs/the-family-law">The Family Law</a> (a comedy centred around a Chinese-Australian family), addressed this in my interview with him:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We want to make a show that is as dramatically hefty as it is funny… We are writing it as a comedy to invite people in.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>By drawing in people from a range of class and ethnic backgrounds, comedy can explore complex issues of difference with nuance and without reverting to stereotypes.</p>
<p>Besides audience engagement, comedy is a powerful medium for people of colour to tell their own stories on their own terms. Kondabolu has referred to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/nov/15/problem-with-apu-simpsons-hari-konabolu-documentary">stand-up routines</a> as “direct to consumer, farm to table”. The genre allows those previously underrepresented and misrepresented to set their own agendas and create their own narratives, rather than waiting for mainstream institutions and their decision-makers to change.</p>
<p>However, we must be wary of letting comedy created by people of colour get shunted to the side as a subcategory of the genre. <a href="https://robshehadie.com/">Rob Shehadie</a>, who has a long career in “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/australia-s-new-wave-of-wog-humour-is-about-class-as-much-as-race-20180627-p4zo2s.html">wog comedy</a>” in Australia, told me these labels can make the stories seem less accessible to people who don’t identify with specific ethnic backgrounds. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s not like I don’t like doing ethnic comedy. I’m an ethnic and I do comedy. I try to water it down because people go, ‘Oh you’re doing an ethnic comedy, a multicultural comedy’, but really I’m telling my life or my experiences and I’m born in Australia, so really I’m an Australian doing Australian comedy. </p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fresh-off-the-boat-and-the-rise-of-niche-tv-37451">Fresh Off the Boat and the rise of niche TV</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This speaks to why media created by people of colour need to be seen as within the mainstream, in line with an evolving and multicultural Australian identity. Comedy is a touchstone for how immigrant nations creatively mediate belonging.</p>
<h2>So what do we do about Apu?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2018/04/09/simpsons-offers-toothless-response-criticisms-racist-stereotyping-problem-apu/498462002/">An episode of The Simpsons earlier this year</a> responded to Kondabolu’s documentary by simplistically implying that political correctness is antithetical to good storytelling. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NyMR73D33YU?wmode=transparent&start=55" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Simpsons’ response to the Apu controversy.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, if the success of stories with diverse casts is anything to go by, good storytelling is also a matter of taking the pulse of the current socio-political context and creating content to match.</p>
<p>Comedy is often most incisive when it reflects the time and place it is situated in. Looking at The Simpsons’ <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-09/chart-of-the-day:-the-simpsons-imdb-ratings/9743940">declining ratings over the years</a>, we may draw the conclusion that this has happened because other animated sitcoms are better keeping up with the times. </p>
<p>In response to The Simpsons episode above, producer <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/30/17302942/apu-the-simpsons-adi-shankar-crowd-sourcing-screenplay">Adi Shanker crowdsourced a solution</a> to the problem of Apu by inviting scripts that re-imagined the character and challenge stereotypes. </p>
<p>Headed by people of colour, projects that critically engage with the complicated history of the character represent a potential way forward. A better way forward, in fact, than cutting off discussion by discarding the offensive subject in question altogether. The time now is ripe to re-write and re-voice Apu.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106707/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sukhmani Khorana receives funding from the Australian Research Council Linkage Grant, 'Migration, Cultural Diversity and Television: Reflecting Modern Australia' (2016-2019).
With thanks to the other CIs on the ARC Linkage Grant – Prof Kate Darian-Smith, and Prof Sue Turnbull; and the partner organisations – Museums Victoria and ACMI. With special thanks to Dr Kyle Harvey, Research Fellow on the project for ongoing research support. </span></em></p>Writing Apu out of The Simpsons is a simplistic solution to the issue of diversity in media. Instead, we need to support programming created by people of colour.Sukhmani Khorana, Senior Lecturer (Media and Culture), University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1013112018-08-19T19:49:58Z2018-08-19T19:49:58ZCan Australian streaming survive a fresh onslaught from overseas?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231410/original/file-20180810-30443-122o9fc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">shutterstock</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Australia’s already punch-drunk streaming sector is set for even more upheaval, as CBS <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/cbs-confirms-australian-streaming-platform-to-launch-by-end-of-2018-20180806-p4zvpf.html">will launch</a> its streaming service in Australia as early as October. </p>
<p>Disney is also <a href="https://www.thewaltdisneycompany.com/walt-disney-company-acquire-majority-ownership-bamtech/">set to launch its streaming service in 2019</a>. Based on recent history, Australia will likely be first up when it goes global.</p>
<p>The question is whether Australian streamers can compete locally with the global mammoths. Doing so might require coordination the likes of which we haven’t seen before.</p>
<p>This will impact not just what media Australians have access to, but <a href="https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/media-centre/news/2017/06-15-abs-survey-results">more than 31,000 people</a> employed by Australian media.</p>
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<p>We have already seen huge upheavals in Australian streaming.</p>
<p>Stan is the last remaining Australian streaming service from 2015, <a href="https://theconversation.com/netflix-arrival-will-be-a-tipping-point-for-tv-in-australia-38386">when I wrote about the official launch of Netflix in Australia</a>. At that time there were two Australian-based subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) services, Presto and Stan. </p>
<p>Presto, a joint venture between Seven and Foxtel, was shut down in early 2017. </p>
<p>Foxtel then launched <a href="https://www.foxtel.com.au/now/index.html">FoxtelNow</a> in June 2017. It is already set for an <a href="https://www.channelnews.com.au/foxtel-now-dead-new-4k-uhd-service-coming-cricket-launch/">overhaul</a> later this year, to include 4K streaming, along with sports and entertainment streaming packages. </p>
<h2>Aussie streaming services, more than just subscription</h2>
<p>In addition to Stan, there are also transactional video-on-demand (TVoD) services in Australia, although these are discussed far less. A TVoD service is based upon a single payment being made to view singular content for a limited time, e.g. you have streaming access to the latest release for 48 hours. </p>
<p>One such Australian service is <a href="https://www.quickflix.com.au">Quickflix</a>, which launched in 2014. It went <a href="https://theconversation.com/buyouts-mean-the-future-of-australian-video-on-demand-is-hard-to-picture-66683">into receivership</a> in 2016, before being saved and later relaunched. </p>
<p>Quickflix is still a streaming company, but retains the older <a href="https://www.quickflix.com.au/Join">disc mail-out service</a>. This mail-out service could help Quickflix survive against global streaming services. </p>
<p>With the <a href="https://www.smartcompany.com.au/technology/australias-video-shop-association-set-close-can-streaming-keep-demand-high-quality-video/">closure</a> of video stores and retail stores <a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/money/consumer/2018/06/28/kmart-australia-dvds-cds/">removing discs</a> from their shelves, a mail-out service still has value for Australians with poor internet speed and access.</p>
<p>The other Australian TVoD service is <a href="https://www.ozflix.tv/">OzFlix</a>, which some Australians may not be aware of. </p>
<p>Its differentiation is plans to source “<a href="https://www.ozflix.tv/#!/page/412/about-us">Every Aussie Movie. Ever.</a>”. A big task, but its specific niche may help it survive the onslaught of global media streaming services, while also giving <a href="https://theconversation.com/with-the-rise-of-subscription-and-online-tv-we-need-to-rethink-local-content-rules-79496">local content</a> a dedicated home. </p>
<h2>Global media giants set their sights on Australia</h2>
<p>Australia has been the first country that many media companies expand to when moving outside their own region. <a href="https://theconversation.com/netflix-arrival-will-be-a-tipping-point-for-tv-in-australia-38386">Netflix</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/youtube-red-is-here-and-it-breaks-the-video-on-demand-mould-59656">YouTube Red</a> (now YouTube Premium) are two examples. </p>
<p>More recently we have seen <a href="https://theconversation.com/amazons-new-grand-tour-series-could-be-the-next-illegal-download-victim-68141">Amazon Prime Video</a> launch in late 2016, although it is yet to have a major uptake locally. </p>
<p>The arrival of CBS All Access will impact Stan particularly. Stan features a number of CBS programs, so future programming will need to be from other distributors or through greater investment in original content. </p>
<p>Disney is also set to <a href="https://www.channelnews.com.au/foxtel-netflix-set-to-face-off-with-new-disney-streaming-service/">acquire</a> 21st Century Fox. This will expand its catalogue on the new streaming service beyond its already huge catalogue. The Marvel movies look set to remain on current services, for now.</p>
<h2>Australians and streaming…. what next?</h2>
<p>A recent <a href="http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/7681-netflix-stan-foxtel-fetch-youtube-amazon-pay-tv-june-2018-201808020452">Roy Morgan report</a> found over 9.8 million Australians had access to Netflix, with Stan at over 2 million. While Stan is clearly behind, it has had a 39.2% increase in the last 12 months. </p>
<p>YouTube premium has over 1 million subscribers, FetchTV 710,000 and Amazon Prime Video last at 273,000 (an 87% increase year on year).</p>
<p>The arrival of CBS All Access and Disney will make an already crowded market only more so. But is more choice a good thing? </p>
<p>A 2014 <a href="http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2014/changing-channels-americans-view-just-17-channels-despite-record-number-to-choose-from.html">Nielsen report</a> showed the average channels receivable by US households grew from 129 in 2008 to 189 in 2013. But the average channels tuned in remained at 17.</p>
<p>On top of larger content libraries, the global players also have deeper pockets. Disney looks <a href="https://www.tubefilter.com/2018/08/14/star-wars-live-action-series-will-cost-100-million-be-streamed-exclusively-on-disneys-platform/">set to spend</a> US$100 million on a new Star Wars series for its streaming service. Netflix will <a href="https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/netflix-original-spending-85-percent-1202809623/">spend</a> more than US$8 billion on content in 2018 alone, and Amazon last year spent US$4 billion on content. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/with-the-rise-of-subscription-and-online-tv-we-need-to-rethink-local-content-rules-79496">With the rise of subscription and online TV, we need to rethink local content rules</a>
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<p>Australian services will need to have a point of difference. Quickflix and OzFlix have their points of difference, but what about a larger service like Stan? </p>
<p>Stan can’t compete with the global companies on quantity of content, so it must, like others, have a point of difference. </p>
<p>Stan could become a premium platform for content of which some is broadcast on Nine later. That would be a similar approach to when Australian FTA broadcasters would buy US content months after it was broadcast in the US – to save on costs.</p>
<p>For an Australian service to compete, a better solution would be a combined approach, an all-Australian streaming service that combines the strengths and finances of the Australian media industry. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.freeview.com.au/freeviewfv/">Freeview app</a> is an example of how Australian television has tried to work collaboratively but failed. The users can view all the catch-up content from Australian broadcasters, but to view it they are taken from the app to the specific broadcasters’ own catch-up apps. </p>
<p>This requires six apps in total to be installed to view all catch-up content.</p>
<p>But is the Australian media industry willing to come together to fight against global streaming media companies, or will they continue to battle each other? Failure here could result in a further decline in Australian media.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101311/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marc C-Scott is a board member of C31 Melbourne (Community Television Station).</span></em></p>Is the Australian media industry willing to come together to fight against global streaming media companies, or will Australian media continue to battle each other?Marc C-Scott, Lecturer in Screen Media, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/925762018-03-07T14:08:29Z2018-03-07T14:08:29ZWhy it’s so important for kids to see diverse TV and movie characters<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209161/original/file-20180306-146694-k5m19s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Television continues to be the main source of media consumption for kids.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/large-diverse-group-people-seen-above-340987652?src=D1tua242TCbND36VMD8QEw-1-24">Arthimedes/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The hype surrounding “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825683/">Black Panther</a>” has been as hyperbolic as any feat its characters might perform, with the film being praised for its layered story and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/06/movies/black-panther-review-movie.html">what’s been described</a> as its “Afrofuturist” cast. And “Black Panther” will be joined by “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1620680/?ref_=nv_sr_1">A Wrinkle in Time</a>,” another film with blockbuster potential and an interracial cast. </p>
<p>But no matter how much money or how many awards films like “Black Panther” and “A Wrinkle in Time” amass, our research strongly suggests another reason they’re important: Children need a diverse universe of media images. And for the most part, they haven’t had one.</p>
<h2>Some progress, but …</h2>
<p>In the 1970s, Boston University communications professor F. Earle Barcus began publishing the results of <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED16105">content analyses</a> he had conducted on children’s television. His findings showed large disparities between the numbers of male and female characters and between the numbers of white and non-white characters. In a 1983 study, Barcus analyzed over 1,100 characters in 20 children’s television programs and found that only 42 were black. Just 47 others belonged to some group other than white. </p>
<p>Since then, researchers <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/019700709090129P">have consistently found</a> that the animated worlds children see on television are out of sync with their real environments. </p>
<p>Over the past seven years, we’ve continued studying this topic at the <a href="https://sites.tufts.edu/ctvresearch/">Children’s Television Project (CTV) at Tufts University</a>, documenting images of different races, gender and ethnicities in the most popular children’s animated series. We’ve also taken steps to try to understand why stereotyped portrayals still exist well into the 21st century. Finally, we’re starting to develop ways to study and collect data about how children process the images they’re exposed to on TV.</p>
<p>In order to categorize the images children see, we’ve developed a system for coding the race, ethnic identity, gender and age of primary and secondary characters in children’s animated television shows. We’ve also included a sociolinguistic component to the analysis, because we know that children are absorbing both sights and sounds as they process media. </p>
<p>The good news is that the world of children’s animated television is more diverse than it used to be. For example, we’ve found that female characters account for just under one-third of all characters. Discouraging as this may appear, it’s a significant improvement from the 1:6 ratio that F. Earle Barcus had previously found, and better than the 1:4 ratio that communications professors Teresa Thompson and Eugenia Zerbinos <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01544217">found</a> in the 1990s. </p>
<p>There’s more racial and ethnic diversity, too. Black characters account for 5.6 percent of our total sample of over 1,500 characters. (<a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED067889.pdf">A study conducted</a> in 1972 by researchers Gilbert Mendelson and Morissa Young for Action for Children’s Television found that over 60 percent of the TV shows in their sample had no racial minority characters at all.) There are many more Asian or Asian-American characters (11.6 percent), though this likely due to the prevalence of a few popular cartoons featuring mostly Asian characters such as “<a href="http://www.nick.com/legend-of-korra/">Legend of Korra</a>.”</p>
<p>The bad news is that there’s still a ways to go. African-Americans represent an estimated <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045216">13.3 percent</a> of the U.S. population. Meanwhile, Hispanic or Latinos make up <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045216">17.8 percent</a> of the population, but we’ve found Latino characters only made up 1.4 percent of our sample. </p>
<p>Furthermore, stereotypes persist in both how characters are drawn and how they talk, with “bad guys” using non-American accents and dialects. We see this in characters like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrHHpmzxJc8">Dr. Doofenshmirtz</a> from “Phineas and Ferb” or Nightmare Moon on “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.” </p>
<p>To try to understand why stereotyping persists, we’ve interviewed some of the people who write, direct, cast and provide vocal talent for children’s animated programming. While we haven’t completed this part of the study, it seems that economic pressures compel the creators of children’s animated programming to rely on stereotyping as a kind of shorthand. </p>
<p>For example, one director of a popular children’s animated show told us, “If something’s worked before, you tend to just use it again,” even if that “something” is stereotyped. An African-American voice actor reported being in auditions where he was told to make something sound “urban,” a code word for a more stereotyped African-American dialect.</p>
<h2>Kids, quick to judge</h2>
<p>But the real question is why this all matters.</p>
<p><a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/josi.12096/abstract">Studies</a> from <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/planet/coun507b/WARD.pdf">many</a> <a href="https://experts.umich.edu/en/publications/wading-through-the-stereotypes-positive-and-negative-associations">fields</a> have shown that it’s important for children to see characters who not only look like themselves and their families, but also sound like them. </p>
<p>There’s a relationship between low self-esteem and negative media portrayals of racial groups, in addition to an association between poor self-esteem and the paucity of portrayals of a particular group. Others have found that media misrepresentations of ethnic groups can cause confusion about aspects of their identity among children of these groups.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209175/original/file-20180306-146675-r38ds8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209175/original/file-20180306-146675-r38ds8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209175/original/file-20180306-146675-r38ds8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209175/original/file-20180306-146675-r38ds8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209175/original/file-20180306-146675-r38ds8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209175/original/file-20180306-146675-r38ds8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209175/original/file-20180306-146675-r38ds8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The worlds children are exposed to on screen can influence their self-esteem and how they judge other people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/little-baby-boy-watching-blank-white-379600603">PanicAttack/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>In our study of how children process the sights and sounds of animated worlds, we developed a method in which we show children images of diverse animated faces and play voices that use different dialects. We then ask kids to tell us if the person is a good person, a bad person, or if they can’t tell. We follow this up by asking them why they think what they do.</p>
<p>Though we’re not far enough along yet in our research to provide definitive answers to our questions, we do have some preliminary findings.</p>
<p>First and foremost, kids notice differences. </p>
<p>We’ve found that first- and second-grade children, when presented with a variety of drawn cartoon character faces they haven’t seen before, have no problem sorting them into “good” and “bad” characters.</p>
<p>In fact, many children have clearly developed ideas and are able to tell us lengthy stories about why they think a particular character might be a hero or villain with minimal information. Sometimes this seems to be based on their belief that a character looks like another media character they’ve seen. They’ll then make the assumption that a face they’re shown looks like “a princess” or “someone who goes to jail.” With the lack of diversity in the world of children’s television, it’s not surprising that kids would make associations with so little information. But it’s also a bit alarming – given what we know about the prevalence of stereotyping – that children seem so quick to make attributions of who’s good and who’s evil. </p>
<p>It’s important that children not only have a diverse universe of characters but also that these characters have diverse characteristics. It’s okay for characters to have non-American accents, but good guys – not just bad guys – should have them too. The heroes can be male and female, and non-white characters don’t have to be relegated to the role of sidekick: They can assume leading roles.</p>
<p>This brings us back to why these new films are so groundbreaking. Yes, “Black Panther” is demonstrating that a film about a black superhero can shatter box- office records. Yes, “A Wrinkle in Time” is the first $100 million movie directed by a woman of color. </p>
<p>But beyond all that, these films break the mold by showing the complexity and variety of black male and female experiences. </p>
<p>If more movies, TV shows and animated series follow suit, perhaps we will finally move beyond the underdeveloped and stereotyped characters that children have been exposed to for far too long.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92576/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s not just how characters look. How they talk and the role they play have a profound impact on kids, who are quick to categorize characters as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ based on superficial qualities.Julie Dobrow, Senior lecturer, Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development, Tufts UniversityCalvin Gidney, Associate Professor, Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development, Tufts UniversityJennifer Burton, Professor of the Practice, Department of Drama and Dance, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/843552017-11-07T19:26:33Z2017-11-07T19:26:33ZAustralians born overseas prefer the online world for their news<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193368/original/file-20171106-1055-88d7en.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The increasing use of social media for news is alarming, because the information is not always reliable.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australians from diverse cultural backgrounds are more likely to rely on social media and other internet sources, rather than traditional media, for their news and information. </p>
<p>Our research shows that Australians born overseas have a keen interest in local, national and international news, similar to those born in Australia. However, they turn to non-traditional media more often to consume news of interest. Our study sheds light on the differences between the news consumption habits of Australians born in Australia, and those born overseas but living in Australia.</p>
<p>In the study, we distributed an online survey to 216 Australians, with 68.5% identifying themselves as born in Australia. In the second phase, we distributed the same survey to 221 Australians from diverse cultural backgrounds, 73% of whom noted they were born overseas. The age distribution of participants in both surveys was similar, with a slightly higher proportion of younger people in both groups.</p>
<p>International research has established that news consumers in more developed nations have “distributed” <a href="https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/our-research/digital-news-report-2016">sources of news</a> for a variety of reasons, including access to new media. Our study shows that Australians born overseas were more active online when consuming news than those born here, and as a result had further “enhanced distributed” sources of news than respondents in the first survey, who were predominantly born in Australia. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/shock-horror-the-big-end-of-town-has-finally-discovered-australias-media-is-a-whitewash-63809">Shock horror: the big end of town has finally discovered Australia's media is a whitewash</a>
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<p>Respondents in the second survey relied less on television (29% versus 42%) as their “main source of news”. Higher numbers of Australians born overseas considered social media networking sites (18% versus 12%) and radio (16% versus 8%) as their “main sources of news”.</p>
<p>Similarly, respondents born overseas visited an online news site more often (65% versus 48%); and searched through a news aggregator such as Google News more often (34% versus 23%). They also searched for a specific news topic via a search engine more often (72% versus 47%); and they were referred to a news story more often by a social media contact (53% versus 35%).</p>
<p>This is significant considering that the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/2024.0Main%20Features22016?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=2024.0&issue=2016&num=&view=">2016 census</a> showed that more than one in four of Australians was born overseas. </p>
<p>The census also pointed out that an increasing number of Australian citizens were born in Asian countries and other parts of the world, whereas in the past most migrants came from Europe. </p>
<p>The changing demography of Australia means that a typical migrant in Victoria was born in India, while a <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/mediareleasesbyReleaseDate/5E54C95D3D5020C6CA2580FE0013A809?OpenDocument">typical</a> migrant in New South Wales was born in China. Considering this demographic shift, our research raises questions about the kinds of news stories covered by the mainstream media in Australia. </p>
<p>For example, our study shows that nearly twice as many respondents in the second survey (40% versus 21%) used social media to gain news about international events. Similarly, a significant number of Australians born overseas sought international news on Australian online sites (80%) compared with those in the first survey (50%).</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>The study has implications for traditional Australian news media (print, radio and television) in the digital era, where the industry’s outlook remains one of “<a href="https://www.ibisworld.com.au">struggle and constraint</a>” from declining revenue and competition from global online media and subscription video-on-demand services. </p>
<p>Our study shows that audiences are aware that news available on social networking sites can be of lower quality. However, Australians born overseas trust social media slightly more than those in the first survey, which predominately included Australians born in Australia. However, about a fifth (19%) of 437 participants did not trust any media source.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/advertising-is-driving-social-media-fuelled-fake-news-and-it-is-here-to-stay-68458">Advertising is driving social media-fuelled fake news and it is here to stay</a>
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<p>The reliance on social media is alarming because news and information distributed via social networking sites may not be filtered by experienced and skilled journalists, potentially leading to the sharing and consumption of unverified information. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, <a href="http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/viewFile/2691/1325">research</a> has shown that skewed coverage of transnational news events and issues creates stereotypes and causes anxiety amongst communities. The distributed sources of news isolates various sections of the Australian community into silos. </p>
<p>This in turn results in fragmentation of news audiences and decentralisation of news production by a variety of producers, both of which have an impact on a community’s common understanding of shared events. </p>
<p>We argue that by catering to the needs of the increasingly multicultural audiences in Australia and providing more depth to their coverage of transnational news, events and issues, the mainstream media may be able to increase their relevance as a source of news to a broader range of Australians.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84355/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>For this project, we received funding and in-kind support from the Victorian government's Social Cohesion Research grant scheme, SBS, and ECCV.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>For this project, we received funding and in-kind support from the Victorian government's Social Cohesion Research grant scheme, SBS, and ECCV.</span></em></p>New research shows that Australians from diverse backgrounds are turning away from traditional media and heading online, a trend that has great significance for media companies.Usha Manchanda Rodrigues, Senior Lecturer in Journalism, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/839572017-09-14T01:06:27Z2017-09-14T01:06:27ZMedia reform deals will reduce diversity and amount to little more than window dressing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185801/original/file-20170913-20553-htodt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The latest reforms will do nothing to prevent further concentration of Australia’s media landscape.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Dean Lewins</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/government-set-to-win-senate-support-for-media-deregulation-84017">breakthrough in negotiations</a> with the Senate crossbenchers that the government has been chipping away at over media reform has finally arrived.</p>
<p>The deregulatory legislation, the <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r5907">Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Broadcasting Reform) Bill 2017</a>, required 38 votes to pass the Senate, where the Coalition controls 29 votes. It had already secured the support of three crossbenchers and four One Nation senators, but was waiting for just two votes to get it over the line – until Nick Xenophon did the deal.</p>
<p>After protracted negotiations with Xenophon and his NXT party, the Coalition has arrived at a quid pro quo deal that sees the repeal of the remaining <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-media-at-a-crossroads-amid-threats-to-diversity-and-survival-77314">cross-media diversity rules</a>, after the government agreed to NXT’s proposal to introduce funding grants for small and regional publishers. Clearly, though, they are not the “substantial quid pro quo” for public interest journalism that Xenophon has trumpeted, which had previously included tax breaks.</p>
<p>The main features of the bill are:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>repeal of the “two-out-of-three” rule and the 75% reach rule;</p></li>
<li><p>the creation of a one-off A$50 million innovation fund for smaller and regional publishers, whose turnover is between A$300,000 and A$30 million. This is capped at $1 million per publisher and available from mid-2018; and</p></li>
<li><p>the creation of 200 cadetships and 60 scholarships.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The government will also direct the ACCC to conduct an inquiry into the <a href="https://theconversation.com/google-tax-debate-pits-corporate-thieves-against-state-sovereignty-39681">advertising practices of Google and Facebook</a> and their impact on journalism.</p>
<p>Funding for these publishers will require them to meet specific eligibility criteria, including membership of the Australian Press Council and having ethical guidelines in place. It will need to be for the purposes of news production, and civic and public interest journalism from a local perspective. The Australian Communications and Media Authority will oversee the distribution of the funds. </p>
<p>Recipients of the grants must be majority Australian-owned, pass an independence test, and not be affiliated with a political party, union, super fund or lobby group.</p>
<p>These eligibility criteria means some publishers will not have access to these meagre funds. For example, offshore controlled or owned online publications such as The Guardian and Buzzfeed, or a publisher like The New Daily, which is closely affiliated with super funds, would miss out.</p>
<p>Other horsetrading has led to amendments that assist community television, a welcome rescue measure for the sector. It includes a controversial measure such as the A$30 million gift to Fox Sports for women’s and niche sports – a commercial broadcaster that can be accessed by less than 30% of the Australian population. </p>
<p>A major A$90 million gift to commercial free-to-air broadcasters in the form of licence fee removals raises the question of whether something was given in return.</p>
<p>The obvious quid pro quo here is an agreement secured to <a href="https://theconversation.com/wide-ranging-ban-on-gambling-ads-during-sport-broadcasts-is-needed-to-tackle-problem-gambling-74687">remove gambling advertising</a> in prime time.</p>
<p>In the wider frame of high industry concentration and the dominance of US-based hegemons, Xenophon’s measures are a minimalistic band-aid response, which will do nothing to prevent further concentration of Australia’s media landscape.</p>
<p>The NXT “wins” are really only window dressing. The One Nation “wins” in relation to further scrutiny on the ABC are a ludicrous attempt at payback for critical coverage.</p>
<p>The more principled approach of Labor and the Greens, who did not support the repeal of the two-out-of-three diversity maintaining rule, is laudable – and may yet form the basis of real media reform in their next federal election campaigns.</p>
<p>The earlier proposed tax breaks for genuine public interest journalism reporting the news and informing the public had the potential to help keep some small players afloat. But one-off grants of A$1 million are hardly going to save struggling publishers.</p>
<p>On the face of it since eligible beneficiaries will be News Corporation and Fairfax Media competitors, many would think this must be a step in the right direction. However, it really is a drop in the ocean compared with the resources of the majors. It will do nothing to remedy the major problem of longer term concentration which needs a complete redesign of the regulatory framework fit for the 21st century.</p>
<p>The opportunity for a root-and-branch analysis of media consumption by Australian audiences, an agency tasked to effectively do that and tracking the transitioning news industries, with commensurate resources and diversity mechanisms has, once again, been sidestepped.</p>
<p>These latest negotiations follow a decade of attempts by conservative governments to dismantle media ownership restrictions.</p>
<p>These minor funding measures do nothing to address the underlying problem of an increasingly concentrated media landscape (where the vast bulk of the eyeballs are anyway). The more serious mechanisms that have been ventilated in the Senate Select Committee <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Future_of_Public_Interest_Journalism/PublicInterestJournalism">Inquiry into the Future of Public Interest Journalism</a> — such as direct financial subsidies — have not got a look in. </p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/documents/MPP/LSE-MPP-Policy-Brief-11-Public-Funding-Private-Media.pdf">2014 study prepared for the London School of Economics</a> looked at countries with direct financial support for their news industries (the Nordic countries, the Netherlands, Austria, France). The support was for up to 50 years, no matter the party in power. The report concluded that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Policymakers can support private media organisations with mechanisms such as tax relief or even direct subsidies to specific media companies. Such support need not compromise media independence if safeguards such as statutory eligibility criteria are in place. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The authors’ view was that the reality of convergence meant support of private media should be extended to online media.</p>
<p>Serious diversity mechanisms such as indirect tax measures and direct measures like subsidies did not pass muster in the historically cosy relations between politicians and media proprietors. </p>
<p>Real alternatives with impact are possible. In the Swedish subsidy scheme, for example, eligible print or digital newspapers need to have less than 30% market share. </p>
<p>While subsidies contribute only 2-3% of total industry revenue, they amount to 15-20% of revenue for weaker titles that are their main beneficiaries. For a handful, the subsidy represents up to 33% of total earnings.</p>
<p>Of greater importance to the survival of smaller publishers, these minor funding measures do very little to address the fact that 90% of new online ad spending is controlled by Google and Facebook. So why doesn’t the government introduce a levy on these two players to fund public interest journalism as suggested by the Senate Select Committee on the Future of Public Interest Journalism?</p>
<p>While there are still some ownership controls (minimum of five media voices in metro and four in regional and rural markets), and local content requirements that remain in place, these will not stop further media concentration. </p>
<p>A single person cannot control more than two radio stations or more than one television station in a single market. In regional markets there is still a requirement of 21 minutes of local content a day – a fairly low bar most agree. However, News Corp Australia, for example, which already owns around two-thirds of the print media sector, would be allowed to buy up all the traditional categories of media (TV, radio, and print) in any single market. </p>
<p>In cities such as Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart, where there is already only one daily newspaper, the consequences of further concentration are stark.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113345/original/image-20160301-4063-1lzv1m3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113345/original/image-20160301-4063-1lzv1m3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=3175&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113345/original/image-20160301-4063-1lzv1m3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=3175&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113345/original/image-20160301-4063-1lzv1m3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=3175&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113345/original/image-20160301-4063-1lzv1m3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=3990&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113345/original/image-20160301-4063-1lzv1m3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=3990&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113345/original/image-20160301-4063-1lzv1m3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=3990&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Dwyer receives funding from the Australian Research Council for a project about sharing news online.</span></em></p>The last-minute bargaining on media reforms are a minimalistic band-aid response that will do nothing to prevent further concentration of Australia’s media landscape.Tim Dwyer, Associate Professor, Department of Media and Communications, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/791742017-06-19T20:00:56Z2017-06-19T20:00:56ZGovernment can support public interest journalism in Australia – here’s how<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174119/original/file-20170616-537-kdqnlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The government should restore funding to public broadcasters SBS and ABC enabling them to produce more public interest journalism.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.mediaday.com.au</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Independent journalism’s importance to healthy democracies <a href="https://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/581314/AJM-2011-Vol-13.pdf">is undisputed</a>. In a time of rising autocratic tendencies around the world, this independent check on power is more needed than ever. This is well illustrated by US President Donald Trump’s disrespect for the balance-of-power doctrine in general and for the <a href="https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/827867311054974976?lang=en">US judiciary</a> in particular.</p>
<p>So, it’s not a coincidence that the Australian Senate has set up an <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Future_of_Public_Interest_Journalism/PublicInterestJournalism">inquiry</a> into the future of public interest journalism. This was prompted by the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-government-without-newspapers-why-everyone-should-care-about-the-cuts-at-fairfax-77163">latest round of redundancies</a> at Fairfax. To this should be added Network Ten’s <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-14/ten-enters-volutary-administration/8617078">precarious financial situation</a>.</p>
<p>But what is “public interest journalism”? From a journalistic point of view, this covers topics that are vital for citizens to make informed decisions and choices. There is a clear distinction between what the public is interested in, which includes gossip, celebrities and lifestyle topics, compared to what is important to the health of our democracy. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://ethicaljournalismnetwork.org/the-public-interest">Ethical Journalism Network</a> puts it thus: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The public interest is about what matters to everyone in society. It is about the common good, the general welfare and the security and wellbeing of everyone in the community.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-government-without-newspapers-why-everyone-should-care-about-the-cuts-at-fairfax-77163">I have argued before</a>, without this kind of journalism a lot of corruption, maladministration and abuse of power would not be known to the public. We would then risk sliding further down the slippery slope towards autocracy.</p>
<p>So, what can and should governments do? Many submissions to the Senate inquiry will argue that it’s time for governments to step up support for public interest journalism. </p>
<p>Fortunately, there is no need to re-invent the wheel. There are plenty of models around the globe where governments are supporting public interest journalism at arm’s length. </p>
<p>It’s important to point out that a <a href="http://www.robertpicard.net/files/State_Support_for_News.pdf">significant amount of research</a> clearly shows that in mature liberal democracies government funding for such journalism does not equal government influence over reporting.</p>
<p>The first and most obvious thing to do is finance Australia’s public broadcasters, the ABC and the SBS, to a level that enables them to consistently produce public interest journalism. The minimum is to restore, and index up, the funding to the 2013 level before the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-19/abc-funding-cuts-announced-by-malcolm-turnbull/5902774">current severe cuts</a> instigated by the Abbott government. </p>
<p>Public broadcasting is a tried and tested source of public interest journalism. It will be a repository for such content until market-financed journalism has transitioned to new business models. Australia has a national and global responsibility to fund the ABC and SBS, as there are <a href="http://www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/_files/cbcrc/documents/latest-studies/nordicity-public-broadcaster-comparison-2016.pdf">only about ten</a> properly funded public broadcasters globally.</p>
<p>The rest of the sustainable funding models will, most likely, be a combination of government, market and private altruistic funding. There are a number of international models: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>The most obvious indirect funding model is to exempt public interest journalism companies from GST and payroll taxes.</p></li>
<li><p>A second option is to make donations to such journalistic organisations tax-deductible to encourage private altruism.</p></li>
<li><p>Another option is to introduce a version of the “low-profit limited liability corporations” (L3Cs) that exist in some states in the US and the UK (community interest company). <a href="http://articles.bplans.com/what-is-an-l3c/">L3Cs</a> are businesses that produce a social good. Investments in such companies receive various tax breaks.</p></li>
<li><p>A fourth option is to introduce a government-funded base operational fund open to public interest journalism ventures. This could include a special grant for start-up companies.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>All of the above already exist <a href="http://ejc.net/media_landscapes">in a number of countries</a> with a long tradition of funding public interest journalism. Here it’s important to point out that Australia, for more than 100 years, supported such journalism via printing and distribution subsidies.</p>
<p>Another option drawing on international experience is an Australia Council-like fund that could contribute to journalism residencies at universities. This would create a win-win situation in which experienced journalists would work with students to create public interest journalism.</p>
<p>Finally, and most importantly, a sustainable funding model must involve Google and Facebook in some way. As Ben Eltham <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-should-levy-facebook-and-google-to-fund-journalism-heres-how-77946">has eloquently argued</a> in The Conversation, Google and Facebook have hoovered up the advertising money that used to fund public interest journalism. They have effectively created a global media oligopoly partly based on journalism they are not paying for. </p>
<p>A levy on Google and Facebook advertising revenue would be a very important funding source for public interest journalism. The bonus is that this would encourage the social media giants to acknowledge that they are publishers rather than just platforms. </p>
<p>Engaging with the two global media companies illustrates the core challenge for domestic policymakers: media policy that used to be predominantly national is increasingly global. Domestic policy may prove to be a blunt policy tool in meeting the challenge of supporting public interest journalism.</p>
<p>The conclusion from this <a href="http://jeraa.org.au/file/file/JERAA%20Submission%20on%20Public%20Interest%20Journalism.pdf">international survey</a> is that, historically, market forces on their own never have been able to carry public interest journalism. Now more than ever governments need to help carry it across the morass that is the current transformation of the industry.</p>
<p>The Senate inquiry reports in early December 2017. It would be a tragedy for democratic accountability in Australia if government inaction is the outcome.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79174/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Johan Lidberg 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>There are plenty of models around the globe where governments are supporting public interest journalism at arm’s length.Johan Lidberg, Associate Professor, School of Media, Film and Journalism, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/773922017-05-12T00:57:05Z2017-05-12T00:57:05ZWhy media reform in Australia has been so hard to achieve<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168827/original/file-20170510-21610-yoybhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mitch Fifield recently announced the Turnbull government would once again attempt to tackle media reform.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Mick Tsikas</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>From the mid-20th century, there has been substantial international support for plurality of media ownership. Policies designed to limit the number of media outlets owned or controlled by one proprietor have been seen as a precondition for achieving a diverse range of viewpoints.</p>
<p>The assumption has been that concentrated ownership confers undemocratic power on “influential” owners to sway governments and advance their own private interests. </p>
<p>But while the power of major media groups has long been recognised – <a href="https://theconversation.com/murdoch-and-his-influence-on-australian-political-life-16752">particularly during elections</a> – ruling political parties increasingly only make significant policy changes with an eye to the impacts on their media allies. </p>
<p>Consistent with other Western nations, Australia’s media ownership rules have become more deregulated since the 1980s. This has meant media ownership in Australia <a href="https://theconversation.com/factcheck-is-australias-level-of-media-ownership-concentration-one-of-the-highest-in-the-world-68437">has become increasingly concentrated</a>.</p>
<p>The Australian media policy omelette cannot simply be unscrambled, but forward-thinking diversity rules could help prevent further concentration of ownership. Communications Minister Mitch Fifield recently announced the Turnbull government would once again <a href="http://www.mitchfifield.com/Media/MediaReleases/tabid/70/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1352/Major-reforms-to-support-Australian-broadcasters.aspx">attempt to tackle media reform</a>. However, the proposed changes are neither future-looking nor future-proofing.</p>
<h2>Removing restrictions</h2>
<p>Serious attempts at systemic reform to tackle a changing media landscape were last seen in the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/1339_convergence.pdf">Convergence Review</a> in 2012. </p>
<p>But its proposed changes, including the idea of a Content Service Enterprise (where regulation of content was to be applied equally regardless of the platform it was delivered on), were too threatening to incumbent players. The review was binned.</p>
<p>Prior to the cross-media laws being introduced in 1987, limits had applied to the numbers of media-specific outlets within a single sector. This meant media groups such as John Fairfax Holdings and the Herald and Weekly Times had previously been able to accumulate media outlets across platforms like newspapers, TV and radio. But it was considered not to be in the public interest to allow this kind of concentration of influence.</p>
<p>Later, in the deregulatory spirit of the times, successive Coalition governments from 1996 attempted to repeal laws aimed at tackling media concentration. Yet it took until 2006 for this goal to <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2006A00129">be achieved</a>. </p>
<p>These changes removed the main cross-media ownership restrictions. They allowed TV/newspaper/radio mergers with a “two out of three” media sector limit, and introduced metropolitan and rural/regional voice limits under the so-called “5/4 voices” test. The latter refers to the minimum number of media groups (or “voices”) allowed in metropolitan and regional markets respectively.</p>
<p>In spite of ongoing attempts, and largely due to a lack of industry consensus, conservative governments have been unable to remove the final ownership restrictions. But the Turnbull government says a consensus <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/influential-senators-warm-to-media-reform-package/news-story/99bfac339f9d493144294e45faf37af6">has now been reached</a>.</p>
<p>The proposed changes to media ownership – axing the two-out-of-three rule and the 75% “reach” rule – are buried under more headline-grabbing measures. These include the removal of licence fees for commercial TV networks, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/live-odds-ban-debate-exposes-sport-and-gamblings-uncomfortable-mutual-dependency-76514">introduction of gambling ad restrictions</a> on free-to-air licensees, and granting pay TV expanded access to sporting events previously on the <a href="http://www.acma.gov.au/Industry/Broadcast/Television/TV-content-regulation/sport-anti-siphoning-tv-content-regulation-acma">anti-siphoning list</a>.</p>
<p>Restricting gambling ads during daytime viewing has a clear community benefit. But the wider voice benefits of diversity that flow from retaining restrictions on the further concentration of ownership are far more consequential for all Australians.</p>
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<h2>A different approach</h2>
<p>Australia’s media landscape is an outlier as one of the most <a href="https://theconversation.com/factcheck-is-australias-level-of-media-ownership-concentration-one-of-the-highest-in-the-world-68437">highly concentrated in the world</a> – behind Egypt and China, according to <a href="http://internationalmedia.pbworks.com/w/page/20075656/FrontPage">one international assessment</a>. The proposed changes will only make that worse.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/a-government-without-newspapers-why-everyone-should-care-about-the-cuts-at-fairfax-77163">Radical changes</a> in the news media sector urgently demand new policy responses to accommodate an industry in transition. Simply removing the last major remaining bulwark against the concentration of media voices is not the solution.</p>
<p>Repealing the two-out-of-three rule will not lessen the impact of internet hegemons Facebook and Google on news business models – they control around 90% of the growth in the <a href="http://fortune.com/2017/01/04/google-facebook-ad-industry/">online advertising market</a>. That horse has long since bolted. But the rule continues to prevent further media concentration. </p>
<p>In addition to industry strategies, Australia needs to have a comprehensive review of how news is now consumed across online and traditional media. This would serve as a precursor to media diversity policies that tackle the changing news environment.</p>
<p>The UK’s Ofcom and the European Commission have made significant inroads into monitoring, researching and updating voice pluralism policies. Australia needs to take similar decisive action. This is even more urgent for Australia given the parlous state of our media diversity.</p>
<p>Ofcom, at the request of Culture Secretary Karen Bradley, <a href="https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/media/media-releases/2017/update-on-the-proposed-merger-of-sky-with-21st-century-fox">will shortly decide</a> whether a full takeover by 21st Century Fox of BSkyB is in the public interest. It will base its decision on broadcasting standards and media pluralism. </p>
<p>If media pluralism and the dominant influence of Rupert Murdoch’s companies on the news is a big concern in the UK, then the same issue is front and centre in Australia’s highly concentrated news sector. This is even more the case with a potential TPG buyout and likely asset-stripping <a href="https://theconversation.com/tpg-bid-for-fairfax-what-usually-happens-when-private-equity-meets-media-77313">of Fairfax Media</a>.</p>
<p>The proposed removal of the two-out-of-three rule will only make Australia’s media more concentrated in Murdoch’s hands – for example, if News Corp bought the ailing Ten Network. </p>
<p>The media reform package smacks of the government doing deals with the incumbent commercial TV networks and News Corp’s Foxtel. It is a short-sighted political play, and not a serious attempt to tackle structural change in the media industries by looking at ways to maximise diversity for audiences.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77392/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Dwyer receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>The Australian media policy omelette cannot simply be unscrambled. But forward-thinking diversity rules could help prevent further concentration of media ownership.Tim Dwyer, Associate Professor, Department of Media and Communications, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/773142017-05-10T04:51:45Z2017-05-10T04:51:45ZAustralian media at a crossroads amid threats to diversity and survival<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168697/original/file-20170510-7921-10ru7fw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Striking Fairfax journalists protest out the front of Parliament House, Canberra.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Mick Tsikas</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Instead of just writing the headlines, the Australian media have been busy making them this week. Striking Fairfax journalists <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/fairfax-media-journalists-strike-for-a-week-over-job-cuts-20170503-gvy4qj.html">boycotted the federal budget coverage</a> in protest at their bosses cutting 120 editorial jobs, while their bosses flirt with <a href="http://www.afr.com/business/media-and-marketing/publishing/tpg-consortium-bids-2229b-for-domain-major-fairfax-mastheads-events-and-digital-20170507-gvzvhv">selling the newspapers</a> to an American capital equity giant.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the federal government again promises to overhaul the media landscape, beginning in the budget by rewarding Australia’s biggest media players with slashed broadcast licence fees.</p>
<p>It would also seem the cordiality of media billionaire Rupert Murdoch, who introduced Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to US President Donald Trump at their <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-05/donald-trump-plays-down-malcolm-turnbull-tension-in-ny-meeting/8499146">first face-to-face meeting in New York last week</a>, was returned in yesterday’s budget. </p>
<p>Treasurer Scott Morrison confirmed the leak that A$30 million will be <a href="https://theconversation.com/budget-2017-18-brings-welfare-crackdown-and-increased-defence-and-security-funding-experts-respond-77328">provided over four years</a> to encourage subscription TV networks (read: Murdoch’s Foxtel) to increase coverage of lower-profile events like women’s sports. </p>
<p>Murdoch’s son, News Corporation’s co-chairman and Channel Ten investor Lachlan Murdoch, was a budget winner too. Loaded with debt, Channel Ten’s pleas to replace the $130 million licence fees for TV and radio networks with a <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/tv/100m-handout-for-tv-as-gambling-ads-banned-from-sports-broadcasts-20170505-gvzhte.html">flat fee totalling $40 million</a> were answered.</p>
<p>The budget loser in this instance is the taxpayer, who owns the spectrum the commercial free-to-air broadcasters use. On the upside for Channel Ten viewers, this gives the network a little more breathing space as it works to restructure debt – or face an unlikely future – by the end of the year.</p>
<p>The budget dividends for Australia’s commercial media follows Communications Minister Mitch Fifield’s renewed calls on the weekend to change the Australian media landscape by <a href="http://www.afr.com/business/media-and-marketing/tv/labor-baulks-at-mitch-fifields-media-reform-deal-20170506-gvzn97">scrapping some ownership restrictions</a>. </p>
<p>The first restriction Fifield wants to scrap is the 75% reach rule, which prevents TV networks from broadcasting to more than three-quarters of the population. The second is the much-discussed “two-out-of-three” rule, which prohibits a company owning more than two of print, TV or radio in one market.</p>
<p>The government’s arguments that these rules have been outdated by technology is timely for Fairfax, as it seeks to sell off its online real estate money-making powerhouse Domain. This week, the highest bidder was a consortium led by <a href="https://www.tpg.com/industries/internet-media">US-based TPG Capital</a>, more renowned for its investment in Airbnb and Uber than quality journalism.</p>
<p>So far, the offshore consortium has failed to convince Fairfax shareholders that <a href="http://www.afr.com/business/media-and-marketing/publishing/fairfax-shareholders-tell-tpg-capital-to-come-back-with-a-better-offer-20170508-gw03td">its $2.2 billion</a> bid for Domain and the publisher’s major metropolitan titles (The Age, Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian Financial Review), plus events and digital ventures, is a good enough deal for Fairfax shareholders.</p>
<p>So, what does this busy week in the headlines mean for Australia’s quality news journalism? Nothing positive. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/who-benefits-from-media-reform-if-history-is-any-guide-its-not-the-public-55640">History shows us</a> every time there is significant reform of media regulations, the biggest media proprietors benefit at the expense of news diversity.</p>
<p>Cross-media ownership law changes in the late 1980s resulted in a frenzy of print media company acquisitions and mergers. Twelve of the 19 metropolitan daily newspapers changed hands; three of them changed ownership twice. And it hastened the death of all evening papers.</p>
<p>Certainly that was in a different time, well before the existence of the commercial internet and digital news sites like Huffington Post and BuzzFeed. Yet this century, Australia still has one of the most concentrated media news ownership environments of any developed democracy. </p>
<p>While there might be a reasonable argument that the internet has theoretically made redundant the 75% reach rule, the same cannot be said for the two-out-of-three rule. </p>
<p>The two-out-of-three rule is pro-competition policy designed to ensure media ownership diversity. Advocates for changing this rule commonly argue that news content already crosses these mediums: publishers are broadcasting, printing, tweeting, snapchatting, pod and vodcasting all thanks to digital technologies and the internet. </p>
<p>These advocates also argue that new entrants like The Guardian, Daily Mail and The Conversation offer greater diversity than before. This is all true, and these different news voices are good for Australian democracy. </p>
<p>But this argument underplays the role of audience fragmentation and proprietorial media power. These digital media entrants are not a substitute for law changes that would likely result in fewer big media operators in Australia’s most dominant news media markets: radio, television and print.</p>
<p>The US provides a good example of why caution is needed in any changes to the Australian media landscape. The US, like Australia, appears to have many and diverse news voices. But scratch the surface and the vertical integration of its major media companies has seen rapid consolidation of ownership over recent decades. </p>
<p>For example, in 1983, 90% of American media was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/26/business/a-21st-century-fox-time-warner-merger-would-narrow-already-dwindling-competition.html?_r=1">owned by 50 companies</a>. By the second decade of this century, that proportion is owned by just six companies. Among the biggest of the US-based media titans is Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. </p>
<p>This concern about concentration of media ownership is premised on a public interest notion that news media is not a commodity like other products. It is ascribed a special role in society that is important to a healthy democracy – to provide a well-informed citizenry, and to enable critical scrutiny of political and other elites in their exercise of power.</p>
<p>Fewer voices means more power to a few, more convergence of content and less diversity, and a real danger of less scrutiny. </p>
<p>Critical scrutiny involves having a variety of perspectives and diverse viewpoints that are evidence-based, so that citizens can make up their own minds. The quality of a democracy relies on the idea that voters have every opportunity to be well informed when they cast their vote. </p>
<p>Fifield’s proposed changes to Australia’s media regulations need to pass the Senate first. At this point, opposing parties like the Greens and Labor have <a href="http://www.afr.com/business/media-and-marketing/tv/labor-baulks-at-mitch-fifields-media-reform-deal-20170506-gvzn97">raised concerns</a> about altering the two-out-of-three rule. Without their backing this leaves the Coalition government requiring the support of ten out of 12 crossbenchers.</p>
<p>Debate on the bill is expected next week. Together with Fairfax’s uncertain future, it is sure to generate more headlines.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77314/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Carson previously worked as a journalist at Fairfax Media from 1997 to 2001.</span></em></p>As the federal government looks to reform media ownership laws, the Australian media environment – in diversity and stability – is looking decidedly shaky.Andrea Carson, Lecturer, Media and Politics, School of Social and Political Sciences; Honorary Research Fellow, Centre for Advancing Journalism, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/750442017-05-03T01:11:56Z2017-05-03T01:11:56ZWhy America’s public media can’t do its job<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166707/original/file-20170425-13414-1g605i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">PBS headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/melaniephung/8036886386">melanie.phung/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the Trump administration released its proposed budget in March, it suggested eliminating federal funding for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting (CPB). </p>
<p>“Can we really continue to ask a coal miner in West Virginia or a single mom in Detroit to pay for these programs?” Trump’s Office of Management and Budget director, Mick Mulvaney, <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/mick-mulvaney-trump-budget-priorities-236117">said in defense of the cuts</a>.</p>
<p>Mulvaney seemed to argue that public media was a luxury for the educated few, rather than a truly public resource. Indeed, since the CPB was first established, the degree to which public media reflects the diversity of the nation has the <a href="http://current.org/series/diversity/">subject of much debate.</a></p>
<p>But it’s not as simple as Mulvaney makes it out to be. <a href="http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/budget-bill-retains-funding-for-arts-agencies-public-broadcasting-1202406053/">Though the proposed cuts seem unlikely to go through this year</a>, public media will continue to be at the mercy of political and economic factors that have hampered its ability to fulfill its mission and achieve its goals. </p>
<h2>A mirror for the nation</h2>
<p>When Congress passed the <a href="http://www.cpb.org/aboutpb/act">Public Broadcasting Act of 1967</a> to establish a national, publicly funded media system, there were two clear mandates: to cultivate a more engaged citizen and to affirm the nation’s diversity. </p>
<p>In the network’s <a href="http://current.org/2012/05/national-public-radio-purposes/">original mission statement</a>, NPR architect Bill Siemering described public media as a “necessity for citizens in a democratic society to be enlightened participants.” Unbeholden to the demands of the marketplace, public media would ideally be able to reach audiences that might not be targeted by commercial broadcast networks and their advertisers. This included communities traditionally left out of civic discourse: the uneducated, the poor, the housebound, ethnic minorities and those living in rural areas.</p>
<p>“We try to mirror ALL of the country – perhaps the hardest thing of all,” NPR’s former deputy director Rick Lewis <a href="https://www.amazon.com/This-NPR-First-Forty-Years/dp/081187253X">said in 1970</a>, describing his vision for “Morning Edition.” </p>
<p>To tackle this challenge, the CPB decided its subsidiaries, National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), would have a national reach. Meanwhile, they would cultivate member stations rooted in a diverse range of communities across the country. NPR affiliates based in Fresno, California; Mobile, Alabama; or Erie, Pennsylvania might all carry national programs, but they are also tasked with pursuing local stories.</p>
<h2>A precarious funding model</h2>
<p>Nonetheless, speaking to the country’s extraordinarily diverse populations through a single media system has proven tricky. And over the years, public media has ended up tailoring its programs to an almost exclusively upscale audience of baby boomers.</p>
<p>The decision to focus on college-educated listeners and viewers is certainly a function of the CPB’s own economic realities. As communications professor Robert McChensney argued in his book “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Political-Economy-Media-Enduring-Emerging/dp/1583671617/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1493207698&sr=1-1&keywords=robert+mcchesney+political+economy+of+media">The Political Economy of Media</a>,” American public media has been severely handicapped since its inception.</p>
<p>Unlike the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) – which citizens subsidize by paying an <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/insidethebbc/whoweare/licencefee/">annual television license fee</a> – American public media receives relatively little federal funding, denying it a stable source of income. With federal funding in a constant state of flux, public media has come to rely on income from private sources such as pledge drives and corporate underwriting accounts. For example, in 2015 NPR member stations <a href="http://www.npr.org/about-npr/178660742/public-radio-finances">received</a> about 14 percent of their revenues from federal, state and local entities, while 20 percent came from corporations and 37 percent from private donations. </p>
<p>To be economically viable, therefore, public media must focus on affluent, educated listeners. The result is a media system that can, at times, seem woefully out of the touch with nation it purports to represent. </p>
<p>Just as the country is becoming more ethnically, religiously and linguistically diverse (<a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/02/03/2016-electorate-will-be-the-most-diverse-in-u-s-history/">a recent Pew study</a> showed that the U.S. electorate in 2016 was the most diverse in the nation’s history), consumers of national public media remain disproportionately white.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166709/original/file-20170425-13395-1nkmhuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166709/original/file-20170425-13395-1nkmhuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166709/original/file-20170425-13395-1nkmhuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=662&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166709/original/file-20170425-13395-1nkmhuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=662&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166709/original/file-20170425-13395-1nkmhuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=662&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166709/original/file-20170425-13395-1nkmhuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166709/original/file-20170425-13395-1nkmhuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166709/original/file-20170425-13395-1nkmhuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">NPR has ambitious aspirations, but its audience still skews old and white.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bootbearwdc/5116147131">David/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/ombudsman/2012/04/10/150367888/black-latino-asian-and-white-diversity-at-npr">According to a 2012 report</a>, the audience for NPR’s member station news programs was 5 percent African-American, 6 percent Latino and 5 percent Asian-American. This disparity is also reflected at the leadership level. <a href="http://current.org/2016/07/drive-for-diversity-demands-courage-commitment/">In an essay</a>, Joseph Tovares, the senior vice president and chief content officer for the CPB, admitted that the inclusion of African-Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and Native Americans at the general manager level are almost nonexistent at NPR and PBS member stations.</p>
<p>We see these disparities in the programming itself. Like other national media institutions, public media has traditionally struggled to find a way to include the voices of ethnic and racial minorities. While there are some bright spots – including PBS’s <a href="http://pbskids.org/">children’s programming</a> and NPR’s <a href="http://latinousa.org/">Latino USA</a>, the overall diversity efforts seem tepid. <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/ombudsman/2012/04/30/151304276/six-national-leaders-and-experts-look-at-diversity-at-npr">In a forum</a> organized by NPR to address public radio’s diversity challenges, sociologist Michael Schudson effectively captured the dilemma:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“No doubt the staff makes an effort to cover issues of special importance to minorities and women, but you suspect that it is a mission and not a habit, and that it feels like a kind of foreign correspondence. You know it can be done well or poorly but, in either case, it is done with the handicap of a largely monochromatic newsroom.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>A wavering commitment to diversity?</h2>
<p>Public media realizes that the status quo is a losing strategy. The demographic realities are too sobering. <a href="http://current.org/2015/10/drop-in-younger-listeners-makes-dent-in-npr-news-audience/">NPR projects</a> that by 2020, its stations’ audience of people younger than 45 will be around 30 percent – half of what that audience accounted for in 1985. </p>
<p>To its credit, the CPB has made broadening its appeal a core part of its <a href="http://www.cpb.org/faq">current strategy</a>, which includes what it calls the “three D’s”: digital, diversity and dialogue. </p>
<p>However, <a href="http://cdn.nationalpublicmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/NPR.org-and-On-Air-Audience-Profiles.pdf">their own strategic documents</a> provide some insight into just how elastic their definition of inclusion is. For example, NPR’s target audiences still include the “Affluent Business Leader” who is “a c-level employee, has an investment portfolio of $150,000 or more, and holds a leadership position in a club or organization.” Then there’s the “Cultural Connoisseur” who has a postgraduate degree, is more likely to buy tickets for classical music, ballet and opera, and takes more than three vacations a year. For its part, <a href="http://cdn.nationalpublicmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/PBS.org-Audience-Profiles.pdf">PBS touts</a> the “Power Mom,” who enjoys outdoor activities and spends a significant amount of time online searching for information on museums and concerts.</p>
<p>In other words, these are not the disenfranchised communities whom the original architects of NPR believed would be served by public media. </p>
<p>As journalism professor Ralph Engelman writes in his book “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Public-Radio-Television-America-Political/dp/0803954077">Public Radio and Television in America</a>,” today’s public media was born out of the desire to achieve a more democratic version of German philosopher Jürgen Habermas’ <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/structural-transformation-public-sphere">public sphere</a>. Habermas’ notion of what “public” means was criticized as being reserved for propertied, educated males at the exclusion of the poor and disenfranchised. But by serving those already inclined to participate in civic life, it appears that today’s public media extends – rather than disrupts – this pattern.</p>
<p>Just as we’re witnessing unprecedented attacks on the country’s most disenfranchised communities, this seems like an institutional failure. Legislators are advancing policies designed to <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/28/politics/donald-trump-immigration-detention-deportations-enforcement/">restrict the movements of Latinos and Muslims</a>. Gains made by the LGBTQ community are being <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/trump-administration-rolls-back-protections-for-transgender-students/2017/02/22/550a83b4-f913-11e6-bf01-d47f8cf9b643_story.html?utm_term=.bceb662bc257">scaled back</a>. There are active efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, eliminate entitlement programs and defund early education programs like Head Start, all of which undermine working-class communities. </p>
<p>Now more than ever, it seems necessary to include the voices – and reach the people – most impacted by these policies. It seems that only by unhitching its funding model from private interests can public media truly fulfill its mission of serving the public at large. But this would require a federal government that’s willing to boost – rather than slash – its funds.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75044/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Chávez does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was founded 50 years ago, it was supposed to reflect the nation’s disparate voices.Christopher Chávez, Assistant Professor of Communications, University of OregonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/680492016-11-06T20:26:14Z2016-11-06T20:26:14ZThe blight on our media (and it’s not 18C)<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144508/original/image-20161104-25349-1rk2jpd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Could there soon be Trump TV?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Jim Urquhart</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The lack of genetic variability in the Irish potato crop, especially in the dominant variety, <a href="http://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/the-lumper-potato-and-the-famine-11/">the Irish Lumper</a>, brought on a human disaster. In the 1840s, a great blight struck the crop that had become a staple of the Irish diet. That famine changed the history of Ireland and much of the English-speaking world.</p>
<p>Something similar is happening in both the traditional media and social media.
Variability and diversity is disappearing: our media is becoming monocultural, an echo chamber for prejudices and bigoted thinking.</p>
<p>You don’t have to be an expert to perceive the difference in editorial, language and style between Fairfax Media and News Ltd papers as the reporting of news and the publicising of opinion become increasingly blurred.</p>
<p>But the polarisation of the media in the United States, already poisoning US politics, is likely to worsen if Republican nominee Donald Trump gets the numbers. And even if he doesn’t.</p>
<p>Trump’s interest in the media has a long history. It predates his appearances from 2004, as host of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Apprentice_(U.S._TV_series)"><em>The Apprentice</em></a> (later <em>Celebrity Apprentice</em>) created for NBC by the British television producer Mark Burnett. </p>
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<p>In 1985, Trump was enough of a media personality to appear, untitled, as “himself” in an episode of <em>The Jeffersons</em> titled <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/12/three-decades-of-donald-trump-film-and-tv-cameos/421257/"><em>You’ll Never Get Rich</em></a> There were many more walk-ons for “The Donald” to follow, including two episodes of <em>Sex and the City</em>.</p>
<p>Trump’s decade-long experience with the <em>Apprentice</em> franchise would have alerted him to the influence of television. The program’s tag phrase “you’re fired” entered the US lexicon. As a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, he turned to TV as a promotional vehicle with <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/08/sarah-palin-and-donald-trump-prove-theyre-a-perfect-match-in-this-tv-interview">interviews such as this one</a> with Sarah Palin on the conservative cable channel, One America News Network. </p>
<p>Trump has even appeared on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLagVUKF7CUTTCU2kNj9sB7tG4w3TPNkzW">Larry King’s <em>Politicking</em></a>, a program distributed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RT_(TV_network)">RT</a> (formerly Russia Today). RT operates cable and direct broadcast satellite television channels to audiences worldwide in various languages, including Russian. It’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/09/09/a-trump-interview-may-be-crowning-glory-for-rt-network-funded-by-the-russian-government/">reported</a> that RT is financed by the Russian government. Vanity Fair headlined its story <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/donald-trump-larry-king-rt-interview">Donald Trump Goes On Russian State TV to Defend Vladimir Putin</a></p>
<p>And it has been the mainstream media’s entrancement with Trump-the-performer that has filled many hours of news and current affairs programs, to the detriment of coverage of the shortcomings of the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton. It’s a deficiency brought on by Trump himself, though he cleverly sheets home the blame to the media.</p>
<p>In these circumstances, it is little wonder that Trump’s thoughts would turn to controlling his own media. He’s taken the first steps with his <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DonaldTrump/">Facebook</a> page and <a href="http://trumptube.tv/">Trump Tube TV</a> where you can watch every speech.</p>
<p>But there have been rumours of larger plans, kicked off by a <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/06/donald-trump-tv-network">story</a> in Vanity Fair in June. These rumours enjoyed renewed life in a <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-tv-idUSKBN12H1F2">Reuters wire story</a> of October 17, citing the <a href="https://www.ft.com/">Financial Times</a> in London. Trump already owns a TV production company, Trump Productions, and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, owns the weekly New York Observer and could helm an expanded Trump media presence.</p>
<p>Others in the Trump tent with similar interests include Roger Ailes, founder and head of Fox News until forced to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/topic/person/roger-e-ailes">resign over sexual harassment allegations</a> and Stephen K. Bannon, whose radical-right website <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/">Breitbart</a> has run a <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/business/world-business/chobani-yoghurt-attacked-with-threats-and-lies-for-helping-immigrants-20161031-gsf1r1.html">campaign of vilification</a> against refugees from the Middle East who have made successful lives in the US.</p>
<p>According to media <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-tv-idUSKBN12H1F2">reports</a>, Kushner sought to interest Aryeh Bourkoff, the CEO of LionTree Advisers, in setting up a Trump TV network. LionTree has experience in the media. It worked on <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/25/verizon-yahoo-deal-boutique-banks-just-netted-a-big-payday.html">Verizon Communications’ $4.4 billion acquisition of AOL</a>, and Charter Communications’ <a href="http://ir.timewarnercable.com/investor-relations/investor-news/financial-release-details/2015/Charter-Communications-to-Merge-with-Time-Warner-Cable-and-Acquire-Bright-House-Networks/default.aspx">acquisition of Time Warner Cable. </a></p>
<p>However, Bourkoff, it seems, was <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-tv-idUSKBN12H1F2">not</a> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/18/us/politics/donald-trump-tv-jared-kushner.html">interested</a>. </p>
<p>Plans for Trump TV have been denied by the Trump camp. But the temptation to take the support of <a href="http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/?ex_cid=rrpromo">more than 30% of the US adult population</a> and leverage it into an audience for a radical-right cable TV channel must be great.</p>
<p>Then again, history is not encouraging. Palin’s attempt to do just that after the 2012 US election <a href="http://variety.com/2015/digital/news/sarah-palin-internet-subscription-video-channel-1201535281/">lasted a year</a>. </p>
<p>Highly polarised media, be it of the left or the right, is a threat to democracy. </p>
<p>Just as nature depends on genetic diversity for species survival, democracy is dependent on diversity in public debate. When people are exposed only to one line of thinking, they become crippled by the narrowness of their understanding of the world and blind to alternative ways to approach its many challenges. </p>
<p>For a century now, we have relied on a diversity of public media and free expression to foster a diversity of ideas. Past mergers and takeovers, and those that may follow pending “reforms” of media laws, have narrowed media diversity.</p>
<p>The growth of social media, its lack of self-censorship and responsible commentary, has changed the mediascape. But social media is not contributing to diversity. It is attracting silo audiences. It is communicating to the converted, not winning converts. And it is not good at debate: demagogues are better for business.</p>
<p>There are no simple solutions. But one thing is for sure: diverse media in the marketplace of ideas is our best proof against demagoguery. </p>
<p>And we must be prepared to pay for such media. It is necessary for survival of democracy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68049/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vincent O'Donnell hold shares in Fairfax Media.</span></em></p>Highly polarised media, be it on the left or the right, are a threat to democracy.Vincent O'Donnell, Honorary Research Associate of the School of Media and Communication, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/650312016-09-14T20:16:53Z2016-09-14T20:16:53ZMedia owners steer government away from reform in the public interest<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136987/original/image-20160908-25279-1ktnfum.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mitch Fifield argues media diversity is under threat unless the government's bill is passed.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Joel Carrett</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Turnbull government’s <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r5674">media bill</a> has been <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/new-senate-media-reform-inquiry-frustrates-tv-chiefs/news-story/4a53759c60337bf74812b0f199971386">sent off to</a> another Senate inquiry, despite protestations from the government and the industry over the need to pass it urgently.</p>
<p>Communications Minister Mitch Fifield’s <a href="http://www.mitchfifield.com/Media/MediaReleases/tabid/70/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1253/Media-law-reform-package-reintroduced.aspx">assessment</a> is that if the government does not remove <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-changes-to-australias-media-ownership-laws-are-being-proposed-55509">two media rules</a> – one limiting national audience reach and the other limiting cross-media ownership – media diversity is under threat. But this inverts the reality. Mergers and acquisitions will generally mean <a href="https://theconversation.com/diversity-and-local-voices-at-risk-as-media-owners-aim-to-become-emperors-of-everything-55298">less voice diversity</a> – not more. A wave of these is <a href="https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwigsouY2v7OAhUEn5QKHfksAEAQFggrMAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Fbusiness%2Fmedia%2Fnew-wave-of-media-mergers-under-sweeping-reforms%2Fnews-story%2F1c476ff4fff65ca75869abcb5cd526a0&usg=AFQjCNE7bW7JfE-O3zL35SF98E24GaADfg&bvm=bv.131783435,d.dGo">likely to be triggered</a> by removing these rules.</p>
<p>Fifield’s deregulatory bluster aligns quite closely with standard News Corp messaging. He may <a href="http://www.mitchfifield.com/Media/Speeches/tabid/71/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1121/SPEECH--National-Press-Club-Address.aspx">claim to be</a> “ownership agnostic”, but the obvious outcome of removing restrictions on who can own what will inevitably mean industry consolidation. And Australia already has one of the <a href="http://www.uow.edu.au/%7Esharonb/STS218/media/ownership/concentration.html">most-concentrated media markets</a> in the democratic world.</p>
<p>The takeaway from this sideshow is a profound sense that Australia is a media policy backwater. The time-honoured political and media-owner manoeuvrings are a substitute for smart, citizen-focused policymaking.</p>
<p>The nations that have most influenced Australia’s media policymaking in the past – the US and the UK – have embraced the future of media diversity far more constructively.</p>
<h2>US rule-making for media diversity</h2>
<p>The US has had a process of <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/fccs-review-broadcast-ownership-rules">structured media ownership reviews</a> in place since 1996, known as the quadrennial media ownership reviews.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/general/20102014-media-ownership-rules-review">two previous US reviews</a> (2010 and 2014) have just concluded. Key ownership restrictions, including on cross-media ownership, are being left in place.</p>
<p>In its <a href="https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-16-107A1.doc">most recent “Report and Order”</a>, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recognised the continuing importance of traditional media in local communities for viewpoint diversity, particularly for local news and public interest programming, and the rapidly changing ways content is accessed. It argued:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… the public interest is best served by retaining our existing rules, with some minor modifications. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Those modifications relate to measures to enhance innovation and viewpoint diversity, and public disclosure of agreements between media outlets about how content is shared. </p>
<p>Although the US media rules for diversity have been to some extent mired in judicial proceedings, they nonetheless have been relatively systematic and underpinned by generally sound public interest objectives. </p>
<p>This has all taken place in a media context of far greater ownership diversity than Australia’s.</p>
<h2>The UK’s Ofcom</h2>
<p>Meanwhile, and in a more innovative way that responds to changing media access and consumption, the main regulatory authority in the UK, <a href="http://www.ofcom.org.uk/">Ofcom</a>, has <a href="http://www.epra.org/news_items/ofcom-concludes-its-work-on-the-measurement-framework-for-media-plurality">recently renovated its processes</a> for assessing media pluralism. </p>
<p>Ofcom has been required to review the UK’s ownership rules <a href="http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/morr/summary">at least every three years</a> since 2003. The restrictions in place include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>a rule limiting cross-media ownership of newspapers and TV at a national level; </p></li>
<li><p>requirements for the appointment of a regional TV news (Channel 3) provider; and </p></li>
<li><p>a rule for administering a public interest test in relation to mergers.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>In its <a href="http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/other/cross-media/media-ownership-research/rulesreport2015/">most recent statutory review</a>, Ofcom concluded the rules needed to be retained to protect pluralism. But, it recognised that this would require ongoing reassessment if the importance of TV news and newspapers continues to decline.</p>
<p>In its new framework for assessing plurality in news and current affairs content, Ofcom has developed a range of quantitative and qualitative indicators. These are designed to assess the availability of news sources, their consumption and their impact on users. It includes metrics for assessing the number of providers, reach, share of consumption, sources and the personal importance of a source.</p>
<p>The UK government, through Ofcom, has sensibly recognised that online news is increasingly important. A large proportion of people <a href="http://www.journalism.org/2016/06/15/digital-news-audience-fact-sheet/">now access</a> news only via Facebook. This pattern can be seen around the world, including in the US and Australia. </p>
<p>Taking this changing consumption into account in policy is even more important when we know these platforms are not neutral: their <a href="http://wallaroomedia.com/facebook-newsfeed-algorithm-change-history/">algorithms manipulate</a> what news content people see.</p>
<p>Ofcom has <a href="http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/media-plurality-framework/">also recommended</a> new assessment mechanisms to take into account qualitative contextual factors. The proxies for impact include impartiality, trust, reliability and the final ability of a news sources to sway an opinion.</p>
<p>Ofcom has developed an innovative <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/mediapolicyproject/2013/12/04/media-plurality-series-is-ofcoms-share-of-references-scheme-fit-for-measuring-media-power/">“share of references”</a> to compare consumption of news across different platforms with different consumption measures. It is, in effect, a cross-media metric that looks at consumption in terms of who owns the news source. </p>
<p>Under this approach, online intermediaries – like search engines or social networks – are considered a separate category of growing importance when looking at media consumption metrics, where they may not necessarily be a producer of a news title or a separate brand.</p>
<h2>Changing news consumption and sources</h2>
<p>These kinds of aggregated metrics are necessary to allow regulatory agencies working in the public interest to track changes in patterns of news consumption and the diversity of available news sources. </p>
<p>Responsible public policymaking obliges governments and their agencies to monitor these developments to gather the information to evaluate whether or not the current policy intent remains – and, if so, how to develop regulatory tools (including web traffic analysis software and news data analytics) to secure it.</p>
<p>The Turnbull government, however, is engaged in a process that is all about the sideshow – not forward-thinking media policy with the public interest in mind.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113345/original/image-20160301-4063-1lzv1m3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113345/original/image-20160301-4063-1lzv1m3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=3175&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113345/original/image-20160301-4063-1lzv1m3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=3175&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113345/original/image-20160301-4063-1lzv1m3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=3175&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113345/original/image-20160301-4063-1lzv1m3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=3990&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113345/original/image-20160301-4063-1lzv1m3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=3990&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113345/original/image-20160301-4063-1lzv1m3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=3990&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65031/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Dwyer receives funding from the Australian Research Council for a project about sharing news online. </span></em></p>The Turnbull government is engaged in a media reform process that is all about the sideshow – not forward-thinking policy with the public interest in mind.Tim Dwyer, Associate Professor, Department of Media and Communications, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/638092016-08-22T20:14:43Z2016-08-22T20:14:43ZShock horror: the big end of town has finally discovered Australia’s media is a whitewash<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134358/original/image-20160817-13020-1sqvzs2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Nine Network’s Here Come The Habibs is one of very few Australian TV programs not dominated by Anglo-Australian faces. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Nine Network</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report on <a href="http://www.pwc.com.au/press-room/2016/media-outlook-jun16.html">media diversity</a> and a raft of other initiatives show corporate and quasi-government cultural agencies may suddenly have woken up to the fact that Australia’s media are, well, white.</p>
<p>It is a generation on from <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/academic-professional/communication-studies/Racism-Ethnicity-and-the-Media-Andrew-Jakubowicz-9781863733649">revelations about the lack of diversity</a> in the Australian media at the dawn of the digital era. But what is pushing this concern now? And what’s changed since then?</p>
<h2>There’s diversity, and then there’s diversity</h2>
<p>The Turnbull government has proposed <a href="https://www.communications.gov.au/what-we-do/television/media/updating-australias-media-laws">rejigging the diversity of media ownership rules</a>. These are mainly aimed at liberating the Murdoch media from the last sliver of public interest constraints. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the big end of town <a href="http://screenfutures.com/2016/05/24/screen-culture-identity-and-diversity-in-the-media/">has discovered</a> the media have scarcely any cultural diversity in either producers or content. Even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/apr/27/abc-failing-to-reflect-racial-diversity-of-modern-australia-says-mark-scott">Mark Scott</a> remarked on this phenomenon when leaving the ABC.</p>
<p>Attention has turned over the past year to how to “fix” the problem. This is partly triggered by the unexpected appointment of Michelle Guthrie to head the ABC (she is <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/federal-budget/budget-2016-michelle-guthrie-calls-for-more-diverse-abc-as-fact-check-unit-faces-chop-20160502-gojsd9.html">both part-Asian and a woman</a>), partly by Muslim TV presenter Waleed Aly <a href="http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/awards/logies/waleed-aly-reveals-his-celebrated-gold-logie-speech-was-not-preplanned/news-story/a78399918f6024b41fd006fbf6ede445">winning the Gold Logie</a>, and partly by the <a href="http://2016.hraff.org.au/event/breakfast-session-cultural-diversity-stage-screen/">rising hubbub</a> among “multiculturals” about racism, thwarted opportunities and boringly bland media.</p>
<p>Ongoing initiatives include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/newsroom/news/2016/na-160317-diversity-aussie-tv-drama-study">Screen Australia</a>, along with a band of collaborators, has been researching the state of screen diversity in Australian-made TV drama. The findings, based on a study of both characters and actors in 200 programs over five years, will suggest that what we see on our screens still looks very much blander than what we see on our streets, while opportunities in the media for Australia’s minorities are anything but equal.</p></li>
<li><p>The <a href="https://www.dca.org.au/dca-research/cracking-the-cultural-ceiling.html">Diversity Council</a> has been more widely discussing ethnic and racial ceilings and their impact.</p></li>
<li><p>The <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/face-facts-cultural-diversity">Human Rights Commission</a> has been facilitating <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/news/stories/rightstalk-media-and-diversity">gatherings of media people of colour</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>The <a href="https://filmink.com.au/public-notice/developing-diversity-and-opportunity-through-aftrs-partnership-with-i-c-e/">Australian Film Television and Radio School</a> has been looking toward more wide-ranging outcomes from its training.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>What do the facts show?</h2>
<p>The statistics paint a monochromatic picture. The <a href="http://www.pwc.com.au/press-room/2016/media-outlook-jun16.html">PwC report</a> indicated a staggering 82.7% of the Australian media workforce is monolingual, speaking only English at home, and that a lack of diversity is stunting the industry’s growth and future. </p>
<p>A monocultural media workforce is a problem across all areas of the entertainment industry. But, radio broadcasting is particularly bleak. Of the nation’s on-air talent, 75% are male, Caucasian and over 35. </p>
<p>Behind these statistics are systemic problems like unconscious bias and similarity attraction in the recruitment of employees. Yet studies have shown embracing diversity is good for business in what are uncertain and digitally disruptive times for the media and entertainment industry.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134554/original/image-20160818-2494-sdd2ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134554/original/image-20160818-2494-sdd2ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134554/original/image-20160818-2494-sdd2ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134554/original/image-20160818-2494-sdd2ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134554/original/image-20160818-2494-sdd2ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134554/original/image-20160818-2494-sdd2ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134554/original/image-20160818-2494-sdd2ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A monocultural media workforce is a problem across all areas of the entertainment industry.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dave Malkoff</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Where were we a generation ago?</h2>
<p>A ground-breaking 1994 book, <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/academic-professional/communication-studies/Racism-Ethnicity-and-the-Media-Andrew-Jakubowicz-9781863733649">Racism, Ethnicity and the Media</a>, discovered many anomalies in the media representation of minority communities and indigenous peoples in Australia. </p>
<p>For many Australians of indigenous, diverse and indeed Anglo heritage, the nation represented on media outlets was not one they felt a part of.</p>
<p>In an eerie foreshadowing of the current results, most decision-makers in media organisations then were nearly all men aged over 40 and of Anglo heritage.</p>
<p>The book concluded that, as ethnicity and racial differences were likely to become increasingly important, equitable access to communication was crucial to ensure a socially just society. It argued:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Unless those practitioners are consciously and actively provoked to change, they will reproduce themselves and their world views endlessly. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Resistance to such changes inevitably would come from media bosses and owners.</p>
<h2>Whose Australian stories are told?</h2>
<p>In 2016 the ABC’s <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/austory/">Australian Story</a> celebrated its 20th year on air with a two-part <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2015/s4418697.htm">retrospective special</a>. This particular program showcased overwhelmingly white Australian stories.</p>
<p>There have been double episodes on iconic Australians like <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/austory/specials/acomplicatedlifepackerone/default.htm">Kerry Packer</a>. There have also been stories about white Australians rescuing, helping and saving non-whites. But even on this flagship, high-rating, highly awarded program, things have had to change.</p>
<p>When Scott finished his ten-year tenure as the ABC’s managing director earlier this year, his biggest regret <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/scotty-doesnt-know?utm_term=.gbxnNOKYG#.nmAdGQoN3">was that</a> he employed “too many Anglos”. Yet under his watch and with his full knowledge, the percentage of content-makers of non-Anglo background hired <a href="http://about.abc.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/EquityDiversityAnnualRPT201415.pdf">had declined</a> during his last year at the helm from 8.2% to 7.4%. </p>
<p>In 2015, and under the stewardship of new executive producer Deborah Masters, Australian Story began to broadcast interviews with subtitles. </p>
<p>It had always been believed that a program with high production values and a voiceless script could not work with foreign-language interviews and subtitles; that it would detract from the storytelling by forcing the audience to read. Well, it does – and it worked.</p>
<p>The Australian Story on <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2015/s4348989.htm">Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou</a> included an interview with his Greek-speaking mother – and the ratings did not collapse. Perhaps this has given the program some new impetus to normalise the way it depicts subjects who are not Anglo-Australians.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134556/original/image-20160818-2462-eqt07f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134556/original/image-20160818-2462-eqt07f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134556/original/image-20160818-2462-eqt07f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134556/original/image-20160818-2462-eqt07f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134556/original/image-20160818-2462-eqt07f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134556/original/image-20160818-2462-eqt07f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134556/original/image-20160818-2462-eqt07f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou was the subject of a recent Australian Story episode.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ABC/Australian Story</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Who makes the news?</h2>
<p>The culture of the journalist plays a role in the selection of news, particularly the lens through which a news story is reported. </p>
<p>Journalists with diverse ethnic backgrounds could provide nuanced insights, views and perspectives beyond the white-only narrative of events within Australian media organisations. </p>
<p>A study on the <a href="http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=505254204652227;res=IELLCC">ethnicity of journalists</a> working in Australia found 55.9% of journalists identified as being “purely Anglo-Saxon”; an additional 17.4% were “partly Anglo-Saxon”; and another 4.8% considered themselves “Australian”.</p>
<p>This means 73.3% of Australian journalists surveyed had some Anglo-Saxon background – a percentage the study says is not that different from 20 years ago. </p>
<h2>Is advertising becoming more responsive and adventurous?</h2>
<p>At least one space in national media has appeared remarkably open to cultural diversity: advertising. This is both deeply ironic and glaringly logical. </p>
<p>In their calculated and cautious pursuit of market share, advertisers dare not alienate potential consumers. Yet, in a multicultural context, potential consumers are culturally diverse – and therein sits the proverbial carrot.</p>
<p>That said, big brands court both reward and risk when they engage representations of cultural diversity. When <a href="https://www.medibank.com.au/">Medibank Private</a> reworked its “I am Better” tagline into an array of ethnicities, sexualities, lifestyles and religions, <a href="https://mumbrella.com.au/mediabank-launches-fresh-campaign-capturing-aussies-as-they-are-in-their-homes-345058">mainstream accolades ensued</a>.</p>
<p>These expressions of difference matter. While there can be commercial gain in showcasing diversity, there are still stubborn pockets of xenophobic resistance, which draw from, and thus strengthen, dominant cultural anxieties.</p>
<h2>It’s all Chinese …</h2>
<p>The rapid spread of Chinese-language media has transformed the political and cultural environment for Chinese communities in Australia. </p>
<p>In the past few years, mainland Chinese media have been adopted into local press, such as the <a href="http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2016liuvisitkza/2016-05/27/content_25499648.htm">China Daily</a> in Fairfax newspapers. </p>
<p>Uncontrolled digital media such as Weibo and Wechat have inundated the communication worlds of contemporary Chinese, placing them in a contemporaneous zone of intense immediacy. Essentially, this has allowed the Mandarin-speaking population to get their news from Beijing or Guangzhou, and allows them to be protected from Australian media perspectives.</p>
<p>During the 2016 Australian election, anti-gay activists in the Mandarin-speaking cyber-world activated support for the Christian Democratic Party, <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2016/australian-federal-election-2016-linda-burney-makes-history-for-labor-20160702-gpx0lh.html">doubling its vote in some seats</a> and returning preferences to the government (helping secure its re-election). Without this activity the vote could have resulted in a hung parliament. </p>
<p>The possibility that Chinese Australians will become more alienated, and other Australians more prejudiced against them and China, is increased by mainstream media <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2016/election-2016-pauline-hanson-warns-of-terror-on-the-streets-and-suburbs-swamped-by-asians-20160704-gpxzpn.html">channelling anti-Asian hostility</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134561/original/image-20160818-12295-1850s6r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134561/original/image-20160818-12295-1850s6r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134561/original/image-20160818-12295-1850s6r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134561/original/image-20160818-12295-1850s6r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134561/original/image-20160818-12295-1850s6r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134561/original/image-20160818-12295-1850s6r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134561/original/image-20160818-12295-1850s6r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The China Daily supplement appears in Fairfax newspapers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ABC/Media Watch</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Digital transformations</h2>
<p>Digital companies are swamping mainstream Australian media <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/04/29/11-buzzfeed-lists-that-explain-the-world/">with a mix</a> of serious news and entertaintment. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/">Huffington Post</a>, <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/?/country=au">Buzzfeed</a> and <a href="http://mashable.com/category/australia/">Mashable</a> are redefining news and its consumption. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.digitalnewsreport.org/survey/2016/australia-2016/">Nearly one in five Australians</a> source their news exclusively from digital social media. This is higher than in the European Union (10%) and the US (14%). </p>
<p>Such digital outlets carry a major push for diversity. Their global sensibilities alert them to the critical importance of reaching every pocket of possible audience. </p>
<p>Of the three sites mentioned above, Buzzfeed is the only one that discloses the statistics on its diversity numbers. They are now pretty close to <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/buzzfeeds-new-diversity-numbers-show-digital-media-giant-has-caught-washington-post-2149176">The Washington Post’s levels</a>.</p>
<p>Media diversity is becoming <a href="http://niemanreports.org/articles/why-newsroom-diversity-works/">an essential business strategy</a> in the US, a country that will be majority non-white by 2044. The Australian subsidiaries now have the opportunity to lead the way here.</p>
<h2>Do we wait for another generation?</h2>
<p>So while the government is focused on one sort of diversity – profiting from the media and who gets to do it – multicultural Australia faces another dimension of limited diversity.</p>
<p>PwC made what would appear to be a call to business to focus its energies on growing the diversity dividend:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Similar to the world we see depicted by media, entertainment and media businesses do not reflect an Australia that’s becoming more diverse by the day … Studies have shown diversity improves business outcomes. To move the dial in the entertainment and media industry greater focus needs to be placed on tackling unconscious bias and similarity attraction in recruitment.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The arguments from economic self-interest may strengthen the wider impetus for government and industry. But it is actually the arguments from social cohesion that are far more important. </p>
<p>A society that cannot look itself in the face is unlikely to be able to ensure that its complexity can be drawn on to build a more creative, integrated and resourceful population and a more civil society at a time of rising racism and xenophobia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63809/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors are members of the UTS Communication and Cultural Diversity Research Colloquium. Andrew Jakubowicz edited Racism, Ethnicity and the Media (Allen and Unwin) and researched it with a group of UTS humanities and social science academics in the early 1990s. The book, published in 1994, is still available and regularly reprinted as the only major study on the topic. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Belinda Middleweek, Bhuva Narayan, Devleena Ghosh, Helen Vatsikopoulos, Saba Bebawi, Susie Khamis, and Wanning Sun do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A generation on from revelations about the lack of diversity in the Australian media at the dawn of the digital era, what is pushing this concern now? And what’s changed since then?Andrew Jakubowicz, Professor of Sociology, University of Technology SydneyBelinda Middleweek, Lecturer in Journalism, University of Technology SydneyBhuva Narayan, Senior lecturer, University of Technology SydneyDevleena Ghosh, Associate Professor, Social Inquiry Program, University of Technology SydneyHelen Vatsikopoulos, Lecturer in Journalism, University of Technology SydneySaba Bebawi, Senior Lecturer in Journalism, University of Technology SydneySusie Khamis, Senior Lecturer in Public Communication, University of Technology SydneyWanning Sun, Professor of Chinese Media and Cultural Studies, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.