All of Australia’s national news directors are white men, with lack of TV diversity starting at the top
Despite almost a quarter of Australians coming from an Indigenous or non-European background, every national news director in Australia is a white man, and 96.9% of those in the most senior news management roles have an Anglo-Celtic or European background, according to new research.
More than 75% of presenters, commentators and reporters are Anglo-Celtic, while only 6% have an Indigenous or non-European background, according to the report. And of the free to air networks’ 39 board members, only one at SBS has an Indigenous background, and three a non-European background.
The research – conducted by Macquarie University, Deakin University, University of Sydney, and Western Sydney University in partnership with Media Diversity Australia (MDA) – also dug into the cultural makeup of each TV network.
Breakfast TV shows were analysed as part of the research
Nine was the worst-performing, with 87.8% Anglo-Celtic and just 2.9% non-European presenters, commentators, and reporters. Its Indigenous headcount is listed at 0%, despite Indigenous woman Brooke Boney presenting for the Today Show.
Ten’s breakdown is listed as 67.1% Anglo-Celtic, and 8.6% non-European or Indigenous. And Seven has only 4.8% of presenters, commentators or reporters who are non-European. 72% of people in those positions at the network are recorded as being Anglo-Celtic, and zero Indigenous people.
The networks’ cultural makeup. Click to enlarge
The public broadcasters fared better, with 14.1% of the ABC’s reporter headcount coming from non-European or Indigenous backgrounds. And just 0.7% at SBS are Anglo-Celtic; 76.6% are non-European, but only 0.2% Indigenous.
“One of the most concerning findings is that on all regional news networks, there were no Indigenous presenters, commentators or reporters identified in our two-week slice,” the report read.
“There were also none identified on Channel 7, and only one on Channel 9 and 10. Even at SBS, Indigenous presenters, commentators or reporters comprised only 0.2% of our sample.
“Our analysis also showed that television news and current affairs programs were not presented by anyone from non-European or Indigenous backgrounds in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Tasmania.”
The cultural breakdown of the breakfast shows. Click to enlarge
The figures contained within the research are based on a study of the free to air networks in the first two weeks of June last year, which captured 81 different news programs across all time slots.
Specific attention was given to breakfast TV in the report because “such shows are often the progenitors of wider social debates about issues concerning those groups”. But “it is arguable that cultural diversity is rendered more or less invisible in this aspect of the daily news agenda”.
On Studio 10, every presenter, commentator, and reporter is recorded as Anglo-Celtic or European. Narelda Jacobs has been part of the program since the start of the year, but the sample period was from last year, she wasn’t captured.
The Today Show’s line up features just 0.2% of people who are non-European or Indigenous. And Sunrise has 7% non-European and 0% Indigenous journalists.
The report was three years in the making
The report follows a number of media companies reckoning with a lack of cultural diversity. ABC’s Insiders admitted it “need[s] to do better” after an investigation by Junkee’s Rob Stott found that the program hadn’t featured a person of colour for at least a decade.
That shows that networks still don’t see the obvious opportunity in diversity. At any network upfront they’ll tout “innovation” from start to finish but demonstrate one metric by which they're identical to their competitors and all of a sudden “innovation” isn’t so important.
— Adam Liaw (@adamliaw) August 17, 2020
Last month, SBS unveiled a range of diversity measures, including appointing two Indigenous elders in residence, after multiple Indigenous staffers disclosed experiences of racism at the broadcaster and an open letter was circulated. Almost 70 journalists at The Age also signed a letter sent to Nine executives after the newspaper apologised for two stories that made an unsubstantiated allegation that Black Lives Matter protesters were planning to spit on police, and incorrectly claimed Australia does not have a history of slavery, respectively. The masthead’s editor, Alex Lavelle, exited soon thereafter.
Seven West Media apologised for an ‘abhorrent[ly]’ racist cartoon that mistakenly appeared in The West Australian and included racial slurs.
And News Corp published a column which said “the greatest danger to aboriginals and n*groes is themselves”. In recent days, it has also stood by a Johannes Leak cartoon widely denounced as racist for calling US vice presidential candidate a “little brown girl”.
“We continue to see all white panels who are there to comment on issues impacting our very multicultural nation — on both commercial TV and the ABC,” MDA chair Isabel Lo said.
“Unless we see change in both the composition of leadership teams and talent on screen — our media will remain disconnected from audiences whose engagement is already waning.”
The ‘Who gets to tell Australian stories?’ report is the first analysis of “who tells, frames and produces stories in Australian television news and current affairs”. As part of the three year study, 300 TV journalists voluntarily participated in a survey, more than 70% of whom rated the representation of culturally linguistic people in media as either poor or very poor.
And 77% of culturally diverse respondents said their backgrounds are a barrier to career progress.
“It is abundantly clear that Australian television news and current affairs media doesn’t reflect its audience and this has a flow on effect as to which stories are covered and how they are framed and told,” said MDA’s director and senior journalist Antoinette Lattouf.
Catharine Lumby, from Macquarie University’s department of media, music, communication, and cultural studies, added that in interviews with network executives, published anonymously, “most recognised that their outlet failed to reflect their audience, but there remains some ambivalence towards having formal diversity and inclusion policies”.
“Based on three data sets and a series of interviews, we identified a distinctive gap in representation between those reporting Australia’s news and current affairs and the broader Australian population,” Lumby said.
The research also highlighted the lack of women in leadership roles: 0% at Seven, 14% at Nine, 43% at Ten, 43% at the ABC, and 50% at SBS. However, none of the women in those positions are women of colour.
Thanks for being interested in our research Karl and the Iseue of representation in TV news You were counted in the data as having a European background. https://t.co/5yd7k1v2zM
— Media Diversity AU (@MediaDiverseAU) August 16, 2020
Today Show host Karl Stefanovic took issue with his network, Nine, being called out for its diversity issues.
“I used to be called a wog at school. I’m proud of my heritage,” he tweeted.
“Im [sic] pretty sure it’s diverse and nine have always supported that.”
Media Diversity Australia responded: “You were counted in the data as having a European background.”
The research – which was funded by Google News Lab and the industry’s union, and the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), with support from Telum Media and Isentia – made a number of recommendations, including for TV networks to collect data on cultural diversity, establish targets to increase cultural diversity, and prioritise diversity in recruitment and promotion.
“If not for the existence of SBS/NITV, these figures would be even worse,” said MEAA’s Marcus Strom.
“Australian television networks are seriously letting down their audiences by not having more diverse talent on screen. This results in reporting about sensitive issues involving race and religion being filtered through a single, white Anglo-Saxon perspective, consciously or unconsciously reinforcing misunderstandings, stereotypes and prejudices.”
Lumby added that increasing diversity in newsrooms is also good business, saying: “There’s no doubt the traditional business model of free-to-air television is struggling. That’s due to a range of factors.
“But in an online and streaming media environment where the competition for viewers is more intense than ever having more diverse staff means a greater capacity to speak to and grab the attention of diverse audiences. It makes good business sense.”
Brittney Rigby was Mumbrella's deputy managing editor - news and analysis. She left Mumbrella in April 2021.
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Who gets to tell Australian stories?
….”96.9% of those in the most senior news management roles have an Anglo-Celtic or European background”
Australia’s Indigenous population is approx. 3.3%
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Would be interested to see the stats on programming and sales heads too.
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Spot on Nigel!
Just maybe the staff in those senior news management roles have the skill set and experience that others from non Anglo-Celtic or European backgrounds don’t! Just another (of many) reports into “cultural diversity” lately!
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Quelle surprise – all of the older white guys who benefit from this bias (and are now in the top jobs) say: “Nothing to see here, folks!”
Unconscious bias is absolutely a thing, and the *least* these guys (and they are all men) can do, is accept that it exists, and work to do better.
On top of the very clear racial bias that this study shows, it also needs to be said that there are very few LGBTIQ folks in executive roles (in the media, and elsewhere).
It’s due to an incredible lack of imagination, among other things. White straight men basically promote other (younger) white straight men who remind them of themselves. It’s gone on for far too long, and the response from the media networks to this study tells you that the dinosaurs in charge are happy to keep it that way.
Let’s keep calling them out.
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Lets’ not forget, we’ve had leading, Prime-time TV News programs with multi-cultural heads. Stan Grant is one that jumps to mind.
The broadcasters serve up what generates the ratings.
If diversity was as much in demand as everyone on social media is stating, SBS would be rating through the roof.
This really just comes down to another news cycle to keep people watching and engaging with content creators, who need more people watching and reading their services.
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I agree there should be more diversity BUT you may need to research how many people are graduating from related degrees/courses and the cultural backgrounds and moving into the sectors..
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Slow news day, mumbrella? Yawn, next…
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New directors? Seriously? Who knew researchers had the the time to keep score. Can’t wait for the expose on the PR industry which is 85% white and female.
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This comment is on the money, i bet if you look at the age statistics too, i bet they would be older than 50 with 20+ years experience in the industry.
So now if you look at the people graduating universities, make adjustments for people leaving etc. then you would have a number closer in 20 years time.
What you can’t do is look at Australia’s representation in a current state and say it has to be adjusted right away, that doesn’t make sense.
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And that’s not good enough, either…
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And Australia’s Asian-Australian population is approx 16.3%. Soooooooooo
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This paragraph perfectly highlights how no amount of “progress” will ever be good enough to satiate the left:
The research also highlighted the lack of women in leadership roles: 0% at Seven, 14% at Nine, 43% at Ten, 43% at the ABC, and 50% at SBS. However, none of the women in those positions are women of colour.
Note that Ten, ABC, and SBS have pretty fair numbers of women in leadership roles, but that’s still not good enough because they’re not women of colour. Once these figures have more women of colour, will the question be asked how many of these women identify as LGBTI? Or how many have a disability? Repeat this process until being a white woman, or a straight women of colour, or a transsexual able-bodied woman is considered “not representative enough”.
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Yes, what’s more likely: that people of a European background are just somehow better at news management OR that there are institutional and structural boundaries to people from other backgrounds?
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Absolutely not true. If you look at the ads that show during these prime time shows, it’s clear that businesses have learnt that diversity is in their best interests, even if the shows they are advertising on have not.
And Stan Grant hasn’t been on a prime time commercial news program since the mid-90s, so good job on cherry picking there.
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With all due respect, I think that’s part of the point of this study. It’s probably true that there are more white male graduates coming out of those courses (for a whole bunch of reasons) but a) that doesn’t really excuse the problem (after all, where are SBS getting their journalists from?) and b) we should be working to establish pathways for people from all backgrounds to have access to jobs in the news media so problems like those this report highlights can be combated.
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Look at the Nine Entertainment Co Board and C-Suite and CEO , there is ZERO ethnic representation, have recommended to our company to ditch nine and fairfax for advertising…… blatant racism. They all waive the female participation rate and LGBTIQ flag , but this is the largest minority Australia has and they have NO representation.
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I’m having trouble finding those published, scientific, empirical studies on ‘unconscious bias’ the foundation of your argument is predicated upon. Citation, please.
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“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.”
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