Hey TV, why so white?
Sheba Nandkeolyar, advisory board member for Media Diversity Australia, says Australian TV’s lack of diversity is tuning out CALD audiences.
On Tuesday, national not-for-profit Media Diversity Australia (MDA) released ‘Who Gets to Tell Australian Stories? 2.0’, a report on the (lack of) diversity of Australia’s media industry. MDA Advisory Board Member Sheba Nandkeolyar laments the damning findings and implores the industry to do more, given that Australia’s population is more diverse than ever.
Media Diversity Australia’s long-awaited ‘Who gets to tell Australian stories? 2.0’ report has revealed some pretty sad and sobering findings on the indigeneity and cultural diversity of Australian news and current affairs television media including that Anglo Celtic background people are still vastly over-represented on television. Non-Europeans are still the most under-represented, and an audience survey revealed most non-Europeans want more cultural diversity among presenters and stories told. The ABC is the only network to show an increase in non-European on-air talent. On commercial networks the non-European population is 19 times greater than what is shown on our screens.
For those of us in the media and marketing communications industry who are even the teensiest bit progressive and inclusive, this should be extraordinarily difficult to hear. It should also be a wake-up call to all of us to do better when we are recruiting, hiring, planning, budgeting, researching, writing, producing, and… living.
