Media Diversity Australia appoints first CEO
Mariam Veiszadah has been appointed as the inaugural CEO of Media Diversity Australia (MDA).
Veiszadeh has joined from Diversity Council Australia, where she had held the title of advisory, member relations and knowledge management director.
Mariam Veiszadeh
Veiszadeh is also a lawyer and human rights advocate. She founded The Islamophobia Register, was a former board member of Our Watch and has worked as a media commentator.
On her appointment, Veiszadeh said: “It is such an honour to be joining the MDA team. I have witnessed MDA grow and have incredible impact in a short period of time.
“I look forward to working with Antoinette, Isabel and their fellow MDA board members in building on MDA’s impressive list of
achievements.”
Media Diversity Australia is a not-for-profit that seeks to advocate for greater diversity in Australia’s newsrooms. It was founded in 2017 by journalists Isabel Lo and Antoinette Lattouf.
Lattouf commented: “We couldn’t be more excited about bringing Mariam onboard to steer the ship. She is an absolute powerhouse, a dynamic leader who has long been an ally. Mariam has some fantastic ideas about how to make what started as a side hustle for Isabel and I, an even greater force of change to
be reckoned with.”
Lo and Lattouf remain non-executive board directors.
The news follows Media Diversity Australia’s appointment of Chris Vaughan as operations director in May.
Back in August 2020, Media Diversity Australia released a report that found that 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. However, the report faced some criticism over its exclusion of Indigenous broadcaster NITV.
