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Melbourne Press Club accused of being ‘misleading’ in diversity debate

The Melbourne Press Club (MPC) has established a diversity sub-committee as part of a strategic review in response to an open letter calling for racial diversity on the board.

The letter, addressed to newly-appointed chief executive Cathy Bryson, noted that two people of colour were approached to run for the 20-seat board at last week’s AGM, but neither were elected. The Melbourne Press Club has since countered that only one Indigenous member nominated, and did not attend the meeting nor provide a proxy vote.

However, when approached for comment, Madeline Hayman-Reber, a Gomeroi woman and the Indigenous nominee to which the MPC refers, said she did not receive a Zoom link to attend the meeting.

“It is hard to attend an AGM that you do not receive an invitation to, and attendance is not a requirement for election as per the club’s constitution,” she told Mumbrella.

“To insinuate otherwise is misleading and appears to be a tactic to derail the original argument, as well as being a personal attack on me, the only person of colour to have successfully nominated.

“As I have said – this isn’t about me. The facts speak for themselves – there are 20 seats and not a single person of colour in the year 2020, in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement.”

The diversity sub-committee will develop a Diversity and Inclusion Plan to ensure the Club and industry “incorporates cultural and gender equality initiatives in all its events and operations”. The Melbourne Press Club said it “will aim to enlist external experts to join the new sub-committee, with a current Board member to act as Chair”. But Hayman-Reber said this isn’t good enough.

“A sub-committee chaired by someone who sits in an all-white board really misses the point, and the sub-committee sits as subordinate to the board,” she added.

“We’re asking for journalists of culturally diverse backgrounds to have a seat at the table, not the kids’ table.”

The Press Club said 27 people attended the AGM, and dozens more provided proxy votes to elect 20 people from a nominee pool of 22. The board “proactively encouraged members of diverse backgrounds to nominate as candidates”, it said, and 60% of the elected candidates were women.

The strategic review involves the establishment of the diversity sub-committee, but also involves a number of other key priorities. Mumbrella has asked about the details of those priorities.

Nine investigative journalist Nick McKenzie, who was elected as president of the Melbourne Press Club last week, said the Club is “resolute in our intent to do more”.

“The Melbourne Press Club is acutely aware of the opportunity it has to influence more action on cultural and gender diversity,” he said.

“While our recent measures have been effective, we are resolute in our intent to do more. I look forward to working with our new sub-committee, as, together, we fight to shape a more inclusive society. There are also a number of other priorities for journalism in this state, and the nation, and we will be attacking these in the coming weeks and months as well.”

In the statement, the Club also pointed to the introduction of a new Quill Award – the Quill Awards are administered by the MPC – in 2019 that recognises cultural diversity in Victorian reporting. It also noted that, in 2018, the Michael Gordon Fellowships were established, which fund journalism with a focus on Indigenous affairs, migration policy, human rights, and international development. More than half of the $60,000 in distributed grants have been directed at the reporting of Indigenous issues, it said.

Media Diversity Australia director, Antoinette Lattouf

The open letter, which circulated this week, was endorsed by Media Diversity Australia, and signed by the likes of Stan Grant, Jamila Rizvi, The Saturday Paper’s Erik Jensen and ABC Life editor Bhakthi Puvanenthiran. It now has almost 200 signatures.

“There are many models the board could adopt in order to allow for more diversity, including targets or quotas, two things we hope will one day not be required,” it said.

“This is an exclusivity that is unacceptable in 2020, where the composition of the board dismally fails to reflect both Australia as a community as well as our industry. Census data clearly demonstrates how very multicultural Australian society is.

“It translates in a real way, with people of colour – especially First Nations Peoples – who feel less included and encouraged to apply for fellowships and awards or attend events such as the Quills, all of which are administered by the MPC.”

Media Diversity Australia director Antoinette Lattouf acknowledged the MPC’s commitment to gender diversity, but said: “It is just unfortunate that there was such oversight in announcing almost two dozen board members, entirely lacking journalists of colour.”

In response, McKenzie added that the Club “looks forward to engaging various community and sector leaders in its work on this critical matter, including Media Diversity Australia”.

“Together we can keep making a real difference to ensure journalism is representative of the whole community,” he said.

Mumbrella understands Lattouf and McKenzie are meeting tonight to discuss the issue further.

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