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.
….”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%
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!
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?
And Australia’s Asian-Australian population is approx 16.3%. Soooooooooo
Would be interested to see the stats on programming and sales heads too.
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.
I’m having trouble finding those published, scientific, empirical studies on ‘unconscious bias’ the foundation of your argument is predicated upon. Citation, please.
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.
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.
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..
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.
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.
Slow news day, mumbrella? Yawn, next…
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.
And that’s not good enough, either…
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”.
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.
“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.”