S04E07 - Minority Report: Searching for Diversity in TV News

February 2, 2022 Jay Ooi

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S04E07 - Minority Report: Searching for Diversity in TV News Shoes Off

Transcript

Serena

Do you ever watch the news and flick from channel to channel, just thinking, “my goodness, this all looks ferociously similar”? Every bulletin has its power blazers, fake city backdrops, and news readers, who are typically of the Anglo-Celtic persuasion. The Australian public clearly isn’t exclusively white, but why is it important that we see this representation in TV news?

Isabel

You have blind spots in your coverage, and that is a huge disservice to your audience: they're not getting the full picture.

Serena

And what are our expectations when it comes to multicultural channels vs. the commercial networks?

Tracy

I said, "I'm going to try and branch out. I think I might apply for some jobs elsewhere." He's like, "Where?" I said, "Oh, probably SBS because that's the only place I can really go."

Tim

If you're someone who's from a culturally diverse background, it may be acceptable for you to be cooking food on screen, but it's not as acceptable for you to be presenting the news.

Serena

And what’s the reality of becoming a newsreader if you’re from a diverse background?

Han

I was told my appearance wasn't what they were looking for, and that was the reason why I wasn't allowed to go on air.

Serena

Hello and welcome to Shoes Off, stories about Asian Australian culture. I’m Serena Coady.

Jay

Hi Serena, how are you doing?

Serena

Hi Jay, I’m doing well. How are you doing?

Jay

I’m good! Now you’re leading the charge in today’s ep, aren’t you?

Serena

I am indeed. Thank you for having me.

Jay

No, thank you for bringing this topic to my attention. What got you interested in covering this in the first place?

Serena

I’ve been working in media for nearly a decade, writing for digital and print publications, and the lack of diversity in Australian media has always been something I’ve noticed firsthand. Often I have been the only diverse person in the newsroom, or one of two. And now that I live in the UK, I’ve been thinking a lot about the state of diversity back home.

Serena

I have a question for you - what comes to mind when I mention the phrase “Jacketgate”?

Jay

Oh, this was that incident where there were a few people during a news coverage, and they were all wearing the same colour and one said they would put on a jacket to cover it up.

Serena

Yes, on Channel 9 a few years back, the two presenters and one guest, were all wearing white. Basically Amber Sherlock asked the other presenter, Julie Snook, to wear a jacket because it’s apparently the ultimate malfeasance to all be wearing white. Then the footage leaked and it made national and international headlines, somehow ending up on Jimmy Kimmel. This got me thinking. Jacketgate rippled through the country, but who really cares about the whiteness of the outfits that day? The majority of Australian news broadcasts feature exclusively white line-ups of presenters every single day, at the exclusion of diverse talent, and yet no one is really kicking up a stink about that. If you had to hazard a guess - which channel do you reckon is our least diverse in terms of presenters?

Jay

I would probably guess Channel 9.

Serena

Yeah. You’re spot on, Jay.

Serena

nearly 88% of Channel 9’s presenters are Anglo-Celtic. And that’s followed by 72% at Channel 7, and 67% at Channel 10.

Jay

Wow, 88% is a lot.

Serena

Now this won’t be hard, but can you guess which channel is the most diverse in its line-up of presenters?

Jay

It’s gotta be SBS.

Serena

Ding ding ding. It is indeed our multicultural broadcaster.

Jay

And I’m guessing ABC is second place?

Serena

Yes, but the gap might surprise you. It really got me. even though ABC is second-best in terms of diversity of presenters, 57% of ABC’s presenters are still Anglo-Celtic. So they’re still the majority at that channel.

Anyway, I’m really keen to look more into that report and chat to some of the researchers behind it. So, shall I get stuck in?

Thanks Jay.

Serena

It’s 6pm on a weeknight. You reluctantly claim your place on the couch. “The news is on: you might learn something!” calls Mum. Maybe you’re tucking into spoonfuls of rice, and the small kitchen TV flickers on. The animated satellites of SBS World News beam out to the world. (plays in background) Seven’s stressful orgy of violins play (plays in background). Maybe your parents were vigilant about getting the hard news from the ABC while you leant towards the sexier commercial offerings of Channel Ten. Who is telling you the biggest stories of the day?

Is it Sandra Sully, with that unshakeable, resonant voice? Peter Overton, with the half-smile you can trust? Or perhaps Lee Lin Chin, the TV veteran with a revolving wardrobe of power collars? Since the first TV broadcasts of the fifties, newsreaders have been conduits of facts, tragedies, the lighter stuff, and ultimately, our Australian stories. Our trusted newsreaders were there when the first wave surged through Banda Aceh, when Lady Di passed away, and when the world was forever changed on 9/11. Sure, the family TV doesn’t quite get bums on seats like it used to, but the TV is still the most popular source of news for Australians. So broadcasters kinda need to get it right.

Serena

What did your parents think when you decided to become a journalist?

Han

My mum laughed at me. She thought it was ridiculous. She said that there's never been any Asians on telly. This was when I was quite young, mind you. So, at that point, there weren't many people on air that were from a diverse background. So, she laughed at me… I was like, "mum, I really want to ... I want to do that. I want to be a Getaway presenter or some sort of presenter on TV." And she laughed. And she's like, "Well, if you can get there, I'd be very proud and surprised." And I just remember that point and I was like, "Well, thanks, mum." And I kind of looked into it and worked on it. And I think part of me, the reason why I'm here is because I wanted to prove her wrong. But also, I do love this career as well.

Mind you, they're my biggest supporters now. And they're always like, "Send us some clips," because they don't have Facebook or they don't know how to access videos. So, I have to screen record it and send it to them via WhatsApp just so they can watch my stories.

Serena

Han is a news reporter with Seven in Wagga Wagga. We used to work together as journalists at a metropolitan newspaper. Han always astounded me. I know she doesn’t like it when people comment on how young she is or how young she looks, but she was only 21 when we worked together. She was ambitious, confident, and had already achieved so much. Also, she was one of the only non-white journalists in the newsroom. As was I. So the lack of diversity in Australian news extends to print journalism, too.

Han

Mum and dad used to always buy me newspapers on the weekends. So I'd read the newspapers, and we'd always watch the 6:00 PM news. And yeah, so I kind of just ... News has always been part of my life.

My mum’s a factory worker, dad's a bus driver. No one in my family has ever done journalism before. There was no other Asian role model to look up to. So, my parents were like, this was going to be raw for them as well. It's all new to them because they don't know anyone who could help me get through it. So, I feel like I had to work my ass off compared to anyone else, any white, eastern suburbs or northern suburbs person in the classroom.

I worked my ass off through uni, through high school just to get to where I am today. Even telling my cousins what I was studying, they'd all laugh at me and be like, "You're never going to make it, you're Asian." It was very hard. As a teenage girl, telling people what your dream is and then getting knocked back a couple of times. And it was really hard. Like, through uni, the cohort at uni was predominantly white or someone who had relatives that was already in the industry somehow. Like, you know? Their dad was a camera operator, their mum was the local editor, the local paper's editor, etc.

Serena

TV news is just, fiercely competitive. Very few make it to the top, and some of the people that do are well-connected, as Han mentioned. But for many, it takes grit.

Han

There was an instance once at a particular workplace, which I won't name names, where I was told my appearance wasn't what they were looking for, and that was the reason why I wasn't allowed to go on air.

Serena

What?

Han

Yeah, it wasn't ... Not like that I was allowed, but it was holding me back, rather.

Serena

Oh my gosh.

Music: sad ???

Han

I was told that I wasn't the type of person they were looking for, and it was holding me back. And I've been told I've got a baby face before, which is fine. I get that, you know? You want to be taken seriously. But they were comparing me to a friend of mine, who is this ... Is Anglo and is white with blonde hair and is this beautiful, blonde girl. So, that was probably the point where I knew I had to leave that place and move on.

Serena

That's awful. I'm so sorry you had to go through that.

Han

Yeah, it was tough. Like, that was the point ... You're going to make me cry. No, I'm fine. Like, that was probably the lowest point I've ever had in my career in terms of mental health and physical health and everything. It was horrible. But I left, and I'm fine. Yeah. So, in primary school, I remember going to bed praying, "I hope I wake up with lighter eyes or lighter hair and that, and look like one of my friends and stuff like that." So, yeah. So, that kind of brought back all those memories as a child, like in my childhood.

Serena

This pressure to Anglicise Asian features, to make your appearance more palatable to Westerners, might feel sadly familiar to you. In the competitive world of TV news, where your face is beamed into millions of homes, it’s a whole other ballgame. In 2014, Julie Chen, a veteran news anchor on US network CBS, revealed she had plastic surgery to make her eyes look larger. As a junior reporter, she was told by producers and agents that she would never become an anchor: she was “unrelatable” to the local community and they said her slanted eyes made her look “disinterested” and “bored”. She was told she should go under the knife. And she did. Her career took off.

Han

My current newsroom, there's no one really that's of a diverse background… there's a handful. But like I said, I always feel like I'm a minority, so yeah. Wherever I go. I've been getting a lot of messages and phone calls from young aspiring journalists… I had this one girl, her last name was Nguyen as well. And she says, "I feel so inspired that there is another Nguyen out there that is doing what I want to do and aspire to do." (25:25) I know I'm still reporting in regional television, but I'm doing my dream job, which is reporting on television. Now I'm doing this to prove to other young women, other girls of ethnic backgrounds that they can do it

Serena

In 2020, Media Diversity Australia - a not for profit run by journalists - developed a report titled: Who Gets To Tell Australian Stories? It was the first quantification of diversity in Australian news. I’ll link it in the show notes, but I definitely recommend having a read. The report found that 85.9% of non-white respondents felt that coming from a diverse background was a barrier to having a career in the media. So, this might be why so many diverse journalists are looking to Han for guidance or even affirmation. While the onus is on broadcasters to take practical steps to improve diversity - mentoring, in the way Han is doing, is important. She might be a junior reporter, but she’s already a pro role model. But who is the role model to the role model… who inspires Han?

Han

Lee Lin Chin was always someone that I admired, and mum and dad love her as well.

Serena

Lee Lin hardly requires an introduction. Hailed as a “beacon for diversity”, and of course, number 74 on Maxim’s Hot 100 list, Lee Lin was SBS’ leading news presenter for three decades. I remember being completely bewitched by her, as a kid, asking my mum to switch over to the channel with the “punk lady”. Her no-nonsense voice was such a departure from that default accent demanded from other female news presenters in Australia - you know, that sensual, nasal tone. Plus she was this talented news professional while still seeming like a bit of a rebel. Her hair was spiky, short, and naturally greying, plus her collars were aggressively asymmetrical. Plus she was a shining light, being one of the only Asian Australian presenters on TV.

Serena

In 2018, she left SBS. Though it wasn’t clear at the time, a lack of diversity in SBS’s management led to her resignation. So, what does it say about the state of diversity when a veteran newsreader is so fed up that she resigns from the country’s only major multicultural broadcaster? Clearly, we have a long way to go. In June 2020, writer Michelle Law called out SBS’s all-white leadership team. Both women articulated another crucial point: diversity needs to factor into who is behind the news as well as who presents it. According to the Media Diversity report, all national news directors in Australia are white men, and close to 100% of people in senior news management roles are white men and women.

Tim

I think if you look at the stories that are covered in Australian media, how they're covered, the voices that we hear, the faces that we see, we do get a particular view of Australian reality that may not necessarily reflect who we are as a country.

Serena

Tim Soutphommasane is a Professor of Practice in Sociology and Political Theory at the University of Sydney. Between 2013 to 2018, he was Australia's Race Discrimination Commissioner. He also worked on the Media Diversity Australia report.

Tim

we found what we had suspected, that we have a very Anglo-Celtic and European dominated media landscape, and we don't see non-European or indigenous faces and voices in the way that you might expect. This is one part of the debate around media and diversity that isn't always appreciated. It isn't just symbolic, it isn't just about ensuring that you've got the right look or the right feel with who's in media, this goes to the very legitimacy of our public and civic institutions.

Serena

Why do you think Australia in particular has been so slow with progress, in terms of having more diversity in news media? Why is Australia still so far behind?

Tim

It's a really strange phenomenon when you consider the fact that Australia likes to believe that it is the most successful multicultural society in the world, or one of the most successful. And to be clear, I think we have been a successful example of multiculturalism. But we don't seem to have as sophisticated conversation about diversity in our institutions when compared to places like the UK and the United States. Perhaps this has something to do with how diversity and equality in other countries has been fought for in a very different way to the case in Australia. So the advent of multiculturalism in Australia was something that was top-down, it was driven top-down. It came after the dismantling of the White Australia policy. And it came during a time when there was a sense of elite shame at White Australia lingering for so long. Whereas in the United States or in the UK, I would say that there was a more vocal and visible political fight for representation and equality.

Serena

if Australia is used to top-down movements instigating cultural change, maybe this is how our media can become more diverse - if news directors hire more presenters of ethnic backgrounds and create initiatives to usher in more diverse talent, rather than the viewers asking for it. Isabel Lo, the co-founder of Media Diversity Australia, also spoke on this.

Interview with Isabel

Isabel

And I keep saying, "The United States got a civil rights movement, and we didn't." We went from the White Australia Policy to now. There was no national reckoning as to identity. We haven't really been forced to ask ourselves who we really are.

Serena

Isabel founded Media Diversity back in 2017 with journalist Antoinette Lattouf. Who Gets To Tell Australian Stories? report is their biggest project to date. Isabel also worked as an opinion editor at CNN International in London, where she noticed there was diversity not only on-screen, but behind the scenes.

Isabel

The composition of the newsroom was so international. Way more international than Australia, the Sydney newsroom that I had worked at. So I had colleagues who had come from South Africa, and Nigeria, and all over, not just the UK. And it was based in London, and our boss was British. But yeah, just in terms of even the producers, and I'm not even saying the on screen talent, which you can clearly see are quite international, but even the producers came from all over the world. That actually encouraged me to find solutions to change what the makeup of newsrooms were like in Australia.

Serena

When you’re surrounded by so many different ethnicities, do you think: “I wonder what this person’s take would be on this story?” How does this process play out in the newsroom?

Isabel

Those kinds of discussions play out in the editorial meetings. you could talk about extremism for example. And one person would say, "Okay, well, let's talk about religion, and its relationship to extremism." And another person might be like, "Well, that's not just about that, it's about isolation, it's about young people being isolated from their communities, and they're trying to find a community." And for them, it has nothing to do with religion. (27:25) And only a person who has a background in being in a community would come at it from a different perspective. So if you don't have those range of voices, you're not going to get the counteracting viewpoint on that. And so I actually saw this play out every day, on a variety of topics. Coming back to Australia, there was less of the dissent of certain things. And even if you did bring it up, they'd be like, "Oh, I think that's a ..." No, pun not intended, but, "I think that's a minority view." (27:58) "I don't know whether you really hit the mark on that one." (34:47) The consequence of not having a diverse newsroom is that you have blind spots in your coverage, and that is a huge disservice to your audience as a result, they're not getting the full picture.

Serena

Recently, we’ve seen the very real impact of the cultural blind spots that Isabel mentioned. Over the pandemic, Asian Australians have been subjected to an increased number of racist attacks, and some of these attacks can be connected to insensitive and sensationalist coverage of Asian communities in the media. The lack of diversity in news is also harmful to minorities in the sense that not enough is being done to reach them. TV is a vital way to inform the population about accurate health news, including where the virus is spreading and how to prevent it. A bit of background… I spoke to Tim during Sydney’s four-month lockdown, when the Delta variant was spreading through New South Wales.

Tim

The current challenge we have in Sydney in controlling our COVID outbreak at the moment is concentrated in southwest and western Sydney, where you have high migrant populations, a very multicultural population. And it's very clear that government and media haven't been able to reach communities in southwest and western Sydney. And part of that issue, I think, has to do with who works in our media and who the decision-makers are in government. The message has struggled to get through to many parts of the city because decision-makers and those in our media simply don't understand that part of the city in the way that they should, and in the way that they would if there was more cultural diversity represented in media and in government.

Tim

Who we are as a country today is very multicultural. We've got 30% of the population who was born overseas. And we can estimate that about 42% of the population is non Anglo-Celtic in background, and that about a quarter of the population may have a non-European ethnic background. But we just simply don't see such diversity being captured, so you end up missing a lot of people's lived experiences and lived realities.

Serena

(to listeners) The face of Australia is changing. And you know, it’s been changing for a long time. An overwhelmingly Anglo-Celtic roster of newsreaders might have been an accurate representation of the population at one point, but now just looks eerie. You know when you go to a small country town and you’re the only non-white person for kilometres? Well to me, it’s a bit of that. Only it’s a broadcast that’s meant to reach an entire nation.

Tim

It's good that we're seeing more diversity entering our media. But if they're concentrated in particular parts of the media, that says something as well about how we view diversity. So I don't think there's a problem with how Australia thinks of culinary diversity or how it appreciates multiculturalism and its contribution to food and lifestyle. But we don't see an equivalent appreciation of diversity when we're talking about our public institutions or about our political debate. It's all fine and good to see contestants on MasterChef, for example, that are diverse. But if we're not seeing diversity fronting our flagship news and current affairs programs, and if they're meant to be realms that are really the province only of certain kinds of Australians, the message is very clear; that if you're someone who's from a culturally diverse background, it may be acceptable for you to be cooking food on screen, but it's not as acceptable for you to be presenting the news at prime time or to be anchoring our major current affairs programs.

Serena

(to listeners) Tim’s point on culinary diversity gets to the heart of why some Australians might be willing to challenge calls for more diversity on TV, : “But there are plenty of Asians on TV! Kylie Kwong is always cooking up a storm, making my dinner look revolting in comparison. MasterChef has contestants from all over. Blah blah.” But let’s be clear: news and cooking programmes serve very distinct purposes. So we have to ask ourselves: is there a special dispensation for diversity when it comes to cooking and lifestyle shows? Why are people more comfortable with diversity in an obviously “multicultural” show like Luke Nguyen's Vietnam, rather than in the news? Multicultural programming might be improving, but it feels like Asian Australians have been put in a box. We’re essentially being told, it’s no longer shocking to see you on the TV… but we just aren’t ready to have you present the news, k? So, in which ways are we missing out by not having diversity in the news?

Tim

The diversity of our institutions affects their legitimacy and their ability to represent our reality and tell the stories that we have in our society. (04:44) Media is a crucial part of a liberal democracy. A liberal democracy depends on the free, or relatively free, exchange of information, it requires the airing of viewpoints. And those things, when they work well, lead to a functioning democracy. And when they don't work so well, they can challenge democracies.

Serena

So, the news goes well beyond the nightly bulletin. It’s a force for social change, it maintains democracy, and helps hold powerful institutions and people accountable. News presents the facts. In a perfect world, it should fulfil a range of cultural, economic, democratic, and social purposes. From updating shoppers on contaminated supermarket products to warning of natural disaster, the news educates the population so that we may live more informed lives. And a lack of diversity in the news can alienate minorities. It’s in this practical way that diversity goes beyond performative activism or simply presenting the right “aesthetic” - it can actually facilitate communication with a range of different communities.

Tracy

Oh my God, I'm not great with Vietnamese. So interestingly, I get my dad... They'll be like, "Can you get your dad to call?" Dad's more than happy to do it. He's sort of been part of the news for the entire time that I've been working. So that does help when there's a language barrier and you've got someone in the newsroom who can take down that barrier. It's a huge advantage for us. Absolutely. I use my dad though. My dad's the advantage.

Serena

He's your secret weapon.

Tracy

He is my secret weapon. He's my secret weapon, for sure.

Serena

Tracy Vo is one of the most recognisable faces on Australian TV. In December 2019, she was announced as the news presenter for the Today Show, the country’s longest running breakfast TV programme. This made her the only regular presenter of Asian descent to appear on a commercial Australian breakfast show. These days, she’s the weekend news presenter at Nine News Perth. Tracy has seen firsthand how diverse voices bring cultural sensitivity and empathy to reporting national news.

Tracy

We live in a very diverse country, multicultural country, and to understand different cultures, different issues within different cultures, even as simple as like, for example, if we're chasing a story and we're dealing with a family with a certain heritage or a certain background, to have a level of understanding of how they should be approached or how they approach things. It gives us more knowledge… when we can show them a bit of empathy and understanding in that sense.

Serena

In 1978, Tracy’s parents sold their possessions and fled war-torn Vietnam on a leaking boat. Eventually, they arrived in Australia.

Serena

What did your parents think when you told them you were going into journalism?

Tracy

Oh, they were really hesitant. They weren't unhappy, but they just were quite concerned about how it would go, whether I'd succeed, particularly because I think of the background that we come from. But I was never going to be a doctor or a lawyer.

Serena

When you were in the early days of your career, how did you feel about there not being many reporters who look like you on TV?

Tracy

I must be honest. Initially I thought it was a challenge. I limited myself. Never would I ever have thought that I'd be reading prime time news in Perth for Channel Nine for a commercial station. I honestly narrowed down my options to SBS and ABC because that was the only avenues I thought could allow someone like myself, who looks like me with a surname like Vo, to enter.

Serena

In Australia, we have grown accustomed to seeing minorities on the specific multicultural channel, rather than on commercial networks - as we’ve explored. Tracy actually internalised this unspoken rule to the point where she was limiting her options in an already competitive industry.

Tracy

And it was a producer at Sky News who... We were having a discussion. I said, "I'm going to try and branch out. I think I might apply for some jobs elsewhere." He's like, "Where?" I said, "Oh, probably SBS because that's the only place I can really go." And he's like, "Why are you limiting yourself to that?" And I went, "Well, as if I'm going to be at Channel Seven or Channel Nine or whatever." And he said to me, "Well, I want you to be one of the rare faces or one of the first faces to actually break through on commercial TV. Why can't you?"

Serena

In March 2021, when COVID-fuelled anti-Asian sentiment was rife, Tracy released a plea for compassion. In a digital Nine News story, she spoke on the racial abuse she received after her first 6pm bulletin with Nine Perth in 2013.

Tracy

It was my first bulletin in Perth, full presenting bulletin for 6:00 PM. It was Christmas time. And once I got off air, I just had this barrage of tweets. It was just shocking. I kind of was just like, "What am I reading? Is this really 2013? Why am I copping this?" It's things like, "Who is this slanty-eyed, flat-nosed person on my TV? If I wanted chow mein for dinner, I'd go to my local Chinese." … I was heading out to a Christmas catch up with some friends of mine. And I was reading out these tweets and my mate, who is as Aussie and ocker as they come, he was so livid and so angry, he was shaking. And he actually told me to stop reading them because it made him so upset. And his reaction was quite surprising, but also I felt so loved by the people that I was with that night.

Serena

It’s always reassuring to hear about friends or colleagues having each other’s back, listening, and being empathetic about race-based situations that they have not experienced themselves. For me, I know there can sometimes be a disconnect when I’m speaking to my white friends about experiences I’ve had as an Asian woman - and it doesn’t come from a bad place, they just can’t naturally relate. While Tracy mentioned she felt supported in her work environment, every journalist’s experience is different.

Han

There's also the subtle racism in newsrooms, where it's like, "Han, you're the token Asian. Han's the token Asian that we need to hire to meet the ..." (19:10) I've had that before, and it's like ... And I laugh with it, don't get me wrong. Like, I'll go along with it because it's just it's banter, right? Like, it is banter. Like, it's true, because I'm the only Asian in the newsroom. And it's been the case for a lot of places I've worked at. So, it's like, "Han's the token Asian."

Serena

And this is the moment of our chat that kind of broke my heart. Han has this tolerance and positivity I don’t think I could ever muster, and really, I wonder... Is it banter? Larrikinism, mockery, rough humour – it's all part of the social fabric. But woven into this beloved crudeness is something more sinister: casual racism. And masking racism as “banter” only further normalises discrimination. I’ll link this in the show notes, but studies have found that this kind of casual racism inflicts significant psychological harm.

Serena

So, you're the only Asian in a newsroom, not just the TV reporters, but everyone behind the scenes?

Han

I can't say for my current job because we have a studio obviously based in Canberra, so I don't know what the dynamic is there. But … It's very rare, I find, to find an Asian. And sometimes I even surprise myself if I see like, the IT guy, and he's Asian, I'm like, "Oh, another Asian in the room."

Serena

You're like, "My people."

Han

Yeah, my people are here.

Serena

How do you think Australia could benefit from having more diverse people telling the news?

Han

God, that's a tough question. Besides getting more viewers.

Serena

Do you think that there would be more viewers because you'll be hitting more backgrounds, more communities?

Han

100%. I feel like people relate better to people that look like them, right? So, you know, I actually have an example where I once ... I was an intern this time. I went out with a journalist and there was this horrible car accident. And we were trying to search for CCTV. And this was in Chatswood in Sydney, which is obviously a hugely Asian population, you know? So, we were there. And the journalist I was with was a male, Anglo guy. And we were trying to source this CCTV. And he had no luck,And the owners were Chinese, and they came up to me and they started talking to me in Chinese. And I was like, "Well, I'm sorry. I don't speak Chinese." then, he was like, "We've got CCTV of what's happened." And I was like, "Oh, can I have it?" And he said, "Yes."... I honestly think it's because I was Asian, they thought that I was Chinese or could speak Cantonese and that's why they approached me. Otherwise, we would not have gotten that CCTV. And it was an exclusive vision that we've used. So, I 100% think that if more people ... That people relate and can associate better with people that look like them, and they want to see that, they want to see that more.

Serena

We’ve always known that TV news in Australia is predominantly presented by Anglo-Celtic reporters, but thanks to Media Diversity Australia’s report, we can finally quantify it… and I really hope this will make it harder for broadcasters to ignore the obvious lack of diversity. The news gives us the vital information we need to know, and whether we like it or not, it shapes public opinion. So without it including a range of minority voices, our understanding of reality suffers. With the dominance of the internet, TV news might sometimes feel like a relic, but the reality is, it's still Australia’s most popular source of news.

Serena

And you know, it’s not just the stories we’re missing out on here, but the actual voices behind them. We need to think beyond what stories need to be told and consider how they can best be told, for example, by understanding cultural sensitivities through lived experience. Increasing diversity makes this deeper, more empathetic type of storytelling possible. A concentration of similar voices, so media professionals of an Anglo-Celtic background, does not offer an accurate rendering of reality. Broadcasters need to actively recruit diverse talent to work behind the news and as the face of it. More diversity means there are more voices to challenge and call into question the historically dominant voices in the media. As Tim said, the success of a liberal democracy hinges on the airing of different viewpoints.

Tim

When it comes to news and current affairs, if we don't get certain experiences captured in how we report and comment on things, that's going to skew the national debate that we have.

Serena

Something else to think about is that most non-white respondents in the Media Diversity survey noted that race was a barrier to having a successful media career. And that makes me sad. How many young people haven’t been able to fulfil their dreams because they feel unwanted and unseen in this industry? So, in this way, diversity is important in TV news because it serves as a kind of green light for diverse people who aspire to these roles. Yes, we’re hitting you with the old: you can't be what you can't see.

Han

I hope my small portion will contribute to a bigger movement, which would see more people of diverse backgrounds on our televisions, in higher roles. I hope that my little phone call with that 18-year-old girl straight out of high school would make her follow her career path, her dreams, and do what I'm doing now.

CREDITS

This episode of Shoes Off was written and produced by Serena Coady

And edited and mixed by me, Jay Ooi.

Special thanks to all the guests in today’s episode: Han Nguyen, Tim Soutphommasane, Tracy Vo and Isabel Lo.

In the show notes for this episode at shoesoff.net you can find all the references.

Some music is by Avik Chari and the episode artwork is by Yelly Chuan.

What would a diverse newsroom mean to you? Let us know @shoesoffau on Facebook and Instagram.

If you liked Shoes Off please subscribe, we’re on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you’re listening to it right now, or head to shoesoff.net.

And please give this ep a share with your news-loving friends.

Thanks, and catch you next episode.

Serena

I really enjoyed the podcasting process. I’ve never done anything like this so it felt as if I was working muscles I didn’t know I had. Interviewing people is my bread and butter, but I’ve never written something with the intention of saying it aloud. And I learned so much from my guests, particularly in the area of Australia’s top-down multicultural movement, in that it was more of a policy-based change rather than an on-the-streets revolution, that Tim and Isabel spoke of.