Australian media organisations are being urged to recruit more journalists from new and emerging migrant communities in a bid to combat “thinly-veiled racism and misrepresentation in mainstream media”.
The recommendation was among a series of actions proposed at the inaugural National Conference on Media, Migration and Integration, co-hosted in Melbourne last month by Africa Media Australia and the National Ethnic and Multicultural Broadcasters Council (NEMBC).
“In light of recent statements from new ABC boss Michelle Guthrie to create more diversity at the national broadcaster, it may be the right time for commercial media to realise that it’s imperative for their viability that they address the diversity issue,” said the NEMBC’s chief executive officer, Russell Anderson, adding that diversity in the media is about more than just representation on the screen and in newspapers.
“It’s about the stories that get told, the issues that get covered, the voices that get heard. It’s about creating a range of voices, accents, languages, and, most importantly, values,” he said.
The two-day event was opened by Victoria’s Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Robin Scott and featured presentations by some of Australia’s most influential social justice campaigners, including World Vision CEO Tim Costello, chairman of the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission John Searle, and Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs Inga Peulich.
Among the recommendations for increasing accurate representation of migrant communities were the appointment of a diversity officer, running regular forums to maintain communication between media and new migrant communities, the creation of social media forums to promote multicultural media representation, and training existing journalists on diversity and cultural competency, among various others.
Africa Media Australia’s Clyde Sharady said that while most of the recommendations had been proposed before, highlighting them again would help media bosses overcome “the culture of thinly-veiled racism and misrepresentation” that often clouds their coverage of new and emerging migrant communities, often hindering the perception of them.
“Most of these actions have been proposed before, but to have them all laid out as a single blueprint provides a ground-breaking opportunity for media organisations that really care about equality and social justice to start addressing these issues in a coherent way,” he said.