TO viewers it was another moment on air in a particularly frantic morning even for a 24/7 news network like Sky News, a moment that passed unremarked but to me was utterly remarkable. As Sky News International Editor I was adding analysis and perspective to the rapidly unfolding events surrounding the downing of MH17 in Ukraine. In Jakarta a new President elect was to be formally announced. Sky News Darwin & indigenous Affairs Reporter Dan Bourchier was on the ground to cover the story. We are indigenous men, proudly so. This just doesn't happen on Australian TV: two reporters, both indigenous, covering significant events unrelated to our cultural and racial heritage. For me it was a moment that encapsulated what my life has been about.
Where are all the indigenous faces?
Stan Grant, comment
The Australian
July 28, 2014 12:00AM
Sky News international editor Stan Grant questtions why indigenous people are not breaking
through in mainstream news. Source: Supplied
http://tinyurl.com/kdtphke
TO viewers it was another moment on air in a particularly frantic morning even for a 24/7 news
network like Sky News, a moment that passed unremarked but to me was utterly remarkable.
As Sky News International Editor I was adding analysis and perspective to the rapidly unfolding
events surrounding the downing of MH17 in Ukraine. The UN Security Council had just passed a
resolution calling for a full independent investigation into the incident. Even obstructionist,
reluctant if not belligerent Russia had shelved its right of veto and voted yes.
In Jakarta the day was breaking to news that a new President elect would be formally announced.
Joko Widodo a one time furniture salesman was poised to complete an extraordinary ascent to
the heights of power in Indonesia.
Sky News Darwin & indigenous Affairs Reporter Dan Bourchier was on the ground to cover the
story. In his efficient, comfortable and credible style Dan negotiated the maze of intrigue that had
characterised a fiercely contested election, one with several twists yet to unfold.
It is one of the privileges of journalism that we see history being written, it is often said we get to
complete the first draft. Yet on our television screens that morning, Dan and I were making a little
bit of history ourselves.
We are indigenous men, proudly so. Dan hails from Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory and
his cultural connections extend into Victoria. I was born and raised in the country of my father's
people the Wiradjuri of central western New South Wales, my mother is a Kamilaroi woman from
Coonabarabran.
This just doesn't happen on Australian TV: two reporters, both indigenous, covering significant
events unrelated to our cultural and racial heritage. For me it was a moment that encapsulated
what my life has been about.
I grew up in an Australia where Aboriginal kids like me were too often denied opportunity, ignored
or held captive to the low expectations of others. Indeed at age 14 I, along with my black cousins
and mates, was encouraged to leave school, our principal said there was no meaningful place for
us. Some took that advice and their lives were shattered. It has burned in me ever since.
I persevered, inspired by other indigenous achievers I found myself at university, and fulfilled a
dream to become a journalist. I determined I would break the shackles of how others may define
me.
No, I would not be an "indigenous journalist". I took my place alongside everyone else, rising or
falling on my merit seeking no special favour. Fires, floods, courts, cops, sport and politics, I
covered it all. If anything I probably avoided stories about my people for risk of being typecast.
At the ABC I worked in Canberra, I reported for Lateline. At channel 7 I hosted news and current
affairs program's, had my own Sunday morning politics show, was a foreign correspondent in
London, won a Logie, had some success and some failures.
In more than a decade at CNN I covered the great stories of our time the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, terrorism, natural disaster, the rise of China. I won some of international journalism's
most prestigious awards and came of age as a reporter.
This is not boastful, I have fought for every foothold and I've vindicated the strength of my parents
and refuted the efforts of those who would have had me fail. And I've been fortunate to work for
those who could see me as something more than a tick on an employment quota, a good deed.
But it is so rare. Where are other indigenous people breaking through in mainstream journalism?
Indeed it is part of a wider malaise where Aboriginal and Islander people remain invisible or
marginalised.
Why are there but two indigenous members of federal parliament? Why no federal cabinet
minister? Why no High Court judge? Why no indigenous person heading one of our four major
banks? Or running our sports codes?
Why do we refer to "indigenous senator Nova Peris" or "indigenous academic Marcia Langton"?
David Gulpillil is not our greatest "indigenous actor" he is one of our finest performers period. We
are much more than an adjective.
At CNN I worked with people from all religions, cultures and nationalities. My cameramen were
Iranian, Iraqi, Canadian and Czech. My producers were Chinese, British, Ethiopian and
Lebanese.
Yet, after many years abroad, I returned home to Australian television screens that are lamentably
"white". Barely an Asian, southern European, Middle Eastern face let alone an indigenous one.
The ABC has no shortage of British accents on air but few, if any, distinctively accented
Lebanese, Chinese or Indian. As for indigenous people, a recent news article reported that
decades after it began affirmative action employment programs the broadcaster still fails to meet
it's mandated quota of editorial staff.
It reveals a stunning lack of imagination and will. There is a convenient expectation that if young
indigenous journos enter the organisation they will be channelled into indigenous program units. It
is a cop out.
If there are those who do aspire to be the Washington Correspondent or the science reporter or
economics specialist then they certainly are not being nurtured or promoted.
As I write there is no indigenous person serving as an ABC foreign correspondent or anchor of a
major prime time program, no Four Corners reporter.
Yes, there are some sprinkled through the organisation, the odd voice on radio news or current
affairs the occasional indigenous face on TV news but nowhere near enough and certainly not in
significant roles.
I was fortunate, I arrived at the ABC as a fully formed reporter. I defied typecasting and
demanded to be treated equally. Others who were inducted in indigenous training program have
far too regularly fallen by the wayside. The ABC comforts itself with its good intentions and annual
NAIDOC celebrations.
Where is the change likely to happen?
National indigenous Television, now free to air as part of SBS, is carving out a unique presence
and is potentially a source of talent. SBS, for its part though, can and should do much more on its
primary channel.
Surprisingly perhaps, it may be the commercial networks where the greatest breakthroughs will
be made. It is a bruising, at times heartless environment and still populated by too many blondes
but in my experience at Channel 7 and CNN, talent, endurance and performance are the greatest
imperatives, not cultural or heritage.
We, indigenous people, carry some responsibility too. The news game is a tough environment, it
is cut throat competitive and we have to measure up. We need to demand and deliver excellence.
We need to be uncompromising as we assert ourselves as viable mainstream professionals.
When I came off air last Monday I shook the hand of my boss Angelos Frangopoulos. Thanks, I
said, that was one of the proudest moments of my life. He was genuinely bemused, he had no
idea what had just happened and that is to Angelos' credit.
Angelos employs journos and Dan Bourchier and I are just two of them. And if you don't mind me
saying so we're not too damn bad for a couple of blackfellas.
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