Australian television a whitewash as Anglo-Celtic presenters dominate newsrooms


Australian society is a mosaic of the world’s cultures, with almost half of the nation either born overseas or with a parent born overseas and more than 300 languages spoken. But you wouldn’t get that impression watching Australian television, according to findings released by Media Diversity Australia.

Its report, Who Gets to Tell Australian Stories?, released on Monday, shows that free-to-air networks are disproportionately white compared with the wider Australian population – 76% of presenters, commentators and reporters on free-to-air networks are Anglo-Celtic despite making up only 58% of the population. Non-European and Indigenous Australians, who combined form 24% of the population, made up only 11% of free-to-air news personalities – a figure inflated by the inclusion of SBS in the report.

Read more:  https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/aug/17/australian-television-a-whitewash-as-anglo-celtic-presenters-dominate-newsrooms

Sunrise presenters David Koch and Samantha Armytage interview US singer Kesha. A new report from Media Diversity Australia has found the lack of diversity both in the newsroom and management of Australian TV means important perspectives are not being heard.