On Tuesday 30th July 2024, students, communications graduates and journalists were invited by MDA’s NSW Chapter to connect with each other, share ideas and build new relationships.
The event fostered an expansion of networks and supported the building of rapport between fellow professionals in the media and communications industry.
MDA was delighted to endorse and participate in the highly enlightening Diverse Voices, Digital Edge event hosted by AAP in partnership with Google.
Attendees had the invaluable opportunity to gain insights into the future of AI and fact checking from seasoned trainer Neil Varcoe.
The panel session featured compelling discussions led by esteemed journalists Nour Haydar and Alicia Vrajlal, along with MDA’s CEO Mariam Veiszadeh. The panellists emphasised the critical understanding that objectivity is an external process, not a natural state which can be eroded simply by virtue of one belonging to a minority group and having a diverse lived experience.
Media Diversity Australia had the fantastic opportunity to partner with our media member ARE Media and host an event celebrating, and cultivating important discussions around gender, inclusivity and safety in the workplace. The International Women’s Day event took place on Thursday 14th March at ARE Media’s head offices in Sydney. This year’s theme for International Women’s Day was Count Her In: Invest in Women. Accelerate Progress.
Between the incredible keynote speaker, Narelda Jacobs, the panel that featured ARE Media’s Veronique Maury, Dora Papas and Jayde Malifa and the conversations that played out in the aftermath, the heartbreaking and inspiring stories we heard from women in the industry assured us of just how necessary our mission is. The event cultivated discussions around the barriers women have overcome in media but also the barriers women still face. The main takeway from the event highlighted that no woman is free until ALL women are free.
In September 2023, four evening sessions were held at WSU’s Parramatta City Campus, showcasing an impressive lineup of renowned journalists, presenters, and media professionals. The sessions aimed to prepare, inspire and provide invaluable insights and comprehensive support to culturally and linguistically diverse students, graduates, and job seekers in communications.
Students heard from and engaged with accomplished speakers and journalists such as Nine’s Massilia Ali, Crikey’s Daanyal Saeed, ABC’s Angelique Lu, Channel 10’s and many more.
The program equipped participants, especially those with refugee and asylum-seeker backgrounds, with the skills, confidence, connections, and experience necessary to thrive in the Australian media industry and pursue employment opportunities.
After completing the seminar series, students Georgina Jelovic, Jessica Cham, Jostina Basta and Sumaiya Chowdhure completed internships at Mamamia, News Corp Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald and ARE Media respectively.
On Friday, July 14, Media Diversity Australia hosted its inaugural industry roundtable in Sydney, bringing together Australia’s media leadership and Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland to commit to industry-wide improvement around diversity, equity and inclusion.
The meeting, which was held at SBS, brought together the CEOs, Managing Directors and other senior representatives from MDA member organisations AAP, the ABC, Private Media Group, News Corp Australia, Nine, SBS, Seven, Ten, The Daily Aus, The Conversation Group and The Guardian.
Some notable attendees include Nine’s CEO, Mike Sneesby, Ten’s Executive Vice President, Chief Content Officer & Head of Paramount, Beverley McGarvey, Seven’s Chief People and Culture Officer, Lucinda Gemmell, ABC’s Chief Content Officer, Chris Oliver-Taylor, SBS’s News Director Mandi Wicks and News Corp Australia’s Group Executive, Corporate Affairs, Campbell Reid.
The roundtable provided a platform for an honest and robust initial discussion around barriers to equity and inclusion and opportunities for industry collaboration. The group also started initial discussions around talent pipeline and debated the merits of uniform measurement and tracking of progress across all parts of the industry to ensure greater accountability as an industry.
Building on the roundtable’s momentum, MDA held the first follow-up, working group meeting in late 2023. Check out the press release here.
03 May
On World Press Freedom Day (May 3), we launched the Online Safety Of Diverse Journalists report, our Australian-first research which served as a critical step towards identifying, understanding, and addressing online abuse and harassment of diverse journalists and media workers. The report specifically examines the following marginalised cohorts: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, culturally and linguistically diverse, LGBTQIA+, and people living with a disability.
The research was jointly led by Griffith University and Macquarie University with support from Meta Australia, Google News Initiative, eSafety Commission and Twitter Australia. Findings were presented by lead academics Faith Valencia-Forrester (Griffith University) and Professor Bronwyn Carlson (Macquarie University) with speaker representatives from Media Diversity Australia, Meta Australia, Google News Initiative, eSafety Commission and Twitter Australia.
Key findings are summarised as follows:
Check out the infographic, press release and official report here.
6 December 2022
MDA celebrated the end of a successful year with our esteemed media members, brilliant advisory board, dedicated staff, state chapter representatives and industry partners at the wonderful Canva space located in the city.
The evening commenced with a heartfelt speech from our CEO, Mariam Veiszadeh retrospectively looking back at the impact MDA has had this year. Our Director of Special Projects, Simone Amelia Jordan also known to emulate “aunty energy” in her approach of mentoring our past and current program graduates presented MDA’s 2022 impact video created by a set of talented TAFE students.
We soon moved on to a nuanced panel discussing how far the Australian media landscape has come in matters of diversity and inclusion and the role MDA has played in it. The interactive panel was moderated by our co-founder, Antoinette Lattouf with an impressive line up of panelists representing our media members.
Our panelists included Marc Fennell (SBS), Dave Chaou (ABC), Brooke Boney (Nine Network), Daniel Doody (Channel 10) and Sharnelle Vella (Seven).
We ended the event with a night of networking, sharing experiences and exchanging anecdotes. A perfect end to an exciting year!
14 September 2022
A lively panel discussion and networking evening hosted by Media Diversity Australia & Bloomberg Australia on the evolving nature of journalism against the backdrop of the pandemic.
The panel and networking event “Journalism careers during a pandemic – has journalism changed forever?” was the first activity of the year in 2022 for MDA’s NSW chapter.
27 September 2022
MDA has state chapters across NSW, VIC, QLD and ACT. Our members consist of journalists and/or media professionals who mirror MDA’s vision and are passionate about creating long lasting impact when it comes to diversifying the media landscape.
The ACT launch was hosted by the Hon Andrew Giles MP, Minister for Multiculturalism (representing Minister Michelle Rowland). Minister Giles deliverd a keynote speech, followed by a panel discussion moderated by MDA’s CEO, Mariam Veiszadeh and led by some of Canberra’s finest journalists.
Moderator: Mariam Veiszadeh (CEO of Media Diversity Australia)
Panellists:
