2024 Industry Round Table

2024 Industry Round Table

Australia’s leading media organisations gathered to continue discussions around accelerating DEI efforts 

On September 20th  2024, Media Diversity Australia (MDA) hosted its second industry round table at Nine’s North Sydney offices. The event brought together over 100 media leaders, including CEOs and senior representatives from MDA member organisations including from Nine, ABC, SBS, Seven, AAP, The Guardian, ARE Media, Netflix, Junkee Media, Women’s Agenda and Hachette Publishing to continue discussions around a more sustained path to industry-wide improvement. 

Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, The Hon. Julian Hill MP, delivered the keynote address, emphasising the ongoing lack of diversity in Australian media and the need for urgent change. 

The round table provided a platform for open discussions on key issues such as cultural safety, talent retention, and developing a diverse talent pipeline. A panel moderated by Nine’s Sarah Abo featured AFL’s DEI Executive Tanya Hosch, Nine’s Chief People Officer Vanessa Morley, and MDA CEO Mariam Veiszadeh, exploring the intersection of lived experience and impartiality in media reporting. Key commitments from MDA members included an annual round table to track progress, working group representation, and the adoption of uniform DEI metrics across organisations.  

MDA CEO Mariam Veiszadeh highlighted the importance of collaboration, stating: “Achieving meaningful, lasting change requires collective effort. MDA is here to support both media organisations and diverse candidates in creating culturally safe, inclusive environments.” 

The round table continues MDA’s mission to drive industry-wide change, ensuring Australia’s media landscape reflects its diverse population.

2023 Industry Round Table

2023 Industry Round Table

A historic first - Australia’s media leadership convene diversity, equity and inclusion roundtable

Media Diversity Australia (MDA) on Friday July, 14 held its inaugural industry roundtable in Sydney, bringing together Australia’s media leadership and the Federal Communications Minister to commit to a path 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, alongside the Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland.

Some notable attendees included 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.