2022 was a huge year for Media Diversity Australia, not only for our team but for our media members, state chapters and supporters who play a vital role in helping us champion diversity across the Australian media landscape. 

As the year comes to a close, here are some highlights: 

• We launched our membership model and currently have 10 inaugural media members including ABC, SBS, Channel 10, Channel 9, Channel 7, The Daily Aus, The Guardian, The Conversation,  AAP & a major media outlet yet to be announced! 
• Our Disability Reporting Handbook was downloaded over 5000 times
• We held over 15 events and panels this year with over 1000 attendees in total 
• We released our biennial ‘Who Gets To Tell Australian Stories 2.0’ media report, which was downloaded over 950 times and counting!
• We launched our TalentHub portal which connects diverse journalists and communications professionals with job opportunities and helps hirers find suitable candidates. Our portal currently consists of 140 talent listings and counting.
• Launched the #ThingsIveHeard campaign which highlighted instances of casual discrimination towards minorities in media and unearthed 127 stories from diverse journalists and media professionals.
• Delivered media training via community based programs (Community Voices & Amplifying Voices) to 26 trainees nationally. 
• Successfully ran 6 programs including Summer Fellowships, Political Fellowships, Women of Colour Mentorships, Chinese-Australian Journalism Secondments, Amplifying Voices and Community Voices. Our program graduates had a 80% employment conversion rate.

For more information on our programs and resources, visit our website.

It was a line in a column by a well-known travel writer in one of Australia’s leading national travel publications that brought things to a head (in my head). I can’t remember the exact story (I think it might have had something to do with hotel buffets). Still, the statement “anywhere in the civilised world” – clearly referencing the western world – rankled. 

The underlying implication is that other regions, such as Asia, which are big on tourism but are home to many developing nations, are… wait, uncivilised?  

What exactly is the definition of civilisation here? Are we ignoring the thousands of years-old civilisations of, say, Thailand or Vietnam, or is it perhaps the oldest civilisation in the world in the Indian subcontinent that we are overlooking in this sweeping statement?   

Don’t get me wrong, the actual column was well-intentioned, and the writer and publication are both ones I personally respect. It was most likely a passing statement that would have been the default language for the writer.  

And that’s where the problem lies. It is no one individual’s fault. It’s the ongoing stereotyping that, like every other media beat, travel content has also fallen victim to – largely thanks to the unilateral perspective it usually offers.  

Modern travel, for leisure, is irrefutably a pursuit of the privileged, and perhaps that is why (English language) travel writing has almost always been from the perspective of a white traveller. A phenomenon that often ends up reinforcing colonial tropes.   

But the demographic of the average traveller has changed in the past century. You don’t need me to tell you that Australian society is more multicultural than ever, and consequently, so is the average Australian traveller. And yet, the voices in travel content in the Australian media landscape are still overwhelmingly lacking in cultural diversity.  

According to TravMedia, the country’s largest travel media community, there are around 950 full-time travel writers in Australia, and upwards of 2000 who dabble in travel writing across freelance and in-house editorial positions. Nick Wayland, the founder of TravMedia, estimates that around 80 per cent of this cohort is white Anglo-Saxon. 

While it’s not easy to get hard stats for this kind of information, anecdotally, the membership at the Australian Society of Travel Writers, reflects an even higher ratio when it comes to persons of colour. Need more proof? You need only look at the bylines in most Australian travel publications.  

Our national appetite for travel is higher than the global average, and in 2022, over 70 per cent of Australians are planning to travel* – as pent-up demand explodes. According to YouGov, over a third of Australian consumers make travel decisions influenced by what they read in the media. That is a lot of people who are making decisions informed by the view through a fairly narrow lens. 

One element of travel content in Australia I am particularly concerned about is the glaring absence of indigenous voices – especially now that indigenous tourism is (finally) becoming more mainstream, and we are getting a bit more exposure to this incredibly rich culture. Wouldn’t it be nice – and truly authentic – to have someone with an innate understanding of this culture tell us the story, rather than yet another write-up on a ‘dreaming tour’ that smacks of otherness?  

I don’t believe that anyone is intentionally not being inclusive in their approach, it’s a widespread obliviousness to the issue more than anything else. 

I also want to state that most of the mainstream travel writers I have encountered throughout my career are among the most open-minded, curious and ‘woke’ people around. It would be hard to do this job without those qualities. But that still doesn’t change the fact that the lived experiences of people from diverse backgrounds would be different, which alone can bring a whole other layer to the content.  

Overseas, the change is already taking place – slowly, but surely. Australian media still seems a bit behind the eight ball, and the change needs to happen through the ranks. 

Remember that iconic 1980’s Tourism Australia ‘shrimp on the barbie’ ad? While aimed at inbound tourists, it helped define Australia and its people in the context of travel for generations. Perhaps it’s time to update it to add some ‘tandoori or satay chicken’ on the barbie?  

*Various sources including data from Newscorp, Nine and Savvy.com.au 

Journalist & Disability advocate Eliza Hull and best-selling children’s author Sally Rippin have together created Come Over to My House, a joyful and inclusive story that features positive representations of families with a  variety of disabilities, and all the ways their homes have been adapted to be more accessible and fun! 

Come Over to My House features a family with dwarfism, an Autistic father and child, a mother who is blind and more, the book uses delightful rhyming text and stunning illustrations to follow each child through their  home. 

The purpose of the book is to spotlight positive and authentic representation of families that are disabled, and illustrated with joy and energy by Daniel Gray-Barnett. Both Eliza and Sally hope that  disabled young people and families see themselves represented within its pages, sending a powerful message of inclusion. 

The poignant children’s book, Come Over to My House is a must-read for families, and is available  online and in all good bookstores. 

We’ve been working tirelessly on a new membership offering for media and industry partners. It’s a game changer – stay tuned for details in the coming weeks!

Media Diversity Australia is proud to support the Racism. It Stops With Me campaign. Racism is more than just harmful words or individual actions. It includes structural biases in our society, its laws, institutions, and ways of thinking.

We are proud to announce that our CEO, Mariam Veiszadeh was named one of the 12 Community ambassadors of the Racism. It Stops With Me. Campaign

Anti-racism means more than being ‘not racist’. It involves actively committing to taking action against racism, wherever it occurs. That might be in the form of harmful words or actions, but it may also be in the form of structural discrimination in the workplace, or in the justice and health systems, or in the lack of representation in positions of power, such as media, boardrooms or parliaments. Anti-racism means standing shoulder to shoulder with those advocating for justice.

The Australian Human Rights Commission has developed a range of resources, including a conversation guide and Workplace Cultural Diversity Tool, to help people and organisations strengthen their understanding, and develop ways to address racism.

MDA is committed to learning more and taking action. Racial inequality affects all of us, directly or otherwise, and there is a role for us all to play in addressing it. This year’s Racism. It Stops With Me campaign aims to encourage allies to reflect on how racial inequality affects all of us, and take a stand against it. There is a role for everyone to play in addressing racism and begins by asking yourself the hard questions.

It’s time to GIVE BACK NOW  and become an active part of the change we want to see. MDA’s mission is to create a media landscape that looks and sounds like Australia. We have a vision for a media industry with full and equal participation for culturally diverse people at all levels.

MDA is a not-for-profit organisation run predominantly by journalists and media commentators. With your support, we can continue to run programs to support CALD journalists, conduct agenda-setting research, run networking events, provide practical solutions for the media industry, and much more.

We need your support to continue fighting for equal representation and make a real impact in the media landscape. 

Our mission is simple:

• Setting the agenda: We advocate for the value of cultural diversity and the opportunity for change, so that diversity is recognised as essential to the media’s role and success.

• Creating pathways: We deliver relevant, quality programs for media professionals to support their full and equal participation in the industry. Your donation will help us fund essential projects such as internships, fellowships, mentorships and secondments which will help educate and diversify Australia’s media landscape. 
• Partnering for change: We are an honest partner for media organisations seeking to drive change, to support them to deliver on their commitments.

The choice is yours! Give Once or Give Regularly with a monthly, quarterly or yearly donation to ensure a longer term allyship with Media Diversity Australia. A regular monthly donation will support our work and our projects structurally!

Please make a tax-deductible donation today!