BACKGROUND READING-The Short Of It:
BACKGROUND READING-The Long Of It:
“An atmosphere of intellectual and moral stagnation prevails in the profession to which I belong, and it has to be said that most of my fellow journalists are not greatly troubled by this reversion from journalism to propaganadizing on behalf of the powers that be.”
– Anna Politkovskaya“We in the media must ask if we are truly honoring a world worth living in; too often- we are the poison in the bloodstream of our society. I fear the media does not have the love or the language to speak to the gentle spirits of our land…I feel like I’m part of the problem and I need to ask myself how or if we can do it better.”
– Stan Grant Jr (Journalist)
Firstly, if you have made it this far into today’s post (can’t say this week’s bc we have a double post extravaganza this week!) I would like to congratulate you on doing your mandatory reading or being bold & brave enough to dive into this bulky read without it. I am extremely proud of you in this increasingly every-silicone-valley-dog for himself, dopamine seeking world to have trusted me with your attention span like that.
Secondly, I am going to have ask you to lend me a little more patience as my regular blog readers are made from a combination of both Australian and International viewers. So, for the sake of the latter mentioned party, sections of this piece may feel more tedious than others. Stick with me and feel free to skim or skip ahead if anything is feeling *too* familar.
Now – let’s get into it!
How Did We Get Here?
Every morning, if I am not required to be out the door and commuting to Sydney for work and/or study, my morning routine consists of more or less the same thing.
- I get up with the sun,
- I have my coffee,
- feed my cats,
- have some breakfast
- and make a daily to-do list.
Generally, most mornings, without fail – The ABC Morning + Breakfast News programs will be playing in the background as I do so.
On the morning of Tuesday 1st of October 2024 while I was having my coffee and watching the morning bulletin, the findings of an Independent Review led by Wuthathi, Yadhaigana and Meriam woman Dr Terri Janke were released in a report titled ‘Listen Loudly, Act Strongly‘. This report had confirmed something the First Nations people of Australia have already known (and been trying to tell you) for decades; much like every other Australian Institution (longstanding or otherwise), it is running on a foundation of racism and other bigoted ideological values that are so deeply entrenched into our collective societal values and cultures that if you had mentioned it before recently- you risked the genuine possibility of ridicule and ostracisation.
“But Lily, if speaking out against the systemic racism supposedly contained within our National News Corporation was such a bold and controversial stance to take then surely that means the ABC isn’t doing anything wrong, right? Why were they even being reviewed?!”
And, Gee, I’m so glad you asked because this is where your mandatory reading begins to pay off!
Last year (the same year the Indigenous Voice Referendum was posed and created one of the most hostile and dangerous times in recent history to be visbily First Nations in Australian media as a result) Wiradyuri man and one of Australia’s most prominent journalists , Stan Grant Jr, announced his depature from his role as Q&A host at the ABC citing the lack of support he recieved from his employer under repeated and relentess episodes of targeted, racist abuse.
“not one ABC executive has publicly refuted the lies written or spoken about me. I don’t hold any individual responsible, this is an institutional failure.“
– Stan Grant
So, Why Does This* Matter?
*This = systemic racism within the ABC
Well, to understand why this matters we have a few things to establish first:
- Why is the ABC important to begin with?
- What is systemic racism?
- Why is systemic racism within the ABC bad?
Why is the ABC important to begin with?
TL;DR- THE ABC IS NOT SUPPOSED TO LIE TO YOU IN THEIR REPORTING AS THEY ARE BETTER POSITIONED THAN OTHER OUTLETS TO PUBLISH ACCURATE NEWS EFFICENTLY ON A LARGE SCALE BECAUSE WE CHOSE THEM (and SBS) TO GIVE OUR TAXES TO IN EXCHANGE FOR THAT SERVICE.
OTHER OUTLETS MIGHT LIE TO YOU BECAUSE WE DO NOT GIVE THESE ONES OUR TAX MONEY. PRIVATE FUNDING COMES WITH RISK OF BIAS AND CENSORSHIP.
The ABC, a taxpayer-funded independent broadcaster, is neither owned nor operated by the Government.
The national broadcaster was established in 1932 by then Prime Minister Joseph Lyons as Australia’s first attempt at a regulated, informative, and high quality radio service.
The ABC we know and love today is currently operating from it’s 5 year 2023-2028 vision plan; designed to help their audiences and staff with adjusting to and embracing the transition into the new modern era of digital content creation and consumption.
which I have hidden the one pg summary of under this tab
(Or you can access the full PDF on the ABC’s own website.)
Both then and now ABC is recognisable as one of Australia’s most trusted news sources.
Despite there being two Australian independent broadcasters these days (shoutout SBS). The ultimate role of the ABC has always supposedly been to provide Australian citizens with relevant, accurate, impartial, realiable, and high quality, public-interest journalism. This is the service it is being funded to provide.
“relevant, accurate, impartial, realiable, high quality, public-interest journalism.” is more important than it sounds.
Journalism is not a lucrative industry. Most news publishers outside of the ABC and SBS rely wholeheartedly on adverstisements, donations and subscriptions, or other fundraising strategies to get the monetary support that provides the opportuntity and stability for them to keep reporting.
Journalists and reporters being forced to rely on external sources for funding has historically not created very good outcomes for any involved parties.
News outlets who rely on money exclusively from their government or state to stay afloat have a tendency to occasionally devolve into censorship and strict regulatory rules designed to enforce their fascist regimes or easily peddel war propaganda.
We have seen this recently in the genocide of the Palestinian people – a conflict recently confirmed by UNESCO’s ‘Observatory of Killed Journalists’ to have been responsible for the murder of more journalists than any others recorded.
And we have seen it before in places like Russia with the Assassination of journalists like Anna Politkovskaya who was dedicated to reporting truthfully on Russia’s conflict with Chechnya despite the wishes of the Kremlin.
The alternative for an especially dedicated journalist, however, could be considered equally as brutal.
Remember earlier when Patricia Karvelas described News Corp as:
“responsible for a lot of the reporting about Stan Grant”
and then she followed that statement up shortly after with:
“some of the commentary they [australian newspapers] allow under their stories is pretty vile sometimes. I wonder whos doing that moderation? and I asked that question to them.”
News Corporation (colloquially known as NewsCorp) is a self-described “global media company” that “delivers authoritative and engaging content from some of the world’s most trusted brands.” and was formerly owned and controlled by billionaire + quasi-media-dictator: Rupert Murdoch.
(see below for details on current ownership)
Rupert Murdoch is almost unanimously agreed upon worldwide to be one of the biggest threats to independent journalism not only currently in existence, but, possibly even historically – motivating two of our former PM’s to collaborate on a (slightly outdated) Fact Check together detailing just how firm his grip is on the Australian news cycle.
When anyone, but particuarly people like Murdoch, are responsible for funding journalistic publications, there becomes a potential conflict of interest risk. Should the person with the money get any say on what that publication may or may not report?
No.
Is the clear cut answer to me, at least. However, it is not that simple to everyone and it is becoming increasingly harder to find news outlets not forced to adhere to the editoral whims and political leanings of the biggest cash providing advertiser or the Murdoch Dynasty to ensure the flow of money keeps coming through uninterrupted.
When news is supposed to be an informative, unbiased resource (as much as can be reasonably expected) it does not make any sense to me to refer to anything produced for audiences this way as real journalism or news but I digress; for others- life under Capitalism is just about not biting the hand that feeds you sometimes.
Hence, it is the seperation from having to participate in begging for money that comes with 98 strings allowing the ABC and SBS to remain, in theory, informative and unbiased in their reporting.
What is systemic racism?
TL;DR- RACISM IS WHEN PRE-CONCIEVED NOTIONS ARE MADE ABOUT PEOPLE DUE TO RACE/ETHNICITY - WHETHER CONSCIOUSLY OR OTHERWISE. THESE NOTIONS ARE NEGATIVE AND CAN MANIFEST IN NEGATIVE AND HARMFUL + ACTIONS TOWARDS MINORITY COMMUNTIES AND POC.
RACISM BECOMES SYSTEMIC WHEN RESPECTED ASPECTS OF A SOCIETY/CULTURE NORMALISE RACISM THROUGH ENACTING IT AND ALLOW IT TO TRICKLE DOWN INTO THE LIVES AND ACTIONS OF EVERYDAY CIVILLIANS MORE THAN THIS MONEY THE ELITE KEEP TELLING US IS COMING ONE DAY.
Racism can be an overwhelming and confusing topic for people who lack direct experience with it; there are nine (9) types of racism alone outlined in the ‘Listen Loudly, Act Strongly’ report key terms.
The Australian Human Rights Commision defines it as: ‘Racism is the process by which systems and policies, actions and attitudes create inequitable opportunities and outcomes for people based on race.’
Anything that is percieved or felt to be an insult, humilating, or outright harmful in relation to racial or ethnic background is racist.
Every single person of non-white appearances in Australia will have come face to face with at least one, if not continuous, variations and examples of racist + discriminatory behaviour.
Like many other things in this world (sexuality, gender, political ideolgies, autism disorders etc.) racist behaviour happens on a spectrum.
On the lower end of the spectrum small things like microagressions issued so casually and regularly
“Where are you from? No, really – like before Australia.”
towards us that it can start to undermine the self-assuredness we have of ourselves, unneccesary exclusion from group activities in social settings, and pre-conceived stereotypes and biases following us everywhere we go.
Often – it is harder to explain to people when they are behaving in these ways it is harmful and hurtful. A majority of racist acts are made up of learned behaviour that even the most well-intentioned of allies do not realise they are being racist when utilising; because it has become so normalised within mainstream existence- it is almost accepted as a part of life that is just to be quietly put up with by POC so as not to disturb the fragile status quo.*
The more intense and recognisable end of the spectrum, where it becomes easier to identify and call out is where things like slurs, assault, and prejudice in formal settings come into play.
Racism can also be targeted towards specific groups. Anti-Semitism is the hatred of Jewish people and Islamaphobia is the hatred of Muslims and Arabic presenting people.
Racism in Australia is especially violent for First Nations peoples.
In one of his statements regarding his departure from the ABC – journalist Stan Grant described the racial abuse targeted towards him as ‘relentless’ and an ‘institutional failure’ on behalf of the news broadcaster.
In his statements about his experiences with the ABC Stan Grant points out multiple times the roles and responsibilities that should have been upheld by them as his employer to protect him from public attack and scrutiny.
This is the line between (personal) racism and systemic racism.
The ABC is a National Institution that outside of news reporting and media content creation also plays one of the biggest roles in the country when it comes to shaping the culture and opinions that are upheld by Australian citizens. The ABC knows this is a position they fill. So, to perpuate racist ideologies inside of their organisation as essentially part of their practices and policies they are giving the green okay signal that allows everyone else in Australia to continue behaving the same way. This gives everyone a free pass from having to assess and unpack any potentially damaging behaviours.
Racism being upheld and committed by respected people and organistions expected to set the example for others is when racism becomes systemic.
*Status Quo = The Dystopian & Capitalistic, Hetereopatriarchal, Colonial rule we are all currently suffering underneath
Uh, and So – Why is systemic racism in the ABC bad?
TL;DR- THE ABC HAS ITSELF PUBLICALLY POSITIONED AND REGUARLY FRAMED AS AN ALLY TO FIRST NATIONS PEOPLE AND OTHER VULNERBALE MINORITY GROUPS.
THE ABC IS ALSO A TRUSTED NATIONAL SOURCE FOR MOST OF THE COUNTRY IN TERMS OF NEWS AND ACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOUR.
IF THE ABC IS WILLING TO IGNORE OR CANNOT IDENTIFY(not sure which is worse lol)THEIR OWN PROBLEMATIC BEHAVIOURS AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO HARMFUL CYCLES - HOW IS ANYONE ELSE EXPECTED TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE IN POSITIVE + FORWARD THINKING CHANGE AND GROWTH?
Systemic racism manifests within employment and education outcomes, the justice and housing systems, declining physical and mental wellbeing and many more places throughout daily life.
POC and other minority groups are regularly denied access to basic needs and wants like safe housing, secure employment, accessible and affordable doctors. This has created multiple undesirable scenarios for us such as over-incarceration that span across generations getting worse and worse because we cannot access the systems provided to help us resolve them.
We are also not given the space and sovereignty to resolve them on our own.
In the previous section we established that systemic racism dilutes down into individualised acts of racism on a much smaller scale. This is a two-way-street. Personalised racism also allows systemic racism to go unchecked, too.
If you spend your entire life listening to both of your neighbours talk about ‘Blak Thugs’ and ‘Youth Crime’, you are less likely to question when Alice Springs gets put into lockdown or the ABC allowing people to call their television reporters racist slurs in the comment section with no moderation.
The 2005 Cronulla Race Riots are a perfect example of these two worlds colliding in mutual support of one another.
First Nations People’s lives are spent navigating and surviving US vs THEM Dichotomies with as minimal damage as possible.
There are countless barriers in our way every-time we attempt to access public services, or even just try to participate in society unbothered.
The ABC is publicly positioned as an ally to First Nations Peoples; yet, has just been caught perpetuating systemic racism- something that we (allegedly) weren’t already clocked to. In a nation that is nowhere near making enough progress towards basic human rights and self-autonomy for it’s First Nations Peoples this is horrifying to think about.
It is horrifying because if the ABC is supposed to be keeping us in line by being some of the ones to draw it; but they cannot keep themselves in line, it leaves one wondering if there was ever a line to begin with. It leaves myself and countless other First Nations people feeling scared, exposed and vulnerable in our fight for Truth-Telling and transparency.
So, wait – it’s not just the ABC?
Correct! It’s everywhere!
The Australian Nation was born out of colonialism. We are a very young country that was founded on racism and is still [unfortunately] learning how to exist without it.
Racism (systemic or otherwise) is not exclusive to the ABC or even just exclusive to the media. It is entrenched into the very design of fundamental Australian Institutions and Policies.
For the past 122 years Australia has been cramming as much racism into the principal functions of these industries (and more) as is humanely possible:
- Education
- Employment
- Politics ( “River to the sea means one thing – that is the annihilation of the Jewish people, of eight million people, driving them into the sea is about how they can be exterminated,”- Peter Dutton spreading misinformation, as usual.)
- The Police + Military
- EVERYTHING!
In the process of doing so we seem to have forgotten there was 65,000+ years of history, culture, lore, institution, policy and procedure already in place. Without the incorporations of unnecessary mass killing machines like guns and racism. It was already right here; on our own red dirt and it would benefit us to start remembering and learning from that sooner rather than later.
LilyInteractive 
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