REPORT BREAKDOWN: The Nitty Gritty Guts N Stuff
Now it’s time for the actual report and what it had to say about the ABC!
I have attached a full downloadable PDF below for those who are interested in reading it themselves.
For everyone else – I have read it already for you.
The Problems
Independent Review into ‘ABC Systems and Processes in Support of Staff who Experience Racism’ involved 120 participants. Only one of them claimed to have no direct and personal experience with racism inside the ABC; but 100% of them claimed to have been witness to it throughout their time at ABC. I have inserted a slideshow immediately below with the participant responses that stood out most to me.
Findings from the report will largely not be anything new to First Nations people even from outside the media industry, as aptly pointed out by a few of the participant answers; racism experienced within the ABC was indistinguishable from racism playing out in other life areas.
These responses and a few other datasets were compiled together into a list of key-findings that contribute to the internal problem of racism at the ABC. Some of these findings included things like lack of social media moderation, pigeon-holing regardless of career progression and direction desire, excessive cultural load, and mental-health issues + suicidal ideation from lack of formal supports, a fear of reporting harmful events and much more. There is another slide show below of the ones I found particularly interesting.
The Recommendations
After collecting and compiling the data and responses into key-findings that summarised the issues staff have been facing within the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the team behind the review and report came up with a list of recommendations to act as guidelines for the ABC to utilise should they desire to tackle their internalised and systemic racism.
The 15 recommendations are as follows:
1 – That the ABC, its Board, Managing Director, Senior Leadership Team and all staff read this Report in full and listen deeply to the grievances of First Nations and CALD current and former staff.
2 – That the ABC commit to being proactively anti-racist
3 – That the ABC should enhance understanding of how lived experience shapes story-telling.
4 – That the ABC improve its responses to public attacks.
5 – That the ABC improve diverse representation in ABC management and leadership.
6 – That the ABC should increase and enhance organisation-wide education and training.
7 – That the ABC should revise and improve the complaints framework.
8 – That the ABC should establish a new independent function with a focus on staff welfare.
9 – That the ABC should create culturally safe support systems.
10 – That the ABC must improve recruitment processes and pathways.
11 – That the ABC establish a robust and psychologically safe exit interview process.
12 – That the ABC should progress protocols on voice coaching for diversity.
13 – That the ABC should conduct pay audits.
14 – That the ABC commit to ongoing evaluation, accountability and implementation by establishing a Systems Implementation Team.
15 – That the ABC should develop a framework for implementation.
All of these recommendations were paired with a list of actions that could be taken to adequately achieve each goal. These actions can be found inside of the full report.
The Response
The ABC formally comitted to growth and change that adheres to the direction the report wants to send them in. I have compiled a short list of official ABC links and downloadble documents at the end of this section demonstrating that response.
However, the entire process of this review from start to finish was extremely public facing and under the leadership of a director who already has plans to retire. There is already a huge amount of pressure put on people in positions of power to be visible making the right decision – but whether or not they follow through behind closed doors and away from cameras with questions is another story. This particular public discourse generated a lot of scrutiny compared wirh other recent ABC scandals and being both public facing and towards the end of your career come with a unique set of challenges that I imagine would escalate the pressure one feels facing these types of scenarios. So, it is for those reasons I eagerly await just how accountable the ABC and any incoming directors are willing to hold themselves in their actions beyond words and performative public displays.
Transcript of interview with Justin Stevens, Director News, on ABC Radio Melbourne with Raf Epstein.
Transcript of interview with Justin Stevens, Director News, with David Lipson, ABC Reporter.
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