Lack of Diversity on Australian TV – Interview with Professor James Arvanitakis

A landmark study of television news and current affairs has found that presenters, commentators and reporters on Australian television – are overwhelmingly of an Anglo-Celtic background.

The study shows that television media has an “extraordinarily long way to go” in boosting representation of people from diverse backgrounds.

RTRFM’s Allan Boyd spoke with one of the report authors: Professor James Arvanitakis – from Western Sydney University to discuss the report findings.

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Australia credits itself on being a successful multicultural society – but a new report shows that our TV content does not accurately reflect the make-up of the wider community. This is especially evident in television News. It’s been described as a “Whitewash”.

According to new research by four Australian universities – in partnership with Media Diversity Australia – television news media and current affairs – lacks cultural and linguistic diversity.

The report, released last week entitled “Who Gets To Tell Australian Stories?” investigates Australian television – and illustrates that TV news content – is far more Anglocentric than the country it represents – and implies a lack of cultural diversity…

I spoke with James Arvanitakis – from Western Sydney University – who is one of the report authors.