The Racial Hatred Act: Case study 2
- perpetuating myths and stereotypes in the media
- 'The Colour of Money', Damien Murphy, The Bulletin, October 95
- Comment:
- Executive Officer of the Aboriginal Justice Advisory Group, Gail Wallace, on the media's role
in bridging the cultural gap- Executive Director, Strategy & Review Branch, NSW Police, Neil Bridge, on the reality of policing
in Redfern- ABC TV Indigenous Programs Unit producer/presenter, Michelle
Tuahine, on the media's stereotyping of Indigenous Australians- 'Black is not a Colour',
Letter to the Editor from HREOC's Zita Antonios and Mick Dodson, The Bulletin,
31 Oct 95Please note that none of the reports in the case studies have been the
subject of complaints or queries under the Racial Hatred Act.
Michelle Tuahine, Series Producer/Presenter
of ABC TV's Indigenous Programs Unit, says that the media's stereotyping
of Indigenous Australians is largely due to misunderstanding:
Much of the media's stereotyping of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island
people can be put down to a great void of understanding about indigenous
issues in media organisations; this lack of understanding isn't helped
by the simple fact that there are so few Aboriginal people working in the
Australian media.We can only hope to diminish the stereotyping by training and employing
more Indigenous people in the media. At the moment, there are only a handful
of Aboriginal presenters in the mainstream and it's about the same for
program makers and I think that the understanding will only increase if
the representation does.It's bizarre that so many Australians identify with the indigenous heritage
of this country, as we saw with the Olympic logo and at the Atlanta closing
ceremony, but demonstrate so little understanding of the contemporary issues
affecting Indigenous people. Frankly, it's because the mainstream media
is stuck in a kind of 70's time warp when it comes to reporting on Indigenous
Australia.
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