Two years ago, I spent some time visiting an Aboriginal community in the Tiwi Islands, which lie 80km north of Darwin. It was one of the best experiences of my life. We watched talented artists at work, swam in billabongs with the kids and even helped collect some bush tucker in the muddy mangroves. During that time, I was the minority in an Aboriginal community; I was the one who stood out. But the difference for me was that I didn’t feel on the outer. Although I looked different, I wasn’t treated differently. The Indigenous community treated me with respect and acceptance, not indifference and isolation. And as I have asked myself numerous times since: why can’t non-Indigenous Australians do the same?
Yes, we’ve started on the long road to reconciliation: Prime Minister Rudd’s speech was a testament to the progress we’ve made. But unfortunately our minds continue to be clouded by stereotypes and misinformation when it comes to Indigenous Australians.
A lot of our judgements are influenced by the media. According to the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC), the media plays a pivotal role ‘in helping to shape Australia’s sense of community and the way in which it reflects and sometimes drives debate around major issues’. The mainstream media’s negative representation of Indigenous Australians has been cited as a major cause of prejudice in our society by both The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the National Inquiry into Racist Violence in Australia.
Indigenous lawyer, Terri Janke, says that worst of all, many journalists forget about Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights when reporting. This means the customs and heritage of Indigenous Australians are being exploited and sensationalised right under our noses; the mainstream media are not giving the Indigenous community the respect and acknowledgement they deserve. As Janke says, ‘Indigenous people should receive compensation or royalties for use of Indigenous cultures [in the media] where appropriate and where prior informed consent has been granted by an Indigenous group.’ That last part’s particularly important. For example, journalists shouldn’t film Indigenous cultural ceremonies without respecting the rights of those involved and asking for permission. Reporters should always be mindful of reflecting events as they occurred and in light of Indigenous culture, and not portraying Indigenous Australians stereotypically.
Negative and sensationalist portrayals not only affect the opinions of millions of non-Indigenous Australians, but also the way Indigenous people view themselves. ‘There is ample evidence that Aboriginality will continue to be defined and constructed for Aboriginal people,’ says Aboriginal academic and activist Mick Dodson in
The end in the beginning; re(de)finding Aboriginality. He adds that the way in which Aboriginality is often constructed is ‘in terms of how it compares with the dominant culture’. In other words, Aboriginality is reinforced in stereotypes that generate a sense of ‘us and them’.
We all know the types of stereotypes Dodson’s talking about. When I google headlines on Indigenous Australians, I find titles like ‘Aboriginal violence: ‘a plague’’ (
Daily Telegraph, 2001), ‘Crusade to save Aboriginal kids’ (
The Australian, 2007) and ‘Tighter bail for Aboriginal abusers’ (
The Australian, 2007). Bad press? I think that’s an understatement. One of the reasons for this, says Series Producer/Presenter of ABC’s Indigenous Programs Unit, Michelle Tuhaine (as quoted on HREOC’s website), is that ‘there are only a handful of Aboriginal presenters in the mainstream. I think that the understanding [of Indigenous issues] will only increase if the representation does.’
Indigenous media is out there, yet it’s not reaching a huge number of Australians. For example, the
Sydney Morning Herald has nearly ten times the number of readers as the
Koori Mail. While circulation figures for Indigenous media are rising, mainstream media organisations need to encourage the employment of Indigenous journalists or enforce more stringent Indigenous protocols, like the ABC.
But it’s not all up to the media. It’s also up to us. We often hear news of violence in Indigenous families, of drug and alcohol abuse and rape. But have you ever asked yourself why Indigenous Australians might have these social problems? Or why similar problems in other communities are not reported with such an emphasis on race? No, we just stick our heads in the sand. It’s not my problem, we think. It’s their problem. It’s the government’s problem.
My experience on the Tiwi Islands shows that just a little education can go a long way. And I don’t mean the wishy-washy Aboriginal history we were taught in school. I mean an education that includes both sides of the story, and looks at contemporary issues, not just what happened three centuries ago. But you don’t necessarily need to visit a remote Indigenous community to get this education. My university, the University of South Australia, plans to weave a subject on contemporary Indigenous issues into every undergraduate program by 2010. This should be compulsory for universities across Australia.
In the workplace, we need to promote jobs for Indigenous Australians, as many sectors in the government already do. This not only helps to empower Aboriginal people, but also improves the understanding of co-workers, and consequently breaks down negative stereotypes.
But we also need to be proactive enough to give ourselves an education. If we did, then maybe we’d learn that our Indigenous culture is the oldest existing culture on earth. Clearly that’s something to recognise and celebrate, not ignore. Saying sorry was a start. But it’s experience and knowledge that really break down barriers.
How do I know this?
ABC Message Stick, 2008, FAQs, ABC Online,
www.abc.net.au/message/proper/faq.htm
ABC Message Stick, 2003. Cultural Protocols for Indigenous Reporting in the Media, ABC Online,
www.abc.net.au/message/proper/culturalprotocol.pdf
Australian Press Council, 1990, Suburban Terror,
www.presscouncil.org.au/pcsite/activities/studs/case2.html
Behrendt L, 2006, ‘Indigenous Self-Determination: Rethinking the Relationship of Rights and Economic Development’, in Worby G & Rigney L-I (eds), Sharing Spaces – Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Responses to Story, Country and Rights, pp 276-289, API Network, Perth
Daily Telegraph, 2001, ‘Aboriginal violence ‘a plague’’, December 6, p26.
Dodson M, 2003, ‘The end in the beginning: re(de)finding Aboriginality’, in Grossman M (ed), Blacklines: contemporary critical writing by Indigenous Australians, Melbourne University Press, Carlton
Eggerking K & Plater D, 1992, Signposts: A Guide to Reporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Australian Centre for Independent Journalism, UTS, Sydney
HREOC, 1997. The Racial Hatred Act – a guide for people working in the Australian media, Produced by the Race Discrimination Commissioner, HREOC, Canberra,
www.humanrights.gov.au/racial_discrimination/media_guide/
Hewett A, 2007, ‘’Objects’ need active role to close gap’, Courier Mail, August 22, p31
Hollinsworth D, 1998, Race and racism in Australia, Social Science Press, Katoomba
Janke, T. 1998. Our Culture Our Future – Report on Australian Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property Rights, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS),
www.frankellawyers.com.au/media/report/culture.pdf
Karvelas P, 2007, ‘Crusade to save Aboriginal kids – Howard declares ‘national emergency’ to end abuse’, The Australian, June 22, p1.
Koori Mail, 2008, Koori Mail Homepage,
www.koorimail.com/
Roy Morgan Research, 2008, Herald AdCentre – Audience,
www.heraldadcentre.fairfax.com.au/adcentre/newspapers
/smh/audcirc.html
Salusinszky I, 2007, ‘Tighter bail for Aboriginal abusers’, The Australian, January 4, p1.
Stockwell S & Scott P, 2000, All-Media Guide to Fair and Cross-Cultural Reporting – For journalists, program makers and media students, Australian Key Centre for Cultural and Media Policy,
www.gu.edu.au/school/art/AMMSite/AllMediaGuide.pdf
Sunday Mail, 2007, ‘A new attitude is key to change’, July 1, p105
Tuhiwai-Smith L, 2003, ‘Imperialism, history, writing and theory’, in Decolonising methodologies: research and Indigenous peoples, University of Otago Press, Dunedin
Yunkaporta, T, 2007, Aboriginal Media Portrayals, February 13,
www.aboriginalrights.suite101.com/article.cfm/
aboriginal_media_portrayals
