By Calum Jaspan
The ABC’s management must commit to long-term systemic change to break a cycle of discrimination, after a long-awaited review found overwhelming evidence of racism at the public broadcaster.
Outgoing ABC boss David Anderson has told current and former staff he is “truly sorry” to those who have experienced racist behaviour and past harms following the publication of the Listen Loudly, Act Strongly review, led by Dr Terri Janke on Tuesday afternoon.
The ABC released the long-awaited Janke review on Tuesday into experiences of racism at the broadcaster.
The review made 15 recommendations to improve the ABC’s systems, processes and support for First Nations and culturally diverse staff.
“A major concern is that there is a lack of shared understanding of racism among the ABC Leadership,” the report said.
“Without a deep and consistent grasp of how racism works, the actions taken to address it tend to be uncoordinated and short-term. These efforts are not effective enough to make real, lasting change,” it added.
Examples of racism from the ABC’s report
Overt
- Preventing workplace opportunities due to “a non-Australian” or “non-Anglo” accent.
- Comments such as “diversity hire”, “You only got this job because you are Indigenous/CALD [culturally and linguistically diverse]“, “You won’t lose your job because you are meeting a quota”.
- Mistaking someone for being a trespasser in the workplace
Covert
- Mistaken identity with people from the same cultural background.
- Comments such as “Your voice/look is too western Sydney”, “You know people out at the western suburbs right?”
- Not having a full range of skin tones in makeup so darker people are misfitted into lighter shades.
- Being asked to do work but without acknowledgement – stories are given to white colleagues to present or to take credit.
Among the recommendations, the review said the ABC must improve its responses to public attacks on staff, diverse representation in its leadership and management, recruitment processes and pathways, and conduct regular pay audits.
The report, informed by interviews with 120 current and former ABC staff, said the review had found overwhelming evidence of racism at the ABC, with staff subjected to racism from both external individuals and organisations in connection with their work.
Through its interviews, the review found instances of overt and covert racism experienced by ABC’s staff, including racial slurs, derogatory and offensive comments, excluding staff from workplace opportunities or social events due to their cultural or linguistic background, as well as mistaking someone for a more junior person based on their racial appearance.
There were also examples of stereotyping, not being considered to be impartial in reporting on a cultural group because staff were perceived to be part of that cultural group, and staff not being offered opportunities because they were considered to have been hired to meet diversity quotas, the report said.
It added that almost all participants who identified as First Nations or CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse) described having experienced racism in the workplace. Only one CALD participant said they had not experienced racism.
“There is an absolutely undeniable racist culture at the ABC,” said one anonymous respondent.
Anderson said the details of the 171-page report were “disturbing”. “On behalf of everyone at the ABC, I am sorry for any and all racist behaviour and past harms experienced by our Indigenous and CALD employees, either currently or formerly employed,” Anderson told staff on Tuesday.
“We all need to do better for our colleagues on our commitment to zero tolerance for racism in our workplace. We all need to do better for our colleagues by preventing or acting on behaviour that seeks to discriminate against, bully or demean them.”
The role of the report was not to investigate or make findings on individual incidents or racism, rather to focus on how the ABC responds to racism and cultural safety in the workplace.
Participants quoted in the ABC’s racism report
- “A man had shared a microaggression, and [ABC senior executive] patted him and said ‘sometimes you just have to move on’.”
- “I struggle with the idea that I have to leave myself at the door. That metaphorical door was built by and for middle class white men. They fit through it, they don’t have to leave anything.”
- “… does someone have to say a slur for it to be racist, or is it the pattern? I think most people know not to say a slur, but the micro things are way harder, like lack of opportunities [for diverse staff].”
- “I feel a responsibility to my community and children, because if I leave, we are leaving the fight for the next generation.”
- “It was comments like ‘ohh, how much of you is Aboriginal? Don’t worry. You don’t look it’.”
ABC chair Kim Williams told Melbourne Drive host Ali Moore there were a number of things in the report that were “unpalatable”.
“I don’t think anyone can read a report such as this and feel comfortable,” Williams said, adding the ABC would not tolerate bad behaviour.
“Racism is an issue in Australia,” he added.
Many respondents said racism was manifested in the systems and policies of the ABC, explicitly noting the presence of structural or system racism and unconscious bias. Many also said the ABC had made significant progress recently to address these issues, however.
As part of its response, the ABC has engaged former Australian race discrimination commissioner Chin Tan to continue this work, and created a new director of First Nations strategy, who will join the ABC’s leadership team and report directly to the managing director.
Outgoing ABC boss David Anderson (left) said the report was more reason for him to stay on to lay the groundwork for his successor. ABC chair Kim Williams is on the right.Credit: ABC
The current head of Indigenous, diversity and inclusion Kelly Williams is taking up the role in the interim while it looks for a permanent appointment.
Anderson thanked the 120 participants during an appearance on the ABC’s 24-hour News Channel and encouraged all staff to read the report.
He said it was important work needed to begin in the months he has left at the broadcaster to put a framework in place to address the recommendations.
“If anything it’s a reason for me to stay longer, not a reason to leave earlier,” Anderson said.
The acting media director of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance Michelle Rae said the report was a watershed moment for the media industry.
“All Australian media organisations are now on notice that they can no longer ignore these issues of inclusion, access and diversity,” Rae said.
“It is shameful that so many ABC staff have felt abandoned by their employer when they have suffered racism, discrimination and bias. Other media organisations cannot assume these issues are isolated to the national broadcaster.”
The ABC’s union house committee called for real tangible and transparent changes that are clear, measurable and implemented with staff consultation.
“ABC members don’t want the changes to only amount to online training and a poster campaign,” a statement said.
The review’s publication marks almost 12 months of work and examines staff experiences of racism at the broadcaster and the adequacy of systems and processes to support those who have experienced it.
Janke, a Wuthathi, Yadhaighana and Meriam woman and a lawyer, was picked to lead the review, sparked by the treatment of veteran broadcaster Stan Grant, who has since left the broadcaster. The review team enlisted independent psychological support for ABC staff to help them cope with the report, as reported by this masthead on Friday.
Participants in the review were contacted this week and offered three sessions per person with specialists Psychs for Journalists, funded by the ABC, according to correspondence seen by this masthead. Staff were told they could use the sessions before or after the report’s release.
Chair of the ABC’s Bonner Committee and journalist Dan Bourchier thanked Anderson for commissioning the report, and to the ABC’s board for committing to implement all the recommendations.
“I asked David to call for this review because it was clear there were big challenges. This report is a turning point and seeks to strengthen and reform the ABC,” Bourchier said.
“It’s a line in the sand – we need to do better.
“This review exposes the depth of the problems. To achieve the crucial work of Listen Loudly, Act Strongly will require the entire ABC to work to embed meaningful change.”
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