Professor Urges Cultural Sensitivity in Indigenous Reporting

A well-respected Professor of Journalism at Griffith University has addressed the importance of cultural sensitivity when reporting Indigenous affairs with journalism students.

Last week, Director of the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Susan Forde presented a powerful lecture focused on navigating Indigenous reporting. Forde shared the significance of advancing Indigenous representation in mainstream media in order to advance the media’s tendency to perpetuate Aboriginal stereotypes.

As a leading advocate for inclusive media practices, Prof. Forde offered valuable expert opinion for aspiring journalists.

Throughout the lecture, Prof. Forde dissected the historical and current Indigenous media landscape. She described it to students as one that was imbedded in deep seeded racism and written using primarily white sources. 

“Media was not targeted towards an Indigenous audience… conversations were happening about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people, but Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island People weren’t [included] in the conversation,”  Prof. Forde said.

She shared her motivation to challenge what she saw as racism reserved for Aboriginal people through her own reporting.

“I was motivated to report in a non-racist, fair way that helped justice and equality in Queensland… resisting what I saw as poor treatment of Indigenous people,” Prof. Forde said.

Griffith journalism student, Tayla Pettit agreed with Prof. Forde’s perspectives and shared her own opinion regarding the state of Indigenous reporting in the current news climate. 

“I think the current climate of Indigenous reporting is horrible,” Miss Pettit said.

Griffith journalism student Hayley Baker shared similar thoughts.

“I think there is a long way to go with how the media reports on First Nations topics,” Miss Baker said. “I believe there are lots of improvements to be made and adequate education of journalism students is a great place to start.”

Equipping future journalists with the appropriate tools to navigate reporting indigenous affairs is where the real change starts.

Ends.