The Media Diversity Australia (MDA) 2024 Symposium, held on Thursday 3rd October in partnership with Western Sydney University, was a resounding success, bringing together 36 prominent speakers, including media professionals, academics, and advocates. The inaugural event featured a rich schedule of keynote speeches, panel discussions, and interactive workshops that addressed the challenges of inclusive media reporting while offering a sense of hope, solidarity, and empowerment to attendees. 

Highlights included  keynotes on reporting live on BLM by ABC journalist Elias Clure, reporting on the Referendum as an Indigenous journalist by NITV’s Rhanna Collins, as well as best practices in disability reporting by Disability Rights and Political Reporter Emma Myers from Canberra Community Radio Network. The event featured high profile speakers included Waleed Aly, Maria Thattil, Marc Fennell, Dai Le MP and Narelda Jacobs while an important spotlight was placed on younger talent including Kamin Gock, Sowaibah Hanifie, Anushri Sood, Achol Arok and Rashida Yosufzai. 

The event also hosted workshops on mental health for journalists and brought together panels of executives and academics to discuss race reporting, ethical leadership and decision-making, all of which drew enthusiastic participation. 

The Symposium’s impact was amplified by its focus on addressing the mixed emotions and systemic challenges that marginalised communities face in media representation.  

In collaboration with Western Sydney University’s School of Humanities & Communication Arts, the Whitlam Institute, and the Australian Communities Foundation, the Symposium illuminated pathways to a more diverse and equitable media landscape. Special thanks to WSU’s Dr. Leo Robba, who moderated a key conversation on the challenges of regional newsrooms and played a pivotal role in bringing the vision of the event to life. 

 The Symposium, coinciding with the release of the ABC’s Racism review, also provided an important platform for a timely and nuanced executive panel discussion with the ABC’s News Director Justin Stevens, SBS’s News Director Mandi Wicks and AAP’s board director Shirley Chowdhary as they conclusively agreed that there is in fact, no conflict between diversity and impartiality.  The Symposium succeeded in generating meaningful dialogue on the future of media diversity in Australia, providing a culturally safe platform to discuss the issues that have continued to plague the industry while helping the light the way forward for how to better tackle some of those challenges. 

The day concluded with the launch of MDA’s Race Reporting Handbook following a powerful address by the Race Discrimination Commissioner Giri Sivaraman. The Handbook authored by Jenae Tien and Karina Hogan is a practical guide to help the sector that ultimately helps shape the health of democracy, how to better report on race relations and has the potential to transform how race is reported across Australian media. 

The overwhelming feedback has confirmed that the Symposium left attendees feeling uplifted and empowered, ready to take concrete steps towards a more inclusive future for Australian media. 

A massive thank you to WSU photographer Sally Tsoutas and WSU student photographer Abubakr Sajid for capturing these photos.