I wrote last week about AuSud, the training and research program run by the Centre and a senior research team.
This week, the research assistant to the project, Violeta Politoff, writes about an interesting confrontation that happened last October – between Sudanese trainees, and the paper that they regard as most unfriendly to their community – Melbourne’s Herald Sun.
Here is Violeta’s account.
“I wonder how we will be received…”
Violeta Politoff
Last October, in what was surely a first, a small group of Sudanese journalism students were given a tour of the Herald Sun. Every one of those students felt their community had been badly represented by the publication, and it was up to them to ask those responsible, “why?”. David Vincent, one of the students there that day, described the situation:
It was very clear to me that we all had one thing in mind about the Herald Sun: the Herald Sun is the most unfriendly news outlet towards African communities in Australia. Whether this statement is exaggerated remains to be discovered. In the recent past, the Herald Sun has published very negative stories about African young people finding it difficult to integrate into the mainstream community, suggesting that they are a threat to the security and general wellbeing of Australian people.
I helped to organize this tour as part of the AuSud Media Project – a journalism training program for Sudanese Australians run by the Centre for Advanced Journalism. I started working on this project in 2009. After working on this project for over three years, I can say with confidence that I have yet to meet a Sudanese person who hasn’t felt unfairly represented by Australian news. People have told me that they feel stereotyped by news coverage, and that stories of their community are predominantly negative. This affects their daily lives, from employment opportunities to the sense that the seat next to you on the tram will always be the last to be taken.
I’ve spent a considerable amount of time researching how the news media represents particular social issues, but this was the first time I’d seen members of the media meet, talk to, and face tough questions from those who feel they’ve been misrepresented.
Left to right: Violeta Politoff, Ajak Mabia, Akech Manyiel, David Vincent, Abraham Gai and Michael Gawenda.
As part of the AuSud journalism training we organized tours of three media outlets: the ABC, SBS and the Herald Sun. Only a handful of us could go on each tour and nearly all of the students wanted to visit the Herald Sun. It was pretty clear that everyone hoped to get a chance to confront Andrew Bolt. Once it was decided who would visit the Herald Sun (Akech Manyiel, David Vincent, Abraham Gai, Ajak Mabia, Michael Gawenda and myself) we were off. David Vincent described the responsibility of being one of the chosen ones:
Akech, Abraham, Ajak, Violeta and I were assigned the task of finding out who were the people behind the production line at the Herald Sun. As we depart and wave bye-bye to our colleagues we realised that there was a lot expected from us. This put even more pressure on our team, but I just wanted to go there and meet the people who are responsible for producing some of the news that has defamed my community.
On our way to the Herald Sun we chatted about places we’d been around the world. Akech spoke about a road trip he took with his cousin through the United States and Canada, and his time playing basketball in the US. It was a pity, he explained, that the trip ended with hours of interrogation at an American airport. His experience sounded terrifying, and a few of the other students spoke of similar experiences in Australia. I never cease to be shocked and ashamed when I hear these types of stories.
When we arrived we walked into the foyer and I immediately noticed what I assumed to be a Herald Sun front page wall of fame. I was surprised to see that amongst these revered front pages was an image of Osama Bin Laden announcing his death with the headline “Got Him”. Such brashness made me question how issues around the reporting of Sudanese Australians could be addressed? Would any of us feel brave enough to ask these questions?
We were given a tour by Hugh Jones, managing editor of NewsCentral Victoria, who kindly explained every aspect of what goes into the daily newspaper. It was clear that Sudanese tour groups were not a regular occurrence at the Herald Sun, and everyone was met with hospitality and what felt like genuine enthusiasm.
Eventually, the issue came up. While my courage had sadly dissolved, the students bravely, tactfully, and with the greatest respect, asked Hugh about the Herald Sun’s problematic coverage of the Sudanese community. Abraham Gai began the discussion, gently describing his belief that often his community is not fairly represented by the media and asking why this might be the case. David Vincent described the situation:
Hugh was very generous with his time, although he was not sure what to say when asked some curly questions about how refugee stories are told and represented in his organisation; he was simply humble and welcoming. He even invited us to come back or if we have any concerns/queries we can contact him.
Of course, these questions are difficult to answer. Hugh responded by expressing his regret that the students felt this way. He said there was no institutionalized discrimination at the Herald Sun. He admitted that it is possible the sea of white faces in the newsroom could be a problem, and encouraged our students to believe that they could have an effect on the situation by both writing their own stories, and through the relationships made by meeting journalists, as we did that day.
This trip to the Herald Sun had an impact on me, as I know it did for the others in our group. Not so much because of what we saw, but because it left us all with a feeling of possibility. I think for some of the students it demystified ‘the media’, made the institution real, and made their potential participation in journalism seem more achievable. For me, it revealed the benefits of a simple meeting of two groups who normally would not meet. I think we had as much of an impact on the place we toured as the tour had on us. As for David Vincent…
I concluded that Herald Sun reporters all just wanted to do their work with no intention of causing anyone or any group of people any harm. One man changed my views.
Considering the sentiment with which the visit began, I was pleased when it ended with Ajak giving Hugh a CD of African music, and all of us sending Hugh (and his team) a thank you card with this photo of us all at the Herald Sun.
The excerpts from David Vincent, including the title of this piece, are borrowed from an article he wrote entitled ‘The visit to Herald Sun’ which can be found on the AuSud Media Blog .