Stan Grant calls out Australian TV for being too white as our local shows are labeled a ‘neo-Nazi wet dream’
- Q+A host denounced the lack of on-screen diversity
- Guest labeled local TV a ‘neo-Nazi’s wet dream’
A guest on ABC’s Q+A has labeled Australian television a “neo-Nazi’s wet dream” after Indigenous presenter Stan Grant criticized it for being dominated by white faces.
Australian journalist Antoinette Lattouf – whose parents moved to Down Under from Lebanon in the 1970s – criticized networks for being stuck in the era of the White Australia policy of the 1960s.
Ms Lattouf lashed out at the representation of multicultural Australia in mainstream local television programming, saying it was now seriously lagging behind the rest of the world.
“Australia is really far behind the UK or the US,” she ranted on Monday night’s show.
“We still have networks or programs that look like a neo-Nazi’s wet dream. We still do, despite the fact that more than half of the population is culturally diverse.
‘[But] we’re going to ignore those voices a bit.’
ABC’s Indigenous Q+A presenter Stan Grant (pictured) has criticized Australian television for being dominated by white faces
Australian journalist Antoinette Lattouf – whose parents moved to Down Under from Lebanon in the 1970s – labeled local TV channels a ‘neo-Nazi’s wet dream’
Her comments came after Grant lashed out at the lack of representation of people of color on local television.
Monday night’s show featured an otherwise all-white lineup of 1980s British pop star Billy Bragg, Labor MP Josh Burns, economist Gigi Foster and Senator Perin Davey.
Grant claimed that the lack of diversity gave viewers a false impression of the multicultural society they actually live in.
“People like you and me are still rare on our screens,” the veteran broadcaster and outspoken racism activist told Ms Lattouf.
“And stories are still being told by people who look like other people on the panel here tonight.
‘What does it take to break through, because that’s not how the world looks? It looks like us!’
Grant, along with Ten’s The Project presenter Waleed Aly and Malaysian-born ABC newsreader Jeremy Fernandez, are among the few people of color to appear regularly on mainstream Australian TV.
Aly, a Muslim woman of Egyptian parents born in Melbourne, won a Gold Logie in 2016 and declared: ‘Don’t change your sets, there’s nothing wrong with the picture.’
Waleed Aly, (left) a Muslim with Egyptian parents born in Melbourne, won a Gold Logie in 2016 and declared: ‘Don’t change your sets, there’s nothing wrong with the picture’. Malaysian-born ABC newsreader Jeremy Fernandez (right) is one of the few people of color to appear regularly on mainstream Australian TV
Ms Lattouf, a mother of two who founded Media Diversity Australia in 2017, said it takes determination to succeed as a non-white in Australia.
“It takes patience. It takes a thick skin,” she told Grant.
“You have to fight the urge to go into Tourette-style swear words if you get the chance.
“Because sometimes it’s frustrating that the change is glacial. You take one step forward, four steps back.
‘Even in the year of the referendum [on the Voice to Parliament]we still have all-white panels discussing things like the referendum.
“We still have all-white panels talking about refugee and asylum seekers policies — that baffles me.”
She added: ‘At least in the UK, when you see politicians when you film on television, even the Prime Minister, although he’s arguably not a big winner for progressive politics.
“All of our storytellers, all of our institutions of power — they’ve all been mostly white men.
“There’s a little bit of progress now. We have white women. And so there is still a lot of work to be done.’