Culture

The Logies Remind Us How Whitewashed Australian Television Still Is

Only five non-European people were nominated.

by Millie Roberts  20 June 2022
Logies Diversity

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The Logies have once again served as a reminder of how white Australian television continues to be.

The annual entertainment ceremony returned after a three-year hiatus to dish out awards for the best and most popular programs and personalities, with Hamish Blake securing the coveted Gold Logie this year.

Out of the 55 person-based nominations, only seven were of a non-European background: Melissa Leong from Masterchef was nominated twice, as well as actor Deborah Mailman, while Carlos Sanson Jr from Bump and Mabel Li of SBS’ New Gold Mountain also made the shortlist.

However, the only BIPOC personality to win an award on the night was popular ABC journalist and proud Barranbinya man Tony Armstrong — who was also the first person on stage to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land the event was held on, the Yugambeh People.

It’s easy to shift the blame on audiences, who have the power to vote for their favourites and determine the ‘Most Popular’ categories — however, the familiar faces we see on the telly in the first place are chosen by networks and studios who aren’t keeping up with the times.

CEO of Media Diversity Australia, Mariam Veiszadeh, told Junkee that the optics shouldn’t come as a surprise. “Under-representation is a common theme across many industries but it’s clearly a lot more noticeable and damaging when it comes to influential industries,” she said. “The media is ultimately a megaphone for culture. It not only reflects, but has the incredible power to create and influence social norms.”

“As such, the faces, voices, stories, and perspectives that are reflected back at audiences have broad implications. The decisions made in the top echelons of the media industry — whether in production, coverage, or sources — ultimately impact Australian and global culture, and social cohesion.”

Two years ago, MDA released the ‘Who Gets To Tell Australian Stories‘ report, and found that more than 75 percent of presenters, commentators, and reporters had an Anglo-Celtic background, while only six percent came from an Indigenous or non-European background.

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In the years since, Veiszadeh said she’s notice some improvement in the landscape, and a greater awareness around the need for proactive change — two out of five TV news directors are now women, with one identifying as culturally diverse, while four out of five TV networks have an Indigenous co-host on their Breakfast Television programs.

The need for representation on-air is a conversation that’s been in the works for years — in 2016, host Waleed Aly centred the need for representation in the industry during his Gold Logie acceptance speech.

“I don’t win an award like that if viewers are deeply uncomfortable, or confronted with having to see a non-white face on TV,” he said. “I think the viewers are comfortable. It really then comes down to the way that executives and agents and whoever it is, makes their decisions.”

Six years, and three Logie nights later, little has changed — and the nation still doesn’t see itself fully reflected back on the small screen.

Veiszadeh would like to see the Logies seek external expert advice moving forwards, saying “diversity, equity, and inclusion are not a box ticking exercise, and require long-term vision, accountability, and commitment”.

More broadly, she encourages TV’s entertainment and news giants to acknowledge the additional barriers that racially diverse people face, before levelling the playing field for increased participation — but that comes with a caveat. “It’s harder to work towards when the C-Suite of the Logies doesn’t appear to be particularly diverse — there is a trickle-down effect,” she says.