Greetings and Happy New(ish) Year to all.

Welcome to the inaugural letter from me as the Media President, what I hope will become a quasi-regular feature of MEAA communications to you.

Let’s call this the Summer Edition and see how it goes!!

I’d love your feedback so feel free to email me at media.president@meaa.org

It’s almost a year since I was elected President and it’s been a busy one. 2023 promises to be another hectic turn around the sun.

We will continue to push back on attacks to Press Freedom. We have written to the Federal Court to express our concerns about changes to the rules for journalists to access documents and information about cases. It will be one of a number of issues we will raise in the Attorney-General’s press freedom roundtable in late-February.

And we’ll continue to advocate for our government to act to assist  journalist Cheng Lei, writer Yang Hengjun and publisher Julian Assange.

Reporting on First Nations issues

As we look ahead to The Voice to Parliament referendum later this year, it’s important as journalists and media workers that we understand the issues affecting our First Nations people and the potential harm we can do in our work if we don’t take the time to learn about our own history and the impact colonisation has had.

Language matters. History matters. Being informed matters.

As MEAA Media President, I am keen to ensure that our members have access to relevant resources that allow you to confidently and ethically report on the issues from an informed perspective.

And so I want to introduce you to Waubgeshig Rice, a prominent Canadian First Nations broadcaster and author.

He’s an Anishinaabe man from Northern Ontario. Home for him is the Wasauksing First Nation – near a town called Parry Sound, Ontario by beautiful Georgian Bay.

I know of Waub’s work at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation – though he was starting in Winnipeg at about the time I left CBC Toronto to join the ABC in Sydney in 2002.

Last year I met him in the industrial town of Sudbury, about four hours north of Toronto. We chatted for about an hour by the shores of Ramsey Lake as locals wandered by with dogs and friends.

Racism and bias have been a constant in his life.

These days he’s left the microphone behind and he is writing the sequel to his successful 2018 novel Moon on Crusted Snow. Moon of the Turning Leaves will be published later this year.

I had a chat to him about how non-Indigenous reporters can be better allies to our First Nations colleagues and sought his advice on how we can better understand and deal with FN issues in our work.

He is thoughtful, insightful and at times what he says is confronting and hard to hear. All the more reason we should listen.

The Voice to Parliament discussions are likely to be triggering for some and so it’s important that we take a trauma-informed approach in our reporting. This is an area of real passion for me. By recognising and responding to vicarious trauma in ourselves and those we interview we can have a better understanding of the impact of the work we do.

There’s some really interesting work happening globally in the area of well being and mental health for journalists.

In Canada, new research shows the extent of trauma exposure within the industry. Journalists in the UK are also coming to terms with the issue.

If this has prompted any concerns for you please seek assistance from one of these organisations:

1800 Respect
Lifeline  13 11 14
Mensline  1300 78 99 78
Mindspot  1800 61 44 34
SANE  1800 187 263

Climate reporting

In 2023, we will continue to take a look at climate change reporting after our successful webinar last year. Watch out for part two of this project which will look at identifying and challenging climate misinformation and disinformation. We’re also planning to produce reporting guidelines in consultation with journalists, climate scientists and other experts. If you wanted to take a look at our earlier webinar, here it is.

I’ve been mostly working through the holiday break, but I have had a chance to read and watch some terrific content.

Here are a few recommendations from me.

What I’ve been reading

Succession  by Paddy Manning; a detailed look at News Corp heavyweight Lachlan Murdoch.

Invasion Russia and Ukraine by Luke Harding; excellent firsthand account of the invasion of Ukraine from one of the most authoritative reporters on all things Putin and Russia.

What I’ve been watching

She Said – an excellent movie based on The New York Times investigation into Harvey Weinstein. A rare “media” movie that doesn’t have me tearing my hair out and yelling “that’s not how we do it”! Except for the scene where five of them are doing the final proof read on one computer. #yeahnah

Acapulco – a colourful, campy comedy series set in the Mexican resort town of the same name which will have you desperate for yet another poolside cocktail.  The resort’s 80s music act steals the show!

Thanks for reading! And I hope listening.

Take care until the next time…

Karen