Black Stories Matter

Ever since Captain James Cook evaded British instructions to take possession of the continent now known as Australia “with the consent of the natives”, the interests of settlers have dominated media reporting on Aboriginal people. 

This year, there’s been a global awakening. The events of 2020 including the Black Lives Matter movement and COVID-19 have challenged traditional narratives, creating new opportunities for how we tell stories, who tells them and what stories are told. 

Black Stories Matter is a five-part series that brings together media researchers, historians, former policy makers and Aboriginal journalists whose work is disrupting the patterns of the past. 

Our guests have had front row seats to what’s gone wrong in Australian media reporting and share with us how Aboriginal perspectives have been silenced, and what the media can do to make things right. 

It’s time to start a new narrative about Aboriginal people, with Aboriginal people because Black Stories Matter.  

The Black Stories Matter podcast is hosted by Professor Heidi Norman and Amy Thomas and was produced by Impact Studios at the University of Technology Sydney – an audio production house that combines academic research with audio storytelling for real world impact. 

This podcast is inspired by the book 

‘Does the Media Fail Aboriginal Political Aspirations: 45 years of news media reporting of key political moments’ by Amy Thomas, Heidi Norman and Andrew Jakubowicz from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at UTS. 

The Black Stories Matter podcast was made with the support of Aboriginal Affairs New South Wales as part of a strategy to improve the dynamics between Aboriginal people and governments. 

We know that bad reporting can lead to bad policy and this can adversely affect the lives of First Nations people.

So far in this series, we’ve heard how the Australian mainstream media has failed to connect with Aboriginal communities. But for Aboriginal journalists deeply embedded in their communities, it’s a completely different story.

In this episode, we’re looking to independent black media, to hear what Aboriginal journalists can teach us about the stories told around sovereignty and self determination and how we can support Black media.

*Please be advised this podcast contains discussions about topics some listeners may find distressing. You can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14*.

Chaired by Bhuva Narayan from the University of Technology Sydney, this discussion features Madeline Hayman-Reber a Gomeroi woman, freelance journalist and Media Advisor to Senator Lidia Thorpe, Rachael Hocking, Warlpiri woman and NITV journalist and co-host of The Point, and Associate Professor Tanja Dreher from UNSW, an expert in settler listening.

This podcast is inspired by the book ‘Does the Media Fail Aboriginal Political Aspirations: 45 years of news media reporting of key political moments’ by Amy Thomas, Heidi Norman and Andrew Jakubowicz from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at UTS.

The Black Stories Matter podcast was made with the support of Aboriginal Affairs New South Wales as part of a strategy to improve the dynamics between Aboriginal people and governments.