The coverage of the Black Lives Matter protests in the United States and Australia has prompted some to question the diversity within the Australian media landscape.
Over the weekend, ABC program 'Insiders' fielded an all white panel of political journalists to analyse the Black Lives Matter protests in the US and Australia, invoked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis.
The program was criticised online for the lack of Indigenous representation on the panel, including comments by fellow ABC journalists.
Journalist Amy McQuire wrote on Twitter, “There are so many Aboriginal journalists now that there really isn't an excuse.”
A spokesperson from Media Diversity Australia - a not-for-profit organisation run by Australian journalists and communications professionals - told The Feed, "Insiders routinely lack diversity but it was particularly stark the day after tens of thousands of Australians protested around the country calling out injustice and racism."
And the ABC's political show hasn't been alone in the criticism of recent coverage.
Last week, Sunrise and The Today Show received criticism for the lack of diversity in their coverage of the Black Lives Matter protests in the US.
A few weeks ago, Nine's US reporter Alexis Daish was called out for her comments after a conversation with a protester at the Black Lives Matter demonstration in West Hollywood.
Daish said, "I really appreciate you giving your perspective because people in Australia doesn't have the understanding of the history of police killings here."
However more recently, Nine have given Brooke Boney and Jake Duke, two Indigenous reporters at the channel, space to speak about , and what this means to them.
And last Tuesday on Ten’s The Project, Indigenous writer and comedian Nakkiah Lui on why she wants Australians to act on Indigenous deaths in custody.
Average media worker is a white male hipster
How prevalent are diverse voices in Australian media? In 2016, a study from PwC found the average media worker in Sydney, the country's largest media market, was a white male "hipster" who lives in the city's inner west and eastern suburbs.
The study also found that media workers are overwhelmingly white, male and over 35 -- they make up 75 per cent of Australia's media cohort.
Dr Usha Manchanda Rodrigues, a senior lecturer in Communications at Deakin University, has been working on researching diversity in Australia's media industry over the last few years.
Dr Rodrigues told The Feed the perception is that our television screens are filled with mostly presenters and reporters from a "monolithic cultural background and colour" -- so she tested to see if it's true.
"By closely examining a two-week sample of all news and current affairs programs broadcast in Australia. Our preliminary results concur with the general view that our screens are dominated by people from Anglo-Celtic and European backgrounds, the exception being SBS," Dr Rodrigues said.
It was a point accentuated by Waleed Aly when he was awarded the Gold Logie in 2016, when he in his acceptance speech.
“Australians from multicultural backgrounds are gradually shifting away from the mainstream media”
Some of the criticism levelled at the lack of diversity in protest coverage has been based on the lack of diversity at the Canberra press gallery.
“Insiders and the press gallery are a reflection of decades of mainstreaming of Australian media, where proprietors and editors believed that as long as they represented the views of the dominant group and they would be fine with their ratings and profits,” Dr Rodrigues said.
But with the shift in Australian demographics, Dr Rodrigues says the press gallery can’t justify the strategy any longer, because Australia is a multicultural country.
And into the news habits of multicultural communities show a concerning trend for media companies in Australia.
"In fact, our pioneering audience research showed that Australians from multicultural backgrounds are gradually shifting away from the mainstream media," she said.
"What they see on their television screens...in the public affairs shows...does not match their everyday living experience."
She says the lack of representation of various cultures and people, who have access to media from across the world, is pushing them "away from the monolithic Australian media."
Dr Rodrigues isn't alone in commentating on the lack of diversity at the press gallery.
"Yes it is a microcosm of the press gallery more broadly that is overwhelmingly middle-aged and white. While there are now more women in the mix, which is great - we think cultural diversity is just as important as gender parity," a Media Diversity Australia spokesperson said in a statement.
