Terry Flew, Harvey May and Christina Spurgeon, QUT

flew@.qut.edu.au, c.spurgeon@qut.edu.au, h.may@qut.edu.au

The degree of cultural diversity on Australian television, and its relationship to Australia’s development as a multicultural society, has been an object of concern among actors, the production industry, academics and policy-makers for some time. The Office of Multicultural Affairs found in 1989 that Australian commercial television had failed to adequately reflect and respond to the culturally diverse nature of contemporary Australian society, and this perceived monoculturalism in Australian television was observed in studies undertaken by the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, the Communications Law Centre, the Office of

Multicultural Affairs, and the Australian Broadcasting Authority, as well as by Jakubowicz et. al., in their 1994 book, Racism, Ethnicity and the Media (Allen & Unwin, 1994). Since the mid-1990s, however, there been little research undertaken in order to determine whether policy activism around this issue has made a difference in terms of a greater presence of actors of culturally diverse backgrounds in Australian television programs.

This paper will report upon the findings of a survey of casting in Australian commercial television drama undertaken by the authors, in collaboration with the MEAA, in 1999. It will also focus upon three questions arising from undertaking such a study. The first concerns methodological issues arising from undertaking such empirical, survey-based work as a basis for analysing the notion of cultural diversity in the media. Second, it will consider the political implications of finding improvements in this area, and how these relate to debates about race and ethnicity, multiculturalism and Australian cultural identity. Third, it will assess the issues arising from these findings, in terms of possible policy developments, and further implications arising from globalisation and the development of new media.

This paper will report upon the findings of a survey of casting in Australian commercial television drama undertaken by the authors, in collaboration with the MEAA, in 1999. It will also focus upon three questions arising from undertaking such a study. The first concerns methodological issues arising from undertaking such empirical, survey-based work as a basis for analysing the notion of cultural diversity in the media. Second, it will consider the political implications of finding improvements in this area, and how these relate to debates about race and ethnicity, multiculturalism and Australian cultural identity. Third, it will assess the issues arising from these findings, in terms of possible policy developments, and further implications arising from globalisation and the development of new media.