National Indigenous Times

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The National Indigenous Times (NIT) is an indigenous Australian affairs newspaper first published on 27 February 2002. It was set up by Owen Carriage, the founder of the Koori Mail, and a group of other Australians, both indigenous and non-indigenous. The paper seeks to:

  • build a bridge between black and white Australia
  • reporting the tough issues giving a "warts-and-all" look at indigenous affairs and mainstream Australia
  • work towards indigenous Australians' better access to education and access by non-indigenous Australians information on indigenous issues

There is a belief that indigenous media tends to "go soft" on indigenous people or organisations in response to the history of discrimination as a protective response[citation needed]. There is also the perception that the mainstream Australian media tends to misreport indigenous affairs, whether through intent or ignorance, and regularly sensationalises indigenous issues[citation needed].

In NIT's first two years, the vast majority of stories have reflected positively on indigenous people and organisations. But NIT has also broken major news stories on the corruption, bullying and fraud within Aboriginal organisations.

Major news stories broken by the NIT include:

  • stolen wages (won a Walkley Award)[1]
  • government staff anonymously representing themselves as independent witnesses[2] in the Lateline report on child abuse in remote communities, with particular reference to Mutitjulu, Northern Territory.
  • At the first Multicultural Media Awards September 2012, Gerry Georgatos, an investigative reporter with the National Indigenous Times received two awards; Coverage of Indigenous Affairs and Investigative Reporting and Feature Writing. In two years with the National Indigenous Times Gerry Georgatos has delivered breakthrough stories on Native Title, corrupt practices and Government neglect of poverty-stricken communities. [3]
  • At the 2013 Multicultural and Indigenous Media Awards at NSW Parliament, investigative reporter Gerry Georgatos won three awards including Journalist of the Year for his coverage on the extent of suicide among Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders. Georgatos is also a university researcher and with expertise in Indigenous issues and in racism. His coverage on the suicides led Warren Mundine chair of the Indigenous Advisory Council to the Prime Minister to include the suicide crisis in the Council's mandate. [4] and [5]

Controversies

On 27 February 2012, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's program Media Watch aired a segment that detailed how the newspaper had been taking repeatedly a substantial amount of material from other media sources without giving any citations.[6] This was addressed by editor Stephen Hagan who promised to deliver more original material and use citations when using external references.

References

  1. ↑ Finalists and Judges 2004 Walkley Awards for "Stolen Wages Payback Shame"
  2. ↑ "OIPC's 'Baby-faced Assassin': Senior public servant adopts bogus identity; backs minister's claims", NIT Issue 109, 13 July 2006 Accessed 22 October 2006
  3. ↑ "MMC Awards sponsored by NSW Government"
  4. ↑ "996 lost to suicide"
  5. ↑ "Suicide crisis"
  6. ↑ ABC's Media Watch transcript

External links

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