“Poison In The Bloodstream”: Is The ABC Failing Indigenous Journalists?

Last week, Q+A presenter Stan Grant resigned from ABC after receiving “grotesque racist abuse” and a lack of institutional support.

The racism attack escalated after Mr Grant spoke on ABC about the impact of colonialism ahead of the King’s coronation. 

Click the link below and listen the full episode:

I’m not walking away for a while because of racism; we get that far too often. I’m not walking away because of social media hatred,”

the Wiradjuri journalist said.

I need a break from the media. I feel like I’m part of the problem. And I need to ask myself how, or if, we can do it better.” 

On today’s episode, Torres Strait Islander Rhianna Patrick, a Briefing host and former ABC journalist, speaks to The Briefing about her time and experience at the ABC and discovering what she calls “workplace trauma”.

Patrick worked at ABC for almost two decades, contributing to the national radio program and presenting the National Indigenous program. 

Patrick’s childhood dream was to work as a journalist at the ABC. She started her journey as a news and current affairs cadet.  

Contributing to various national radio programs and presenting the national indigenous program, she resigned from ABC in 2020 during the peak of the Black Lives Matter movement.

There was something in that that triggered something inside of me that I had never experienced,”

Patrick said.

I was really starting to struggle with the amount of coverage of Black Lives Matter, understanding how important it was to speak out about black deaths, particularly in custody, but also how that related to us here in Australia.”

Patrick said Mr Grant’s resignation “immediately” stood out for her because she understood what that meant, resonating with the reason she walked away from ABC in the first place. 

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