Rising university fees for humanities courses have sparked growing calls to address the widening gap in socio-economic representation in the Australian media industry.
Australians are increasingly turning away from traditional news sources, according to data released by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) which suggests an "out of touch" media industry is partially to blame.
Walkley award-winning journalist Dr Helen Vatsikopoulos, who is an industry fellow with the University of Technology Sydney, has worked in media for more than 30 years.
Vatsikopoulos says she has noticed a "stark shift" in the demographic of those studying journalism in recent years and is advocating for more socio-economic diversity in Australian newsrooms.
Dr Helen Vatsikopoulos has spent the past 10 years working as a journalism academic at the University of Technology Sydney. Source: Supplied
"We need more people from culturally diverse backgrounds in the media, but we absolutely need to start factoring in social class backgrounds."
Working as a journalism lecturer at the University of Technology in Sydney, she recalls an "alarming moment" during the 2019 federal election, which was "a bit of a wake-up call" for her.
"I remember getting all of my journalism students to concentrate on their electorates and find out what issues are happening there. And it turned out, around 80 per cent of the students in that class were living in Warringah (an electorate in Sydney's Northern Beaches), the second wealthiest electorate in the country," she says.
"The whole industry has become much more concentrated with middle and upper-class journalists."
Vatsikopoulos worked at both the ABC and the SBS in her time as a journalist. Source: Supplied
No major media organisations in Australia have any known established targets for socio-economic diversity, like those set by the BBC.
In an attempt to address Australia's skill shortages, in 2021 the Morrison government introduced reforms aimed at discouraging university students from studying in fields considered to be part of "low demand" industries — such as journalism — and into "high demand" fields such as the sciences, nursing and teaching.
As a result, humanities course fees increased as much as 117 per cent.
For a three-year journalism degree, fees, which are usually paid through a HECS, doubled from around $20,000 to $43,500.
The 2021 university reforms led to big increases in the fees for humanities degrees. Source: SBS News
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics' 2021 census showed 52.4 per cent of journalists have a bachelor's degree, compared to the national average of 21.8 per cent in all other jobs.
Australians from low socio-economic status backgrounds make up 25 per cent of the population but just 17 per cent of enrolments in higher education courses.
According to the ABS, 52.4 per cent of journalists have a bachelor's degree. Credit: ABS
Shine also says action needs to be taken to tackle the lack of socio-economic diversity coming through the system and believes varied fees could be part of the solution.
"At Curtin, we've seen a decline in student enrolments into journalism since fees have increased, and although most students get a [HECS-HELP] loan, this would've impacted people from low socio-economic backgrounds first," she says.
"The government and universities should look at changing how much is charged for a degree depending on a person's socio-economic background; offering more support would make the system fairer and more equitable."
Professor Kathryn Shine says she has seen journalism fees dramatically increase in her 19 years at Curtin University. Source: Supplied
"If people don't see themselves or their experiences being reflected in the news, they start to distrust and feel it's not about or for them," she says.
"It means people are generally more disengaged from the news, which is supposed to provide them with a voice and the information they need."
Media Diversity Australia CEO Mariam Veiszadeh says the news industry is a "loudspeaker for the issues of the public," and also believes there are significant repercussions if there's a lack of diversity within it.
"Australia is a diverse country, culturally and socially, so we need to ensure media organisations aren’t missing any perspectives in their news coverage and bridge that gap with the public," Veiszadeh says.
"If the public doesn't feel accurately represented in the media and start to engage with alternative sources, misinformation is left to flourish, and that can have broader implications on society."
Mariam Veiszadeh believes there's still a lot of work to do to address representation inadequacies in the media. Source: Supplied
Veiszadeh believes there's still much more research to be done to address and highlight inequalities in the media.
"Our reports show that diversity at entry level in the media tends to drop off as they (people from diverse backgrounds) face systemic barriers," she says.
"There needs to be cultural safety scaffolding so that all journalists from diverse backgrounds can reach their full potential.
"Social class diversity is an important factor that needs further research, especially regarding how people move into and up the industry ladder."
Professor Sora Park from the News and Media Research Centre at Canberra University has investigated how Australians are engaging with news online.
Professor Sora Park says we need to be aware of worrying trends in news consumption. Source: Supplied
In February, data released by the ACMA found Australians continue to prefer social media as their primary source of news content.
It revealed that 20 per cent of consumers nominated social media as their primary source of news in 2023, up from 17 per cent in 2022.
The data also found that 46 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds nominated social media as their main news source, up from 28 per cent in 2022. Thirty-one per cent of this cohort cited online influencers and celebrities as their primary preference for news.
Park believes this is the result of an industry failing to report on the issues of the general public accurately.
"If you don't trust or relate to traditional news and journalists, then you go to all these different sources, which I think is quite risky for society because people are getting information that's not verified," she says.
"I don't think the media industry fully represents or reflects the diverse Australian population in terms of socio-economic status, low income, regional and working-class people."
Clare says he wants all Australians to have equal access to higher education.
"At the moment, almost one in two Australians in their late 20s have a university degree. But not everywhere. Not in the regions. Not in poor families. This is what we have to change. That's what the Universities Accord is all about," he says.
"The Accord has made recommendations around how we can help students address the challenges of access and affordability."
At the same time, the consultation period for a new $10.5 million federal government initiative titled the News Media Assistance Program (News MAP), aimed at creating a new framework for measuring media diversity in Australia, particularly regarding the impact of digital news, closed.
Australians are continuing to access alternative forms of media online for their news. Source: SBS News
"If the media is elitist and constantly writing about parking problems for private schools, negative gearing, franking credits and ignores the plight of working-class people, I think people will continue to go off to those echo chambers that are not traditional and trusted media, and that is really dangerous," Vatsikopoulos says.
Australia's most prominent journalism union, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), also believes diversity concerns in news outlets need to be addressed.
"It is disappointing that most Australian media organisations have been resistant to making genuine changes to increase diversity in their newsrooms and management structures," a spokesperson said.
"Diversity brings new and alternative perspectives to reporting, and audiences will respond positively when they see themselves represented and their stories told accurately on television and radio and in print. Clearly, this extends to socio-economic diversity."
Federal Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland hopes the implementation of the ACMA's new Media Diversity Measurement Framework will help start to address some of the inadequacies in the industry.
"Measuring media diversity and building an evidence base is critical to understanding and responding to the challenges faced by the news media sector," she says.
"The government's News MAP will help guide more holistic decision making, moving away from piecemeal and ad-hoc approaches of the past to better support diverse, public interest journalism in Australia."
Liam Murphy is one of the inaugural winners of the Walkley Opportunity Scholarship supported by a partnership between the Walkley Foundation, SBS and AAP
