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How a radical three-month experiment has changed the TV landscape of Australia forever
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How a radical three-month experiment has changed the TV landscape of Australia forever

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In honor of 50 years in the air, SBS broadcasts a powerful documentary that tells the story of how a daring experiment in ethnic broadcasts became a platform for some of the most important voices in modern Australian history.
This special episode of Living Black Traces from the broadcaster of the broadcaster of his early days as a young multicultural radio service as his current status as a national leader in indigenous stories.
Told through the eyes of prominent broadcasters, groundbreaking journalists and community leaders, including Ray Martin, Rhoda Roberts, Frances Rings and Catherine Liddle, the documentary not only investigates a media history, but a story of cultural transformation.

Among them is the life of black presenter Karla Grant, who has been with the broadcaster for 30 years this year. She takes viewers on an emotional journey through decades of groundbreaking reporting, from coverage of the historic Sydney Harbor Bridge Walk for reconciliation in 2000 until the apology of 2008 to the stolen generations and the voice from 2023 to the parliament referendum.

“In essence, it is my job to document the many challenges with which First Nations people are confronted and to give them a voice,” said Grant.

“And I can’t help it, but I wonder how reduced that voice would be if NITV and SBS would not exist.”

A radical idea

Born out of a need to communicate changes to the Australian population about a new reform of health care, Medicare, the Minister of Immigration, already suggested Grassby, the establishment of a radio manufacturer that was mainly designed to speak with multicultural Australia.
“It was the simple problem of communication. So the idea was to have an experiment in communication,” he said at the time.

What followed was the creation of two experimental radio stations, 2EA in Sydney and 3EA in Melbourne. The letters EA stood for “Ethnic Australia”. The experiment was originally intended to take only 3 months, but it was expanded and continued to evolve.

Give a voice to stories from First Nations

At the time, one of the most urgent gaps in the Australian media was the absence of voices of First Nations. It was a void that SBS would gradually work.

In 1989, First in Line became the very first Aboriginal current affairs show in the country. Presented by Rhoda Roberts and Michael Johnson and supported by a team of journalists and producers of First Nations, their stories were finally told nationally in Prime Time.

Veteran journalist Ray Martin remembered the impact of the program.
“I think it was really important that SBS looked at First Nations stories for the first time. We knew more about Greeks and Italians in this multicultural network than we knew about Aboriginal peoples,” he said.
Over the years, SBS continued to take the lead with its indigenous news content. It was broadcast the indigenous magazine program in Indigenous Affairs and Living Black, together with a strip of important documentaries, including first contact and the Australian wars. NITV, Founded in 2007became part of the broadcaster in 2012.

From crisis to innovation

SBS has also confronted a considerable part of the challenges. In 2014, the Abbott government announced a cut of $ 54 million in five years after the budget of SBS, forcing a reconsideration of activities. But adversity led to innovation.
Tanya Orman, who at the time was a channel manager at NITV, remembers how the broadcaster was running.
“We have put as much money into content as possible. Technology changed, so we experimented by broadcasting live from the GARMA festival and making new models for external production,” Orman said.

“We have brought our way through.”

Part of the problem solving came in the training for the next generation of reporters.
Years earlier, Grant had helped to argue for a native Cadetship program in the broadcaster. Nowadays that program has produced some of the best journalists in the country, including Nakari Thorpe, now with ABC News.
“I applied because I never saw my community in the news,” said Thorpe.
“The Cadetship has changed my life. You not only learn journalism, you learn how to tell our stories, with truth and respect.”
“I think people would be surprised how many journalists from First Nations started at NITV,” said SBS director James Taylor.
“We are a platform for excellence in native stories and that must grow.”
While Australia continues to struggle with questions about identity, inclusion and reconciliation, this program serves as a timely memory of the power of public broadcasts to not only display a nation, but to help shape it.
‘Australia again define: 50 years SBS’ will be broadcast tonight at 8:30 pm on SBS and SBS on request.

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