An ABC reporter has spoken out against being repeatedly labelled as a ‘box ticker’ since he started working for the national broadcaster.
Isaac Nowroozi, who has a Middle Eastern background, has been with the ABC since January, 2018.
The Kennedy Award nominee did a cadetship for a year before being offered a full-time role and now covers the news in Canberra.
Isaac Nowroozi, who has a Middle Eastern background, has been with the ABC since January, 2018
‘I have repeatedly been labelled a ‘box ticker’ since joining the ABC,’ he tweeted on Sunday.
‘It has undermined the pride I can take in my achievements.
‘The ABC’s diversity drive is often performative. We talk about holding a mirror up to society but need to hold one up to ourselves.’
Nowroozil graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in journalism at the University of Canberra and went on to work as a reporter at Sky News before joining the ABC.
His comments come after another ABC star, Dan Bourchier, said he had experienced racial abuse and that he had also been called a ‘box ticker’.
Bourchier is of Aboriginal heritage and grew up in Tennant Creek, a rural town in the Northern Territory.
He is the ABC’s referendum correspondent and appeared on ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday where he spoke about Q+A host Stan Grant stepping down.
Bourchier said Grant’s speaking out had reminded him of things he himself has had to deal with in his own career.
‘The abuse, the death threats, the constant belittling and degrading of what your perspective is, that happens from some in the community,’ he said.
‘It’s also raised a lot of issues about what happens within the ABC, and there’s been a lot of reporting about that.
‘I have to say, that not much of that has surprised me, because it’s what I hear and some of it (racism) is what I’ve experienced myself.’
The Kennedy Award nominee did a cadetship for a year before being offered a full-time role with the ABC and now covers the news in Canberra
He spoke out against those who refer to him as a ‘box ticker’
He said he was also hesitant to appear on the program because he felt the invitations were tokenistic.
‘I’m dismissed as your diversity pick or a box ticker, that comes from within our organisation and that sends a message that that type of language is normal. It’s not and it’s unacceptable,’ Bourchier said.
Grant, a Wiradjuri man, last week described copping relentless racial abuse after joining a panel discussion ahead of King Charles III’s Coronation, and blasted bosses at the ABC for showing him ‘no’ support.
Grant said during the segment that the crown represents the invasion and theft of Aboriginal land and was hit with a wave of racist abuse in the days following.
He later stepped down from Q+A indefinitely.
During his final evening on Q+A, Grant apologised to his haters listening on from home.
‘To those who have abused me and my family, I would just say – if your aim was to hurt me, well, you’ve succeeded,’ he said.
‘And I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I must have given you so much cause to hate me so much, to target me and my family, to make threats against me.’
The ABC has launched an internal review into the broadcaster’s system of dealing with racism.
Bourchier said that was something he himself had called for, and said it needed to be ‘independent, transparent, and to look at understanding what is happening and why’.
He said the problem extended beyond the ABC, but was something for contemporary media in Australia more widely to reflect ‘very deeply on’.
Stan Grant, a Wiradjuri man, last week described copping relentless racial abuse after joining a panel discussion ahead of King Charles III’s Coronation, and blasted bosses at the ABC for showing him ‘no’ support
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