In a momentous celebration of advocacy and leadership, Mariam Veiszadeh, a trailblazing human rights champion and CEO of Media Diversity Australia, was awarded the prestigious Asian-Australian Leadership Award at the Melbourne Arts Centre gala dinner on Wednesday.
Veiszadeh, originally from Afghanistan, has been recognised for her unwavering commitment to instigating systemic change within the media landscape to combat racism.
Reflecting on the honor, she shared her sentiments with BACKCOVERNEWS.COM, stating, “Starting as the inaugural CEO of Media Diversity Australia was a great honor and also a significant challenge in trying to continue the important work of holding up a mirror to the Australian media industry, while at the same time supporting them and helping them along the journey to ensure a more representative media landscape.”
Now in its fifth year, the Asian-Australian Leadership Awards, an initiative of Asialink at the University of Melbourne and Johnson Partners, identifies and applauds the country’s most influential young Asian-Australians.
Asialink CEO Martine Letts said one in five people in Australia have an Asian cultural heritage, yet only 3% of senior management positions are held by Asian-Australians.
“It’s not only in the boardroom where this bias exists, it extends across all industries,” Letts said.
“The awards shine a light on the incredible leadership talent and potential of Asian-Australians – but there is still a long way to go.”
While Veiszadeh expressed her pride in the achievements of Media Diversity Australia, she acknowledged the bittersweet nature of winning the award amid the distressing Israel-Hamas conflict.
“I’m really proud of the work that we’ve done, and there’s so much more to continue to do. In fact, right now, we’re actually supporting a lot of journalists of colour who are struggling significantly reporting on what is happening in Israel and Gaza,” she said.
The conflict has hit close to home for Veiszadeh, revealing a personal connection: “I realized a couple of days ago that I’m directly impacted by this because my husband’s cousin has family killed in Gaza, and others are unaccounted for… it is extended family, these are people I’ve not met and I don’t know, but it just goes to show that there’s six degrees of separation. So many people in the community know someone who has been killed or are unaccounted for, so this hits close to home and speaks to a lot of those issues that we’ve been trying to advocate for.”
In a disconcerting parallel development, a journalist from a major Australian newsroom revealed to BACKCOVERNEWS.COM that they have faced editorial censorship when reporting on Israel and Palestine. Allegedly coerced into adhering to a “Pro-Israel” agenda, the journalist detailed concerns about compromising journalistic ethics and standards. This incident underscores growing worries about editorial interference and the potential erosion of journalistic integrity, as some editors seek to control the narrative disseminated to the public.
