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The National Indigenous Times first hit the streets on
February 27, 2002. It was borne of a dream by Owen Carriage, the original
founder of the Koori Mail, and a group of other Indigenous and non-Indigenous
Australians.
The paper is staffed and owned by black and white Australians.
It does not, and has never, received Government grants or funding to survive.
When we first launched the paper, we made two promises to
our readers:
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That we would do our best to help build a bridge between
black and white Australia
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That we wouldn’t shie away from reporting the tough
issues
The first promise, surprisingly, has been the easiest part. In
Australia, there exists a genuine belief among most that the ongoing prosperity
of this nation lies in our ability to face up to our past. So ‘helping to build
a bridge’ between both parties hasn’t been all that tough. In fact it’s been
very rewarding, although we acknowledge it’s an ongoing project that will
undoubtedly outlive all of the staff and owners of NIT.
Now to the tough part.
Holding up a mirror to Indigenous and non-Indigenous
Australia has its challenges.
Very few enjoy a debate when it turns out they’re on the
receiving end of criticism, regardless of whether or not they’re given their
fair share of space in that debate.
Too often, Indigenous media tends to go soft on Indigenous
people or organisations. The reasons are understandable - two centuries of
abuse and discrimination tends to build a protective wall around any culture or
community.
But the price, unfortunately, is a lack of accountability.
On the flipside, the mainstream media - overwhelmingly and on a
daily basis - tends to misreport Indigenous Affairs. It also regularly
sensationalises Indigenous issues and often completely misses the mark in its
reporting.
Just as Indigenous Australians have a lot to learn about how
the media works, the media has a lot to learn about how Indigenous Australia
works.
NIT’s goal is to come as close to the perfect balance as we
can.
In our first two years, the vast majority of our stories have
reflected positively on Indigenous people and organisations. But we’ve also
broken major news stories on the corruption, bullying and fraud within
Aboriginal organisations.
Conversely, we’ve also broken major news stories that don’t
reflect so well on non-Indigenous organisations, particularly Government. Our
coverage of the stolen wages and savings issue has been reported around the
world and our stories have prompted a number of Government investigations into
its own operations.
Thus far we’ve fulfilled our promise to provide Indigenous and
non-Indigenous Australians with a warts and all look at Indigenous Affairs and
mainstream Australia.
We intend to maintain that standard.
The other strong focus of NIT is education - we believe that
its vital Indigenous Australians gain better access to education. But we also
believe it’s important for non-Indigenous Australians to have access to
education on Indigenous issues.
It’s only through education that we believe Australia will
break the cycle of discrimination and poverty that plagues Indigenous
Australia.
We hope you enjoy this new, revamped NIT website. It’s been a
major undertaking for a ‘small’ newspaper, but we hope you find it
entertaining, informative and user-friendly.
And ultimately, when you log off, we hope you leave our site
with a slightly better understanding of the complex issues surrounding
Indigenous Affairs not to mention a stronger drive to help in the building
process of this nation.
From the team at NIT
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