Well said. As a poly-ethnic society, at least in the cities where 90% of the population lives, we should see more diversity in the casting of mainstream Australian television programs.

Now, I'm pretty sure that this article will be attacked by the usual hideous coterie of mono-culturalists. But funnily enough, even from its very inception Anglo-Saxon culture has been multicultural - being a union of Frisians, Angles and Saxons. There's no reason why we can't continue to integrate and evolve. If we're doing it in real life why can't we do this in the mainstream media?

Yes I agree with David on all counts. The ABC has had a handful of multicultural presenters but predominantly SBS (as would be expected) is the only channel to offer a multi-cultural face.

(I would not include the 'blackface' comedy stint as an example of one such time coloured skin is presented in the media. Parodies like this are just that - it was a parody of The Jackson Five. Liken it to big blonde hair wigs and big white teeth for the Bee Gees or similar.)

Governments can do little because the media is privately owned for the most part, but it does not appear to be doing much to encourage a more multicultural presence.

However, I think as time marches on, this situation will inevitably improve. We have already seen some change in the more lifestyle oriented/cooking shows which I am sure will flow onto serious news media into the future.

That is why it is positive step to bring these issues into the open for public discussion and air them from time to time to assist this 'flow' along its way.

Okay, I'll be the evil monoculturist as one poster puts it. I am that guy down the back of the room that points to inconvenient facts. The problem with the reasoning in the article is that the programs which show more "visibly different" people come from societies where there are many more visibly different people. In America blacks make up a much larger proportion of the population than most of the ethnic minorities here put together. Race relations is a whole different ballgame over there. As for most Australians being from a non-anglo background, how can the writer reliably tell the differnce between a second generation Italian or Greek (the big ethnic categories)and Anglo? The only ones you can reliably tell apart are Asians and Indians (the only ethnic categories that really account for much and even Indians aren't all that significant - yet).
The writer also has the fantasy, common to academics, that the media is some sort of social weapon to be wielded for the good of all. It isn't. It has to pay attention to what the readers want, and even then it is steadily losing readers because, among other reasons, there are so many more things people can do with their lesiure time. The people who produce Home and Away go to a lot of trouble to understand their audience, and do not put Asian and Indian faces in because ther is no demand for them. If there was, then they would put them in.

Yesterday morning on the ABC show Insiders, three cab drivers were interviewed in a Melbourne pub (after their shift, I hope)on their opinions about population growth in Australia. They were all "white" like me (actually, more of a pinky-beige, maybe I should go for the matching Dulux paint chip and offer a more precise name). One seemed to me to speak with a non-Melbournian "accent".

I wondered at the time whether these three gentlemen were proportionately representative of the multicultural spectrum of our Australian taxi industry owners and employees.

At least one of the taxi drivers on Insiders bothered to wonder how the Indigenous population of this country might feel about increased migration.

Curmudgeon hits the nail on the head. The old law of supply and demand applies. Media is about SELLING - news, entertainment, advertising etc and no business will deliberately alienate its core clientele. Various sections of the media have tried going against the flow and have quickly reverted to retain their market. This is essentially an area of evolution not revolution.

Also 'multiculturalism' is about the right of people who have chosen to come to this country and been accepted as permanent residents, to practice those aspects of their Homeland culture which are both LEGAL and CULTURALLY ACCEPTABLE in Australia.

Those of us who are Australians by birth, especially by several generations (from migratory forebears who faced the same barriers of language/race/religion/culture as latter-day new-comers, but in far harsher and less tolerant environments) realise that we enjoy one of the most prosperous, free and egalitarian societies in the world. Do we want to keep it that way? Hell YES! How do we do so? By making sure that our foreign born brethren understand they must embrace Australian Law and Australian values and be part of wider Society as well as their Old Country values.

One way of 'introducing' different cultural outlooks is through humour - something the vast majority of Aussies understand and enjoy. However I suspect the PC Do-gooders consider shows like 'The Kumars at No 42' racist caricatures? Ditto characters like 'King Billy Cokebottle' who delivers jokes from a fake aboriginal persona - ATSIC want to ban him but all the cuzzins I know think he's hilarious. Put him on TV and you would be overwhelmed by complaints from the sensitive PC (white) brigade. Race speaks for itself when the difference is obvious but when we perceive individuals as people with similar wants, needs, emotions, ambitions who show a respect and love for this Country then the barriers are dissolved.