Bennie... I also write on a wide variety of issues...

continued....http://wanews.org/news/sbs.htm

Macdonald refused to be drawn on whether SBS was just duplicating a role the ABC is already performing. It's a pity – we all know that SBS will soon broadcast the Ashes Test cricket from England, normally the preserve of the Nine Network, a large commercial entity. SBS prides itself on being the voice and face of multicultural Australia. But do we really need it? Another question is have Australia's ethnic communities already moved into the mainstream of Australian society? Just look at the non-Anglo-Celtic surnames in our parliaments, favourite sporting teams or on mainstream television!

What is ironic about SBS is that it claims to serve multiculturalism. But that has to be questioned. Since its inception in 1980, SBS TV, then known as Channel 0-28, has had reporters and presenters from a wide variety of backgrounds, such as Greek, Italian, Croat, Serb, South American, Asian and so on.

In 25 years there has not been one reporter or presenter from Australia's sizeable Turkish and Macedonian communities. This is a remarkable statistic. Members of the Turkish and Macedonian communities claim that SBS TV marginalises them because the broadcaster fears the influence of the politically savvy Greek lobby. All of these ethnic groups do not get along because of historic tensions that have no place in peaceful Australia. SBS by playing favourites rather than showing toughness is in fact keeping these tensions alive.

Mark Boyd, SBS TV's News and Current Affairs Chief, says SBS doesn't discriminate nor does it have a quota system. But surely in 25 years, one Turk or a Macedonian would have broken through SBS's glass ceiling?

In its coverage of the Iraq War, SBS's Dateline program, the current affairs flagship of the network, has never given much coverage to the Assyrians, who are Iraq's indigenous people and also happen to be Christian. We hear daily about the plight of the Sunni and Shiite Muslim Arabs and the non-Arab Kurds in the north. But the Assyrians remain a forgotten people in their own land.

Mr Uzunov..... I know the game you are playing.

You are a Slav-Macedonian who has a grudge against Greeks.

How convenient that the 2 ethnic groups you have chosen are Greece's current 'enemies'.

Both your country of origin, FYROM, and Turkey have irredentist ideals against Greece.

But I note you do not reveal these facts.

Young Savvas,

You should never assume anything.... You say Im "Slav-Macedonian".

For the record, my parents are Macedonian migrants to Australia, not "Slav-Macedonian."

Im born and bred in Melbourne and proudly served in the Australian Army. I also have some Sephardic Jewish ancestry in my family tree, though raised nominally as an Orthodox Christian.

Secondly, I dont have anything against other ethnic groups.

Thirdly, as a journalist I never allow bias to interfere in my news reporting.

Let me give you an example. In early 2003 I was working as a freelance journalist in the Republic of Macedonia when I was removed at gunpoint from a bus on the Serbian-Macedonian border by Macedonian border police and thrown out of the country for writing a critical article.

It was published in The Sunday Times (UK) in June 2002 and you can view it on my website if you like.... www.sashauzunov.freeservers.com

If we were to use your logic, then I should have been embraced by my parents "original homeland" not kicked out. I dont recall any Australian journalist of Greek background ever criticising Greece or for that matter deported from that country.

You and I as Australians of non-english speaking background need to lead by example by not being cheerleaders for our ethnic origins.

cheers
Sasha Uzunov

Sasha

Thinking there might be a good argument for having the ABC and SBS rolled into one solid national broadcaster, I followed the link you provided to your article on Crikey.

The points you raise appear to be quite minor and very specific to your own ethnic background. To me, your article appears to be much more influenced by an ongoing sense of grievance - relating to your homeland politics, and a subsequent determination to see the demise of SBS, than it is by any genuine desire to present a compelling case - as to why Australia might benefit through a merger of the two broadcasters.

Sasha you’re speaking out of class. Viewers don’t care whether the presenter is Macedonian, Turk or Calathumpian. Furthermore there are scores of conflicts around the world that get no coverage at all, favourable or otherwise.

It seems to me you’re unhappy SBS isn’t taking the ‘right’ side, though if as you say ethnic origins aren’t relevant then what’s so 'thorny' about SBS? There are no Kiwi presenters either and they’re a dime a dozen.

The overwhelming response to this article is clear. SBS fills a niche and does it well. I sincerely hope your bark is worse than your bite.

Thank you Bennie and Bronwyn,

At least your criticisms avoid the typical right wing nationalistic Balkan response that this issue generates from certain quarters.

My point is precisely that it should not matter what your "ethnic" background is. Im not of Turkish or Assyrian background but I believe the criticism of SBS for playing ethnic favourites is justified. It is simply a cynical political exercise in number crunching... appeasing a larger and louder group at the expense of others.

If you read more of my article you would have come across the unfair treatment of SBS TV reporter Vladimir Lusic, a Croat, at the hands of SBS TV management.

As I stand by the veracity of my original story I have called for either a Royal Commission of Inquiry or a thorough Senate inquiry into SBS TV's conduct. If SBS has nothing to fear it will be given a clean bill of health and will, once and for all, silence the critics.

But SBS TV fears a thorough investigation will uncover many skeletons.

regards
Sasha Uzunov

PS. Young Bennie, I don't bite and I don't bark.