Stan Grant (journalist)

Stan Grant (born 30 September 1963) is a television news and political journalist, television presenter, author of several best-selling non-fiction books and filmmaker. A Wiradjuri man, as of 2020 he is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Indigenous and international affairs analyst, occasional presenter on ABC TV and Al Jazeera, and Professor of Global Affairs at Griffith University in Queensland.

Stan Grant
Grant and wife Tracey Holmes, in 2008
Born (1963-09-30) 30 September 1963
Griffith, New South Wales, Australia
EducationAustralian National University
OccupationNews anchor
Years active1986−present
Notable credit(s)
Real Life host
(1994)
CNN anchor (2000–2007, 2009-2013)
Reporting Live (2013-16)
Matter of Fact (2018)
Spouse(s)Karla Grant (?-2000)
Tracey Holmes (2000-present)
Children1 (f); 2 (m) with Karla Grant;
1 (m) with Holmes[1]
Parent(s)Stan Grant, Snr.
Elizabeth Cameron

Early years

Grant was born on 30 September 1963 in Griffith, New South Wales,[2] the son of Stan Grant Sr, an elder of the Wiradjuri people.[3] The Wiradjuri are an Aboriginal Australian people from the south-west inland region of New South Wales. The Wiradjuri also have roots in inner Victoria, which is where he spent much of his childhood.[3]

Grant graduated from the Australian National University.[3]

Career

Journalism

Grant has more than 30 years of experience working in broadcast radio and television news and current affairs. He spent several years as a news presenter on the Australian Macquarie Radio Network, Seven, SBS, along with a long-term stint at CNN International as a Senior International Correspondent in Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong and Beijing, before starting with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

1990s – 2012

In 1994, as host of the Seven Network current affairs programme Real Life he won the Logie Award for Most Popular Current Affairs Programme.[4]

In 2007 he took on the role of co-presenter of the one-hour 6.30 pm SBS World News Australia bulletin, and also presented ABC Local Radio's Indigenous programme Speaking Out. In December 2007, Grant resigned from SBS World News Australia and was replaced by Anton Enus.

In 2009 Grant was appointed UAE correspondent for CNN. Based in CNN's new Abu Dhabi news-gathering and production centre, Grant covered stories from both the UAE and the surrounding region[5] and hosted the programme Prism.

2012: NITV and pay TV

Grant returned to Australia in 2012 to help launch SBS' new National Indigenous Television (NITV) channel,[6] and in 2013 hosted a nightly late night news programme NewsNight for Sky News Australia, which aired weeknights at 11pm.[7] From 2014 he started hosting Sky News Australia's Reporting Live with Stan Grant at 6pm, a nightly news programme reporting on the serious news stories of the day, and in April of that year he hosted Crimes that Shook Australia, a six-part television drama series broadcast on Foxtel.[8]

2015: Viral speech

In 2015 Grant took part in a public debate at the IQ2 stage of The Ethics Centre,[9] with immigration lawyer Pallavi Sinha, Herald Sun columnist Rita Panahi and actor Jack Thompson to argue for or against the topic “Racism is destroying the Australian dream”. He told of the impact of colonisation on Indigenous Australians, past and present. He argued that "the Australian Dream" was based upon racism, mentioning his ancestors and others who were forced into institutions and unpaid work.[10] The video and transcript of his address is available on The Ethics Centre's website and YouTube. The debate itself was a finalist in the United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Awards for "its role in stimulating public awareness and understanding".[11]

Media commentator and author Mike Carlton described Grant's speech as Australia's “Martin Luther King moment”. The video of his address, posted on Facebook, went viral, and his name trended on Twitter the next day.[10]

2017–present

In 2017, Grant joined the ABC as editor of Indigenous Affairs and fill-in host of nightly current affairs programme 7.30. Grant also hosted The Link, which aired on Friday nights.

In 2018 Grant started hosting a flagship national night current affairs programme, Matter of Fact,[12] on the ABC News TV Channel and ABC News Radio. He was also appointed chief Asia correspondent for the ABC News Network.[13] The program was cancelled after 10 months, ending on 29 November 2018, after which time he took up the new role of Indigenous and International Affairs Analyst with the ABC,[14] and became Professor of Global Affairs at Griffith University.[15]

In 2019 Grant moved to Doha, capital city of Qatar, to start work with Al Jazeera English.[16]

In February 2020 he wrote an article commenting on High Court's ruling in the Love v Commonwealth, which determined that two men could not be deported as aliens, although not Australian citizens, because of their Aboriginal identity. In it, he writes "The judges' opinions make fascinating and inspiring reading. They are profound, wise, and sensitive", that they wrote their judgments "with nuance", and had "widened the horizon on what it is to be Indigenous and belong to this land".[17]

In April 2020 he was appointed Vice-Chancellor's Chair of Australian-Indigenous Belonging at Charles Sturt University.[18]

Books

Grant has authored four works of non-fiction (see below), which have been well received.

Film

Grant wrote, and features in, the full-length documentary film The Australian Dream, released in 2019,[19] the title of which echoes that of his address at the IQ2 debate, which went viral in 2015 (see above).[10]

The film looks at the part played by racism in the demonising of Australian Rules football-player Adam Goodes, and won the AACTA Award for best feature documentary in the 2019 series.[19][20]

Politics

During early 2016 Grant was talked about as running in the 2016 Australian election. Grant ruled out running for the National Party of Australia and said he was not "ideologically bound to the left" and that he admired people with the "small 'l' Liberal approach".[21]

In mid-March, 9 weeks before the 2019 Australian election, Grant was asked by the Prime Minister Scott Morrison to a meeting at Kirribilli House. While there he was asked to run for the Liberal Party of Australia, but turned down the offer, saying "It was an honour to be asked by the Prime Minister, but in the end that role is just not for me. I like what I am doing now, totally independently, and I don’t have to make my views fit within a party framework."[22]

Current roles

As of 2020, Grant is the ABC's Indigenous and International Affairs Analyst,[23] Professor of Global Affairs at Griffith University (since October 2018),[15][24] Principal Presenter with Al Jazeera English,[25][26] and ambassador of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation (AIEF) (since 2017?).[27]

Works

Print
  • The Tears of Strangers

In 2002, Grant published a memoir, The Tears of Strangers, which details the political and social changes of Indigenous Australians over the period of 40 years, focusing particularly on generations of the Wiradjuri people.[1]

  • Talking To My Country

Grant's second book, Talking To My Country, was published in February 2016. The origins of the book came from the abuse of Adam Goodes in 2015.[28][29] In a review for The Saturday Paper, Talking To My Country was described as "Australia viewed from the riverbank on the edge of town; great affection mixed with discomfort about, 'Advance Australia Fair'" (the national anthem).[30]

  • Australia Day

In 2019 Grant published his third book, Australia Day, a follow-up to Talking To My Country about what it means to be Australian. It received favourable reviews.[31][32][33]

  • On Identity

On Identity was published in both English and Wiradjuri in 2019, in hardcopy and as an e-book. In it he "asks why when it comes to identity he is asked to choose between black and white", and "argues that it is time to leave identity behind and to embrace cosmopolitanism" (catalogue blurb).[34] The book was well received.[31][32]

  • Tell it to the World

Tell it to the World: An Indigenous Memoir was published in the US in 2019.[35][36]

Film

Awards

As of February 2020, Grant has won the following awards:[25]

Personal life

Grant was married to Karla Grant with whom he had three children.[1] A well publicised marriage break-up in 2000, prior to the Sydney Olympic Games, resulted from his starting a relationship with fellow TV personality Tracey Holmes. After criticism from News Corporation tabloids,[38] while News Corporation was involved in the C7 Sport dispute with Seven, his employment at the Seven Network was terminated as a result, and he and Holmes moved to Hong Kong.[1]

gollark: I do NOT want to be stuck with this 4.19 kernel.
gollark: ææææææææææææææææææ FUNCTIONATE
gollark: I am trying to run a mainline linux kernel on my raspberry pi.
gollark: By the APIOIDS, why will this not FUNCTIONATE?
gollark: Done.

References
  1. "Stan Grant: 'I've put the past behind me'". news.com.au. 10 February 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  2. "Biography - Stan Grant". Indigenous Australia. Australian National University. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  3. Dias, Muditha (14 June 2013). "Elite racism and the Australian media". Radio National (transcript). Australia: ABC Radio. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  4. "List of 1994 Logie Award Winners". TV Week. 1994. Archived from the original on 20 May 2011.
  5. "CNN Appoints Three Foreign Correspondents". TV Newser.
  6. Morgan, Myles (22 February 2016). "Stan Grant: The journey so far". NITV News. SBS Australia. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  7. "Stan Grant joins Sky News". Media Spy. 3 December 2012.
  8. Idato, Michael (13 February 2014). "Shocking crimes revisited in new series". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  9. "IQ2 Debates Australia". The Ethics Centre. 28 August 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  10. Davey, Melissa (24 January 2016). "Stan Grant's speech on racism and the Australian dream goes viral". the Guardian. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  11. "Stan Grant: Racism and the Australian dream". The Ethics Centre. 24 January 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  12. "New on ABC NEWS Channel – Matter of Fact with Stan Grant". 16 January 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  13. "ABC axes Lateline in overhaul". NewsComAu. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  14. Knox, David (30 November 2018). "Axed: Matter of Fact". TV Tonight. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
  15. Marshall, Deborah (25 October 2018). "Stan Grant joins Griffith University". Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  16. Mitchell, Thomas (16 August 2019). "Why Stan Grant remains hopeful about the future of Australia". Executive Style. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  17. Grant, Stan (15 February 2020). "'Profound, wise and sensitive': How a modern court judgement has grappled with a lore that's existed for time immemorial [The High Court has widened the horizon on what it is to be Indigenous and belong to Australia]". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  18. Barlow, Nicole. "Professor Stan Grant Jnr to bring decades of knowledge and experience to new role at Charles Sturt". news.csu.edu.au. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  19. Fryer, Brooke (5 December 2019). "Indigenous talent in total control at awards night". NITV. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  20. agencies (4 December 2019). "Aacta awards 2019 winners: The Nightingale and Total Control dominate Australian screen awards". the Guardian. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  21. "Stan Grant rules out running for National Party in federal politics bid". ABC News. 18 March 2016.
  22. FitzSimons, Peter. "PM wanted Stan Grant as his man to fill empty seat". Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  23. "Stan Grant". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  24. Grant, Stan (10 February 2020). "Stan Grant interviewed by Margaret Throsby" (audio + text). ABC Classic (Interview). Interviewed by Margaret Throsby. Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
  25. Suleiman, Omar (26 January 2020). "Stan Grant". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  26. Grant, Stan (26 January 2020). "An Aboriginal revival on Invasion Day: 'Australia thought we would die out'". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  27. "AIEF Ambassadors". Australian Indigenous Education Foundation. 1 April 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  28. Stan Grant (30 July 2015). "I can tell you how Adam Goodes feels. Every Indigenous person has felt it". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  29. "Stan Grant addresses National Press Club to launch Talking to My Country – video". The Guardian. 22 February 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  30. JF (12 March 2016). "Talking to My Country". The Saturday Paper. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  31. Maddison, Sarah (17 May 2019). "Australia Day & On Identity: A conversation Stan Grant wants to start". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  32. Pascoe, Bruce (22 July 2019). "Bruce Pascoe reviews 'On Identity' and 'Australia Day' by Stan Grant". Australian Book Review. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  33. Mayer, Erich (10 July 2019). "Book Review: Australia Day by Stan Grant". ArtsHub Australia. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  34. Grant, Stan (2019). On identity. Melbourne University Press. ISBN 978-0-522-87552-2.
  35. Tell it to the world. Scribe North America. 2019. ISBN 9781947534261. OCLC 1117339498.
  36. "Tell it to the World: An Indigenous Memoir". Strong Nations. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  37. agencies (4 December 2019). "Aacta awards 2019 winners: The Nightingale and Total Control dominate Australian screen awards". the Guardian. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  38. "Stan and his Holmes wrecker sacked". Media Watch (transcript). ABC TV. 21 August 2000. Retrieved 27 May 2014.

Further reading
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