NITV The Point host Stan Grant says "Empathy is the most important thing you can have in journalism."
Stan Grant has made a career working all around the world as a journalist.
He says he could not have done it if he didn't have a curiosity for history, languages and a passion for learning other cultures. Stan is a Wiradjuri man and he shares memories of his childhood and the challenges that he and his family have survived.
Stan hosts The Point on NITV, a half hour leading First Nations news and current affairs program on Television in Australia.
In this conversation we talk about why he became a journalist, Indigenous politics and how he balances the debate on Treaty and Constitutional Recognition. What I found inspiring about Stan Grant was that he had a very broad view and realistic knowledge of First Nations people in the context of globalisation and colonisation and the challenges of Traditional Law being overridden by Constitutional Law.
We touched on his emotional response at a public lecture at the University of New South Wales after he watched the ABC Four Corner Report Australia's Shame.
I asked if he thought we would see a change in the operational procedures and treatment of children in juvenile detention? Grant's response "We've been at this point so many times in our history", showed he didn't have much faith in the implementation of any recommendations handed down in the The Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory.
I personally found it refreshing to speak with someone of his calibre who has such a broad understanding of the world and our role within it.
Stan Grant leaves a message for all aspiring journalists and shows that from hardship comes the drive that gave him the opportunity to achieve anything possible.
Note (The Music used in the production of this two part series is Find the Light 4: Barrie Gledden, Chris Bussey, Evelyn Glennie).