INDIGENOUS X FOUNDER LUKE PEARSON SAYS DEFECIT REPORTING HURTS COMMUNITIES
Luke Pearson is the founder and CEO of the Indigneous media company Indigenous X (Source: Indigenous X)
Deficit reporting according to Luke Pearson is not just telling negative stories.
“Deficit reporting shapes how people see us”.
Gamilaroi man Luke Pearson said reporting things on communities is widely dependent on the people and culture involved.
He said often the lack of context around stories.
“If you just put a statistic out there but give no context, you don’t say why this is happening, or what we can do to fix it, then people will think, ‘Oh well the problem is Aboriginal people they are the ones who should change’”.
He said non-Aboriginal people coming to work with Indigenous communities need to ask themselves why is there lower outcomes for Indigenous people.
“What you believe to be the problem, is going to influence what you believe to be the solution”.