The ''National Indigenous Times'' (NIT) is an

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

affairs website, originally published as a newspaper from February 2002.

History

''National Indigenous Times'' was first published in newspaper form on 27 February 2002. It was established by Owen Carriage, the founder of the '' Koori Mail''. In 2006, ''NIT'' published a major story about government staff anonymously representing themselves as independent witnesses in the ''

Lateline ''Lateline'' was an Australian television news program which ran from 1990 until 2017. The program initially aired weeknights on ABC TV. In later years it was also broadcast internationally throughout Asia and the Pacific on the Australia Plu ...

'' report on

child abuse Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical, sexual, and/or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child or children, especially by a parent or a caregiver. Child abuse may include any act or failure to a ...

in remote communities, with particular reference to Mutitjulu, in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

. On 27 February 2012, the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owne ...

's program '' Media Watch'' aired a segment that detailed how the newspaper had repeatedly taken substantial material from other media sources without any attribution. This was addressed by editor Stephen Hagan, who promised to deliver more original material and use citations when using external references. Hagan left in December 2013. In January and February 2015, the ''NIT'' was placed in administration because of accumulating legal bills arising from a defamation case and an

unfair dismissal In labour law, unfair dismissal is an act of employment termination made without good reason or contrary to the country's specific legislation. Situation per country Australia (See: '' unfair dismissal in Australia'') Australia has long-standing ...

claim by former editor Stephen Hagan. ''NIT'' survived administration with a mix of the longstanding owners/founders and a number new part owners.

Gerry Georgatos Gerry Georgatos ( gr, Γεράσιμος Γεωργάτος; born 1962) is a university researcher and social justice and human rights campaigner based in Western Australia. He has campaigned for prison reform, as well as championing the rights o ...

was an investigative reporter and feature writer with the ''NIT'' for around six years. He delivered stories on

native title in Australia Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have righ ...

, corrupt practices and government neglect of poverty-stricken communities. His correspondence for ''NIT'' was as a volunteer, "bringing to the fore voices from his many travels". Just before he announced in February 2015 that he was no longer with the newspaper, he spoke positively of the newspaper on

National Indigenous Television National Indigenous Television (NITV) is an Australian free-to-air television channel that broadcasts programming produced and presented largely by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It includes the half-hourly nightly ''NITV News'' ...

. In December 2015, Tony Barrass bought the ''NIT'' masthead from Sydney liquidators O'Brien Palmer and launched the online version on 28 February 2016.

Governance and description

Since late February 2016, it has functioned as an online publication owned by Indigenous businessman and former Kimberley Land Council CEO Wayne Bergmann and Indigenous businessman

Clinton Wolf Clinton Wolf (born 18 December 1968) is an Australian Aboriginal leader and former Australian rules footballer. Football career Wolf began his career with East Fremantle in 1988 before moving to the Claremont Football Club in the West Australi ...

. It was formerly owned and edited by Tony Barrass. the editor is Tom Zaunmayr. (Zaunmayr's name misspelled as 'Zanumayr')

Awards

*2004:

Walkley Award The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic and online media. The Gold Walkley is the highest prize and ...

, for a story on stolen wages *2012: At the inaugural Multicultural Media Awards at

NSW Parliament The Parliament of New South Wales is a bicameral legislature in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), consisting of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (lower house) and the New South Wales Legislative Council (upper house). Eac ...

in September 2012,

received two awards: Coverage of Indigenous Affairs and Investigative Reporting, and Feature Writing. *2013: At the 2013 Multicultural Media Awards, Georgatos won three awards, including Journalist of the Year for his coverage on the extent of

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...

among

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait ...

and

Torres Strait Islanders Torres Strait Islanders () are the Indigenous Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal people of the rest of Australia, they are often groupe ...

References

External links

*{{official, https://www.nit.com.au/ 2002 establishments in Australia Cultural magazines Indigenous Australian mass media Indigenous rights publications Magazines established in 2002 Magazines published in Australia

History

Governance and description

Awards

See also

References

External links