As 2021 draws to a close, triple j is preparing to farewell three of its presenters. One of them is Hack host Avani Dias, who is getting ready to head to New Delhi, India as the ABC’s South Asia correspondent.
During her time with Hack she has earned five Walkley nominations, including a 2021 nomination for Public Service Journalism.
Mediaweek spoke to Dias about leaving Hack and what the future looks like.
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“It’s been really special to be able to have that kind of access to young people,” says Dias about her time at Hack. “There’s no other area of media I’ve worked in where people are so willing to tell you their stories and reach out about really dark and traumatic moments in their lives. It’s been a real privilege to have that access, especially during the last two years of the pandemic, where we did see young people really affected more than other age groups.”
Having the trust of an audience is a vital part of any news and current affairs program, and that trust isn’t something Dias takes for granted.
“I feel really grateful that people trusted Hack, and felt comfortable to reach out. Every day on the show we get so many people calling in, and so many texts, and we get a lot on our social media as well. It’s really amazing.
“It’s a testament also to Hack as a brand, it’s a bit of an institution. There isn’t anything else like it in Australia that does daily, multi platform media for young people, so I think people feel very connected to it in that way.”
Working through Covid
When Covid-19 restrictions were first brought in there was a lot of confusion about the details, particularly amongst young people. For Dias, the pandemic highlighted the extent to which people turned to Hack.
“When the pandemic happened, the sheer amount of people who came forward to us. We had hundreds of people reaching out because the restrictions weren’t catered to young people, at the very beginning they were catered to nuclear families. People were asking us if they could visit their partners or people that they were dating, there was just a bit of a blind spot for the lives of young people. Obviously, no one wants a pandemic but seeing how much young people relied on Hack was pretty amazing to see.”
Four Corners Investigations
As well as working behind the mic on Hack, Dias has also worked with Four Corners to champion investigations like Tinder: A Predators’ Playground and TikTok: Data mining, discrimination and dangerous content.
“We have such an insight into what young people think about in Australia,” she says. “We survey our audience every couple of years, and those are issues that came out as things that were affecting young people throughout the last couple of years and were areas that weren’t really looked into by other media, necessarily.
“Seeing some of those trends emerging about sexual assault or eating disorders on TikTok, and some of the issues around discrimination on TikTok, these were all issues that kept coming up while doing the show. They stuck out as something that we should investigate further, and obviously, there was a lot under the surface that people hadn’t looked into.
“It was amazing to see the double up of the influence that Four Corners has on policymakers and corporations, and then the influence that triple j has on young people.”
Dias speaks to Claire Benstead about her experiences with TikTok on Four Corners
Heading to South Asia
With the South Asia correspondent position based in New Delhi, Dias is getting ready for a big change. She says that what drew her to the South Asia region was a sense of connection as well as feeling that it’s an area people should be hearing more from.
“My family is from Sri Lanka, so I’ve travelled extensively throughout the region. We have many migrants coming to Australia from India – Indian people make up the second largest migrant group in Australia.
“People have a lot of interest in news in South Asia, but I don’t know if we get enough of it here. I think that we could be doing a lot more to represent the issues of that region, and our connections from Australia to South Asia. That’s what really drew me there. It’s always been a dream of mine to take on that role, and it’s pretty incredible to be able to head there next year and do that.”
Life in New Delhi will be busy, and Dias is excited to get started.
“The ABC sets you up, you get to live in the centre of the city, the office is nearby. There’s a really amazing local producer who I’ll be working every day with, a driver who will come out with me on stories, and an office manager who keeps the operation going. The ABC has had a bureau there for decades, so this is a place where the ABC has put down roots.
“There are a lot of important political developments, amazing stories about people on the ground, and technological developments. I’m already drowning in stories that could be amazing to tell for an audience here.”