Aussie News Host Steps Away From Spotlight After Royal Drama

Australian news host Stan Grant has delivered an emotional review of the media in his last broadcast after he announced he was “stepping away for a while” and removing himself from the spotlight. Grant had announced he was taking leave in a column last week, where, according to the Director of News at Australia’s public broadcaster ABC, Justin Stevens, Grant received “grotesque racist abuse” that spiraled after he spoke about the role and consequences of colonialism on Indigenous Australians during a broadcast of the king’s coronation. In the column, Grant slammed his bosses for offering no public support and the Australian media for bias. “Sometimes we just need to take time out,” Grant told the audience of Q+A on Monday night (AEST), a program which features a panel consisting of politicians and key identities who answer questions from a live audience, and of which Grant was host and moderator. Grant received a standing ovation from the audience after mentioning the “poison” of the media. “Sometimes our souls are hurting, and so it is for me,” Grant said, adding that he felt he was “part of the problem.” Grant, a Wiradjuri journalist, added: “I’m not walking away for a while because of racism.” He continued: “We get that far too often. I’m not walking away because of social media hatred. I need a break from the media. I feel like I’m part of the problem. And I need to ask myself how, or if, we can do it better.”