Indigenous Partnershipsin Public Media


About


Indigenous Partnerships in Public Media (IPPM) was formed off the back of a conference hosted in 2024 by CBC/Radio-Canada, “Walking Together: Amplifying Indigenous Stories in Public Media”. The Indigenous public media leaders it brought together, inspired by the conversations they shared, committed to working closely to address the challenges and harness the opportunities they face globally.  

The group is a global, multilingual and agile group of Indigenous journalists, producers and leaders from national public media organisations who meet regularly to collaborate, share information, and advocate for Indigenous representation in public media.  

The organisation is Indigenous-led through its management structure and its board governance, ensuring a self-determined and community-centric approach. 


Members


There are seven founding members of IPPM, representing five countries.


The vision and purpose of this group is:

To centre Indigenous voices, languages, reporting, storytelling and perspectives across public media organisations, and to become a global voice for First Nations stories.

To challenge stereotypes, encourage truth-telling, acknowledgement and reconciliation, and to increase the presence of Indigenous voices and language in mainstream coverage, to promote the understanding and valuing of Indigenous cultures.

To champion the preservation and promotion of Indigenous languages in public media.

To foster strong and collaborative partnerships based on trust and respect to share lessons, experiences, opportunities, technologies and best practice. These partnerships should also strengthen Indigenous languages, media, and storytelling across all genres and media formats.

To advocate for and provide opportunities for meaningful and equitable representation of Indigenous Peoples in public service media and to increase the meaningful use of Indigenous voices in public service media. 

To uplift Indigenous storytellers and give them recognition that strengthens their access to funding and resources.

To seek respectful and equal relationships with communities in programme-making, planning and other dealings. To foster collaboration among Indigenous communities, and find opportunities to work together on joint projects or content proposals. 

To serve as a global hub for knowledge exchange, promoting and sharing best practices, leveraging emerging technologies and opportunities, and collaborating with one another to develop knowledge and practices. 

To support storytelling by and for Indigenous peoples. This includes collaborating with and supporting other Indigenous media and fostering ties with international and Indigenous organisations and journalists’ associations.

To influence within mainstream and international public media to not only duly reflect Indigenous cultural diversity, but to empower Indigenous voices and meet the UN right to full freedom of cultural diversity and expression. 

To develop and support editorial practices and policies that support Indigenous story sovereignty, to support the editorial independence as well as the right and ability to conduct critical and investigative journalism, including within our own communities. 

To promote safer and more inclusive working conditions for Indigenous media practitioners.

IPPM is a global, multilingual and agile group of Indigenous leaders from public service media organisations and related bodies who meet regularly to collaborate, share advice, information and best practices, and advocate for Indigenous representation in public media. Its leaders foster adaptability to diverse cultural and linguistic environments and enable rapid decision-making in a globalised world.

The organisation is Indigenous-led and run by the IPPM Council. Each member organisation is represented at the Council by one individual. 

The Public Media Alliance (PMA) acts as the secretariat for IPPM, but all decisions are made by the Indigenous-led structure.


IPPM is led by a Council, representing each member organisation


CBC/Radio-Canada releases progress report on National Indigenous Strategy

More Indigenous partnerships and programming among highlights of CBC/Radio-Canada National Indigenous Strategy progress report.

Tasha James stands between two tall rows of shelves, filled with boxes of archival broadcast material.

Announcing the 2025 Trainer Grants

PMA is pleased to unveil the three projects that are being funded by the PMA Trainer Grant, which focus on AI, archiving, and broadcasting.

SABC HQ in Johannesburg, SA

Reform and transformation plans at several broadcasters | The PMA Briefing

Governments in both Bangladesh and Kenya have announced plans to reform media organisations, while France is pushing ahead with reforms.

Kiran Maharaj of the Media Institute of the Caribbean

PMA’s 2024 Highlights

Read about the projects, events, and reports, selected as the top 2024 highlights by each of PMA's staff members.

A group of people stand on a stage.

PMA attends UNESCO Meeting on Indigenous Peoples and the Media

PMA was at the UNESCO headquarters for an event working to develop proposals for advancing Indigenous media.

Indigenous stories & language revitalization focus of PBI first day

PBI 2024 began with a focus on amplifying Indigenous stories, exploring how PSM can better serve Indigenous communities.


New podcast takes listeners on a journey through historic moments in Māori art

16 February 2026

RNZ: In Pūtātara: Revolutions in Māori Art, Matariki Williams and Jamie Tahana journey through the history of Māori art, starting at Ngā Puna Waihanga hui in Te Kaha in 1973. This landmark gathering of Māori artists set off a chain reaction of moments and movements around which Māori art has evolved and revolved ever since.


ABC NEWS launches Deep Time – a digital treasure chest sharing the ancient story of Australia’s First Nations peoples

20 October 2025

ABC: ABC NEWS launches Deep Time today, giving all Australians the opportunity to experience the awe-inspiring ancient story of our continent and its people. Deep Time is not just a story. It is an interactive tool that brings together thousands of years of oral histories that have been passed down for generations.

Featured Report

How public service media are reaching and reflecting Indigenous audiences

Briefing document commissioned by CBC/Radio-Canada prepared ahead of the “Amplifying Indigenous stories in Public Media” in October 2024.

October 2024

Around the world, national public service broadcasters are reflecting on the way they work with and serve Indigenous communities and audiences, marking a century of work that has celebrated and preserved cultures, grappling with sometimes troubling legacies, and plotting a more equitable future that empowers Indigenous storytelling. 

In this report, PMA spoke to more than a dozen people from national and Indigenous broadcasters in eight countries and territories, to understand how they’re serving Indigenous Peoples, and what the opportunities and challenges of the 2020s pose for how public service media properly reflect Indigenous communities. 


Knowledge Hub


Both PMA and our member organisations publish strategies, guides, and insights on transforming organisations, supporting Indigenous storytelling, and working with communities. Here we collate a collection of them

Indigenous Peoples and the Media

UNESCO | 2025

In 2023, the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) recommended UNESCO to conduct a study concerning Indigenous Peoples and the Media. The resulting study was presented at the 24th session of the Permanent Forum in 2025.

This publication examines national policies, practices and funding programmes related to Indigenous Peoples and media. It supports implementing Article 16 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), emphasising Indigenous Peoples’ rights to establish their own media in their languages and access non-Indigenous media without discrimination. The publication also highlights States’ responsibilities to reflect Indigenous cultural and linguistic diversity in media platforms.

Download the report

Elevate Reconciliation Action Plan 2024-27
Credit: ABC

Elevate Reconciliation Action Plan 2024-27

ABC | 2025

This is the ABC’s second Elevate Reconciliation Action Plan. It extends and builds upon the commitments in the public broadcaster’s first Elevate RAP to support reconciliation by including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander names, voices and languages in ABC programming and thus the national conversation. The ABC’s vision for reconciliation is an Australia in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander names, voices and languages — and the culture and wisdom they reflect — are an everyday part of the national vocabulary and have an unquestionable place in the national conversation

Download the RAP

National Indigenous Strategy 2024-27

CBC/Radio-Canada | 2024

In 2024, CBC/Radio-Canada unveiled its first-ever National Indigenous Strategy, Strengthening Relations, Walking Together, and announced the creation of a new Indigenous Office at the public broadcaster. 

Strengthening Relations, Walking Together is the public broadcaster’s three-year plan to work with First Nations, Inuit and Métis to better reflect and serve them. The plan creates a framework to actively engage in four key areas: 

  1. Narratives
  2. People
  3. Relationships
  4. Truth & Reconciliation
Download the strategyDownload the progress report [2025]

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Article 16

1. Indigenous Peoples have the right to establish their own media in their own languages and to have access to all forms of non-Indigenous media without discrimination.

2. States shall take effective measures to ensure that State-owned media duly reflect Indigenous cultural diversity. States, without prejudice to ensuring full freedom of expression, should encourage privately owned media to adequately reflect Indigenous cultural diversity. 


Featured Image Credit: Carl-Johan Utsi / Swedish Radio

Secondary Image Credit: CBC/Radio-Canada