Stan Grant Is Heading to Denmark After Quitting ABC

A supplied image of Stan Grant talking about his new book The Queen is Dead at the Melbourne Writers Festival in Melbourne, Australia on May 6, 2023. AAP Image/Supplied by Andrew Guo, Atticus Media

Veteran journalist Stan Grant has announced he will quit Australia’s National Broadcaster, the ABC, and is heading to Denmark to take up a brand new role as part of Monash University’s Constructive Institute Asia Pacific.

Located at Aarhus University in Denmark, the institute was initiated as a way to help change global news culture and with a mission to foster healthier democracies.

After standing down as presenter of the ABC show Q and A earlier this year amid claims of racial abuse aimed at him and his family, his new role comes at a time when “there is polarisation in society, and the media and people are turning off traditional media,” Grant said.

Grant’s new role will focus on the practice of public interest journalism which looks at the way the press influences democracy around the globe.

Stan Grant speaks during the Anthony Mundine media conference at the Cruise Bar in Sydney, Australia on March 24, 2021. Jason McCawley/Getty Images

“What are the dangers of the polarisation that we see in our society right now?” Grant said.

“The endless conflict, why does media have to constantly be about conflict?  Why do we have to pit people against each other?

“Why do we find the point of conflict and seek to witness rather than find the points on which we connect and look at where we disagree to build on the connection rather than then the division?”

Grant has been critical of the media of late, describing them as often being the poison in the “bloodstream of our society” in a monologue he gave on his last night as host of Q and A.

He faced heavy criticism for his commentary whilst the Coronation of King Charles III was being aired after he spoke about the era of the colonial era of violence endured by Indigenous Australians and how the Crown was a symbol that represented the invasion and theft of land.

He responded with an opinion article claiming that if he didn’t speak out, his ancestors would be ashamed of him.

As host of Q and A,  Grant made headlines when he ordered a young Russian boy to leave the studio sometime after the Russian national expressed his outrage to the panel about the one-sided narrative depicted in the media.

Grant eventually told him to leave, stating, “I’m not comfortable with you being here, can you please leave.” Grant’s decision was met with applause by the studio audience.

New Role Aligns with His Commitment to Journalism

Grant has been a mainstay on Australian television, and his new role as a professor at Monash University’s School of Journalism will coincide with his role as director of the Constructive Institute.

Katie Stevenson, who is dean of Monash’s arts faculty, said in a press release that “our media students will have the privilege of drawing upon Stan’s rich experience and knowledge of the media and his passion to change news culture for the better.”

An aerial view of the Sir Robert Menzies Building at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia on Oct. 21, 2002. Getty Images

Grant said his new appointment  “aligns with my values and draws on my 40 years in journalism, as well as my commitment to doing public interest journalism better in a way that serves the public at a time when the stakes have never been higher.”

The ABC news director stated he respects Stan’s decision and said he will continue to be a contributor for the ABC in his new role.