This post was contributed by my James Cook University Journalism student, Mr. Kieran Moran. It is a beautifully written essay which explores how the Australian media has portrayed its Aboriginal population negatively in the media. The consequence of which is an embedded negative view about this group. Feel free to leave your comments!
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Domestic violence, unemployment, drunkenness, petrol sniffing and prison – are some examples of the general public perceptions of indigenous Australians. The power of the media in shaping peoples beliefs and values about society is paramount with the messages, images and symbols they produce. Australian people have limited knowledge of other cultures, obtaining their beliefs and attitudes predominately through the media. The lack of knowledge and understanding of indigenous culture among Australian journalists have contributed greatly to the perceptions about indigenous people.
Australia has only a handful of indigenous journalists to communicate indigenous issues and concerns with indigenous media only recently beginning to communicate through radio, print and television. There has been much debate in regard to media reporting on indigenous issues concerning a fair and balanced journalistic approach. To write about people, it is essential to recognize their culture, environment and their concerns. The mainstream media have always been inept when reporting on indigenous issues; they do not know the complexities, the procedures, the laws and the traditions that sustain Aboriginal people. The media can educate themselves, workshop and learn indigenous culture, but at the end of the day, they will always be “behind the eight ball” when reporting on indigenous issues, due to the fact that the majority of the Australian media are not Aboriginal.
Since 1803 when Australia’s first newspaper was published, the media have portrayed aboriginal people in a negative way. A culture portrayed as unintelligent, destitute and violent with no-means of helping themselves. The Australian people constantly receive ‘negative images of Aboriginal Australians (usually found in the news) some fighting, crime and disorder in urban contexts’ (Van Krieken & Habibib 2006, p. 297). The images that the media produce can give a positive or negative view instantly of any person or culture in society. A recent example of this is the photo that the media produced in 2001 after the capture of David Hicks in Afghanistan. The first image was of a weapon (anti personal gun) on his shoulder. The media tried to dehumanise Mr Hicks and keep the public at a distance, while in 2007 when public opinion changed, the media published images of Mr Hicks smiling and wearing a woollen jumper.
Public perception of issues and images generally depends on the way the media relay the information. It is also claimed that ‘media images reinforce racist aspects of the dominant culture and worldview. This theme is exemplified in their analysis of images of Aboriginal Australians’ (Jakubowicz, Goodall 1994, p. 60). The lack of protocol, knowledge and empathy that journalists have regarding indigenous culture is regrettable to say the least, with ‘unfortunately the most frequent contact between journalists and Aborigines is in Australia’s courtroom’ (Sweetman and Summerfeld 1996, p. 4).
Aboriginal culture has been constantly bombarded with Western views, beliefs and ideals, ‘all we hear on the wireless is white culture, white values, white songs’ (Macumba 1980, p. 127). Aboriginal people are a minority in Australia with little chance of being heard over the prevailing culture. David Byrne, Policy Director of the Cape York Land Council addressed the Press Council Forum and stated that ‘the press…[is] a very powerful non-indigenous institution that has been a powerful influence throughout the occupation’ (Byrne 1997, p. 2). The challenge for indigenous Australians is how to get a balanced and unbiased view of their culture out to the wider Australian public. During the early eighties, the broadcasting of indigenous messages and music started to be heard around the country. ‘The first Aboriginal station, 8KIN in Alice Springs operated by…[the] Central Australia Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) came on air in 1985’ (Craik, Bailey, Moran 1995, p. 152). Aboriginal broadcasting and the training of indigenous journalists cannot only offer opportunities to Aboriginal Australians, but can also benefit the wider Australian public, ‘the expansion of indigenous media, far from being in competition with mainstream media, or absolving it of responsibility for Aboriginal white relations, offers opportunities for them (white people) to shed their colonising roles’ (Bayles 1993, p. 2).
The balance of power is beginning to shift with indigenous people now becoming agents of power themselves through radio, print and television. The reporting on indigenous issues is generally concentrated on either health, employment, violence, alcoholism, “helping themselves” articles, unemployment and land rights, ‘these are very small boxes into which to squeeze the cultural and human diversity of a nation’(Schultz 1996, p. 17). The perspective of most Australians is very narrow and discriminative when it comes to indigenous culture due largely to bias and uneducated reporting. A basic example of this is a cartoon from the Cairns Post – the caption reads “Do you feel we should integrate into a mainstream, multicultural Australia apropos economic, societal and cultural opportunities and rights … or should we just go on taking whitey’s hand outs?”(Yanmin Yu, Ph. D, 2005).
The distorted image that mainstream Australia has of indigenous people is maintained through film, television, books and newspapers with the media shaping those ideals, ‘The media informs and entertains but also indoctrinates individuals with the values, beliefs and codes of behaviour acceptable in the larger society’( Acland 2001, p. 13). Included in this essay are some articles concerning indigenous affairs. These newspaper clippings were collected over a month (March 10 to April 10, 2007) from the Australian and the Townsville Bulletin. Besides one or two articles, the stories were either on health or social issues including alcohol abuse, petrol sniffing, crime and housing as well as the “feel good” stories concerning indigenous people helping themselves, ‘I’ve seen young kids walk out of the shadow of suicide and the doldrums of drugs. / Now they are out of the unemployment queue, they have jobs. They have broken the cycle of welfare dependency’, (Getawan 1997), The “feel good” stories perpetuate the continuing image that indigenous people are of lower class and need to be helped by the affluent population. The other angle that journalist take on Aboriginality is for the most part dominated by the abuses of alcohol, petrol sniffing and housing.
The frequency of these articles is principal to the attitudes that white Australia have about indigenous people. One such article appeared in Saturday’s Australian newspaper with ‘a Northern Territory Supreme Court judge conceding that after sixteen years on the bench he could not “remember the last time an Aboriginal offender was sober” at the time of the offence,’ (Roberts 2007, p. 2). These sorts of articles are ingrained into the public’s self-conscience. In a study of 2700 articles to press making reference to ethnic minorities Teun van Dijk states, ‘The prominent presence of the concept of ‘black’ in the headlines suggests that the disturbances are defined primarily in terms of ethnic background or colour. They are not defined as ‘urban’ or ‘social’ forms of protest or unrest. Or as actions of ‘youths’, but specifically attributed to black people, usually young males, despite the fact that 30 per cent of the participants were white,’ (Van Dijk 1991, p. 55).
The media have great responsibility when it comes to reporting on any issue. Their influence is substantial with its effects being both wide ranging and influential on us all. The different opinions and beliefs that journalist encompass, have no place within journalism, as Nelson Crawford points out in The Ethics of Journalism ‘The press is a human institution and no human institution ever conforms precisely to a consistent ethical or philosophical theory,’ (quoted in Kier et al. 1986, p. 33). The existing stereotypes and depictions of indigenous people need to be challenged and deconstructed if the media are to be respected not only by Aboriginal people, but by the wider society as a whole.
The hope is, with the transition to more Aboriginal journalists, indigenous messages and news can be translated and reported respectfully for all Australians. In time, as more diversity is spread across the Australian media, instead of headlines like the following from the Cairns Post, ‘Land grabs – FNQ Blacks lay claim to 7,000 square kilometres,’ (Yanmin Yu, Ph. D, 2005), indigenous stories and issues will begin to expand in cultural sensitivities and knowledge with fair and unprejudiced reporting. Until indigenous Australians become “agents of power” themselves and diversity is achieved, the Australian media will always be “behind the eight ball” when reporting on indigenous issues and current affairs. It is hoped that with the introduction and integration of Aboriginal journalists, the Australian media will finally be able to step out from behind the queue and take its place amongst a respected journalistic society.
Bibliography:
Ackland, Craig 2001. Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues – The interactions of Aboriginality, media and education. Vol 4, No. 4, December.
Bayles, Tiga 1993. Australian Press Council News – Accommodating Differences Vol 5, No. 2 May. Print Mail.
Byrne, David 1997. Australian Press Council News – The Press and the Reconciliation Process, Vol 9, No. 3 August. Print Mail.
Conley, David & Lamble, Stephen 2006. The Daily Miracle – An Introduction to Journalism. Oxford Community Press, Melbourne.
Craik, Jennifer. Julie James, Bailey. Albert Moran 1995. Public Voices: Private Interests - Australia’s Media Policy, Allen & Unwin, St Leonards, NSW.
Getawan, Henry 2007. The Townsville Bulletin, Saturday 31 March, p. 17.
Jakubowicz, Goodall, Martin, Mitchell, Randall, Seneviratne 1994. Racism, Ethnicity and the Media. Allen & Unwin, Sydney - . Sociology themes and perspectives 3rd edition.
Kier, Gerry: McCombs, Maxwell & Shaw, Donald L. 1986, Advanced Reporting, Longman, White Plains, NY - Conley, David & Lamble, Stephen, The Daily Miracle.
Macumba, John 1980. Broadcasting in Australia: Today’s issues and the future. Australian National University, Canberra.
Roberts, Jeremy, 2007, The Weekend Australian, Saturday 31 March, p. 2.
Schulze, Julianne, 1996, ‘Searching Beyond Stereo Type’, The Courier Mail, 27 November, p. 17. - Conley, David & Lamble, Stephen, The Daily Miracle.
Sweetman, Kim & Summerfeld, Jeff 1996, ‘Leader Lashes Inaction over Deaths Report’, The Courier Mail, 26 November, p. 4 - Conley, David & Lamble, Stephen., The Daily Miracle.
Van Dijk, T. 1991, Racism and the Press, Routledge, London, p. 55.
Van Krieken, Habibib, Smith, Hutchins, Haralambos, Holborn, 2006. Sociology themes and perspectives 3rd edition. HarperCollins.
Yanmin Yu, Ph. D. 2005, “Australia – New Country, Old History”Fulbright-Hays Seminar Abroad. www.fulbright.com.au
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