tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/ethnic-media-11974/articlesEthnic media – The Conversation2022-12-01T22:59:43Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1951932022-12-01T22:59:43Z2022-12-01T22:59:43ZEthnic community media can play a key role in a crisis – but it needs our support<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498382/original/file-20221201-24-16ycmp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C10%2C3597%2C1882&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/overwhelmingly-anglo-celtic-new-report-shows-diversity-still-lacking-on-australian-free-to-air-tv-news-195091">Who Gets to Tell Australian Stories?</a> report on diversity in Australian newsrooms revealed some grim, but unsurprising figures. The report found most television news and current affairs presenters on major Australian free-to-air networks are Anglo-Celtic. So too were most senior network news editors.</p>
<p>One part of this problem is a lack of <a href="https://melbourneasiareview.edu.au/the-place-voice-and-portrayal-of-asians-in-australia/?print=pdf">representation of Asian</a> people in Australian mainstream newsrooms.</p>
<p>Despite (or perhaps because of) this, ethnic media outlets have proved indispensable to Australia’s media landscape. For example, the first two years of the pandemic showed the crucial role ethnic media outlets can play keeping Australians informed in a crisis.</p>
<p>So what now? How can ethnic media be supported to continue to inform Australians, and how might mainstream media need to change to better serve these communities? Drawing on <a href="https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?hl=en&user=Q4j9Q9MAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate">our</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=GdZKkVEAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate">research</a> on Chinese and Sri Lankan communities in Australia, here are some possible paths ahead.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-can-we-stop-fake-election-news-spreading-in-migrant-communities-182119">How can we stop fake election news spreading in migrant communities?</a>
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<h2>Older migrants are online and looking for information</h2>
<p>Our research focused on older people, who are often assumed to be not particularly active online. But that’s not the case. </p>
<p>Older Australians have <a href="https://www.acma.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-05/The%20digital%20lives%20of%20older%20Australians.pdf">embraced digital technologies</a> and <a href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/communicating-covid-19-to-our-older-culturally-diverse-australians?utm_content=story&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR10yZQi5fDAiFJfRj-GuWbfJXU760Bu0qKpFfNMEofhXxawnb2v6PhJlXk">research</a> <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1329878X221095582">has shown</a> many older Asian migrants use digital media. This is certainly true among older members of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1329878X19875854">Chinese</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15562948.2022.2046895">Sri Lankan</a> communities we spoke with.</p>
<p>Our interviews with older Chinese and Sri Lankan migrants in Melbourne revealed nearly all had more than one digital device. Nearly all used social media to connect with friends and family in Australia and abroad. </p>
<p>Most didn’t get news and information from mainstream media outlets, with the exception of SBS’s in-language radio programs. But many didn’t know these programs also distribute news content on Facebook (in Sinhala and Chinese), WeChat (in Mandarin) and Telegram (in Cantonese). Our participants instead frequently accessed news from community Facebook groups, WhatsApp groups and WeChat news accounts.</p>
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<span class="caption">Many older Chinese migrants in Australia get their news from WeChat.</span>
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<p>During the early part of the pandemic, many actively sought news and health information about COVID through traditional and digital news platforms. But our participants reported it was ethnic community media that played a central role keeping these Australians informed. These included media outlets such as Today Media and YeeYi Australia on WeChat, and Sri Lankan online community news media outlets such as Pahana and Aus News Lanka on Facebook. </p>
<p>All our Sri Lankan interviewees spoke fluent English and used Facebook, but felt Australian mainstream media did not satisfy their news needs. Instead, they preferred media sources attuned to their cultural contexts, which often included narrative and storytelling forms of reportage.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/chinese/">ABC</a> and <a href="https://cn.theaustralian.com.au/">The Australian</a> have started to offer news services in Chinese (ABC also has <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/indonesian/">Indonesian</a> and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/tok-pisin/">Pidgin</a>). But they tend to distribute these daily news updates via Facebook and Twitter. None of our Chinese participants used these platforms. Both ABC and The Australian have WeChat accounts but they are not updated daily. Only SBS Mandarin uses WeChat to provide daily updates about news and current affairs.</p>
<h2>A greater role</h2>
<p>COVID serves as an example of the role ethnic media outlets can play in keeping Australians informed but it is far from the only challenge facing Australia.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/18/wed-have-lost-lives-cultural-officer-decries-absence-of-translators-in-shepparton-flood-response">Victoria’s recent flooding crisis</a>, for example, saw culturally and linguistically diverse communities negatively impacted by the absence of good systems to communicate important information quickly.</p>
<p>In future, perhaps governments and other authorities could engage Chinese and Sri Lankan community and ethnic media organisations to produce and disseminate disaster materials in language. A lack of engagement with ethnic media risks fuelling distrust of Australian authorities and creates the conditions under which misinformation can flourish.</p>
<p>Government and disaster authorities could consider creating registers of locally-based ethnic language media outlets (both digital and non-digital). These outlets could be briefed and called upon to spread important information when disaster strikes.</p>
<p>Governments could also consider funding training for staff working in ethnic media. Training could cover issues such as ethics, journalism codes of conduct, Australian media law, and ways to collaborate with their colleagues working in mainstream media.</p>
<p>There’s a role to play for mainstream media too. These organisations and their journalists should consult closely with migrant cultural associations to enable culturally inclusive coverage and the distribution of content that’s relevant to these communities.</p>
<p>Finally, governments should have a systematic approach to collaborating with ethnic language media to provide accurate, timely and culturally and linguistically accessible content to diverse communities during major public incidents.</p>
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Read more:
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wilfred Yang Wang is affiliated with Victorian Multicultural Commission, Knox Multicultural Advisory Committee and Centre for Holistic Health. This article is part of The Conversation’s Breaking the Cycle series, which is supported by a philanthropic grant from the Paul Ramsay Foundation.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shashini Gamage has done consultancy work at the Australia Awards.
</span></em></p>How can ethnic media outlets be supported to continue to inform Australians, and how might mainstream media need to change to better serve these communities?Wilfred Yang Wang, Lecturer in Media & Communications Studies, The University of MelbourneShashini Gamage, Research and Teaching Associate, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1152332019-04-23T04:33:55Z2019-04-23T04:33:55ZEthnic media are essential for new migrants and should be better funded<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270324/original/file-20190423-15194-mjo8lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An annual indexation freeze in funding introduced by the Liberal government in 2013 has cost the sector almost A$1 million.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/498395695?size=huge_jpg">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The fact that the community ethnic and multicultural broadcasting sector didn’t receive additional funding in the latest budget reflects a misunderstanding of the important role of ethnic media in Australian society.</p>
<p>Ethnic print and broadcasting have a long history in Australia, dating back to at least 1848 with the publication of <a href="http://www.samemory.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=1475">Die Deutsche Post</a>. </p>
<p>Early foreign language broadcasting featured on <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14443050609388075">commercial radio in the 1930s</a>, and throughout the middle of the 20th century. This was before the boom days of the 1970s, when both the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) and community radio were firmly established.</p>
<p>Today, along with SBS, more than 100 community radio stations <a href="https://www.nembc.org.au/about/">feature content in over 100 languages</a>. There are also ethnic media organisations that broadcast or print content in English.</p>
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<h2>How ethnic media are funded</h2>
<p>Much like mainstream print, ethnic newspapers receive little if any direct government funding. They rely on advertising dollars, as well as occasional small grants.</p>
<p>Ethnic broadcasting is primarily funded through two streams:</p>
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<li>government funding of SBS </li>
<li>funding of community ethnic broadcasters through the Community Broadcasting Foundation (<a href="https://cbf.org.au/">CBF</a>), which is itself funded federally. </li>
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<p><a href="https://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/budget-leaves-ethnic-community-broadcasting-short-funding">According to</a> the peak body of ethnic community broadcasting in Australia, the National Ethnic and Multicultural Broadcasters’ Council (<a href="https://www.nembc.org.au/">NEMBC</a>), an annual indexation freeze in funding introduced by the Liberal government in 2013 has cost the sector almost A$1 million. That’s approximately 20% of their total support.</p>
<p>A significant fund of <a href="https://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/budget-leaves-ethnic-community-broadcasting-short-funding">A$12 million</a> over four years has been granted to the community broadcasting sector. But this is generalist funding rather than aimed at ethnic broadcasting specifically. It’s directed towards assisting community stations to transition to a digital signal, the production of local news in English, and management training.</p>
<p>The NEMBC is also in its third year of a new <a href="https://www.nembc.org.au/advocacy/concern-for-community-broadcasting-funds/">competitive grants</a> process introduced by the Community Broadcasting Foundation. </p>
<p>According to the NEMBC, many ethnic broadcasters are facing a precarious funding environment. This is due to the lack of specialist funding, the costs associated with transitioning to digital broadcasting, and the complexity of the Community Broadcasting Foundation grants process.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whitewash-thats-not-the-colour-of-the-sbs-charter-40837">Whitewash? That's not the colour of the SBS charter</a>
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<h2>Why it’s important</h2>
<p>The difficulties facing ethnic broadcasting impact the unique contribution it can make to modern Australia. And it’s a problem that extends beyond policy – media funding for <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-abc-didnt-receive-a-reprieve-in-the-budget-its-still-facing-staggering-cuts-114922">public service</a>, community and ethnic broadcasting is regularly under siege. It’s also a broader social issue. </p>
<p>Ethnic media are often thought of as either quaint services for nostalgic migrants, or as dangerous sources of ethnic segregation. For many, the role of ethnic media rarely, if ever, extends beyond a specific cultural, ethnic or linguistic community.</p>
<p>What’s missing from this image is the role of ethnic media in facilitating successful migrant settlement. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1440783316657430">Research</a> shows that ethnic media can facilitate feelings of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Developing-Dialogues-Indigenous-Community-Broadcasting/dp/1841502758">belonging and social participation</a> among first and subsequent generation migrants. Ethnic media connect migrants and culturally and linguistically diverse Australians with other social groups, as well as with their own local communities.</p>
<p>On a more practical level, ethnic media are important sources of information. When advice is needed on a range of issues, from health care services to migration law, ethnic media play a vital role.</p>
<p>This is not a case of migrants staying in their linguistic “ghettos” and building separate ethnic economies. Rather, it involves seeking sources of relevant, and culturally and linguistically appropriate, information in order to live and thrive in Australian society.</p>
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<p>That might be providing advice on voting or taxation to migrants from Sudan. Or informing elderly German migrants of changes to aged care services. Ethnic media provide information that is attuned to the particular needs of their audience.</p>
<p>This is a service that mainstream media are largely unable to provide, with their focus on a broad audience. But without it, migrants potentially miss out on important information.</p>
<p>These are also services that benefit both recent migrant groups, such as those from Africa or the Middle East, and more established communities. For elderly Germans in South Australia, information today comes in the form of German broadcasting in Adelaide, with presenters and producers who understand the needs and histories of their audience.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/debate-on-free-speech-alone-means-little-for-minorities-30397">Debate on free speech alone means little for minorities</a>
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<h2>Essential sources of vital information</h2>
<p>Ethnic media may also be valuable allies to relevant government departments and settlement service providers. My own ongoing work with ethnic broadcasters and community leaders indicates a level of dissatisfaction with the way government services are communicated to migrant groups from non-English speaking backgrounds.</p>
<p>Ethnic broadcasting is often able to capture the subtleties and nuances that one-size-fits-all government communication campaigns cannot. They are therefore in a unique position to effectively communicate government initiatives at a local, state and national level. </p>
<p>It is no surprise that what would become <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/a-brief-history-of-sbs">SBS Radio</a> was originally designed to inform migrants about the introduction of Medibank health insurance scheme. </p>
<p>It’s important that the services provided by the ethnic media sector, particularly those that cannot be measured in purely economic terms, are understood and supported.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115233/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Budarick does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ethnic media outlets provide valuable resources for new migrants settling in Australia, but recent government funding decisions suggest they’re not valued as they should be.John Budarick, Lecturer in Media, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/875092017-11-15T05:47:42Z2017-11-15T05:47:42ZHow social conservatism among ethnic communities drove a strong ‘no’ vote in western Sydney<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194754/original/file-20171115-19782-a1dh6k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In the seat of Blaxland, held by Labor's Jason Clare, 73.9% of respondents said 'no' to making same-sex marriage legal in Australia.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://marriagesurvey.abs.gov.au/results/response-map.html">ABS</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The “yes” vote on same-sex marriage carried the day in every state in Australia, but the “no” vote was <a href="https://marriagesurvey.abs.gov.au/results/response-map.html">strongest in New South Wales</a> – particularly around western Sydney. </p>
<p>The results suggest that, as <a href="https://theconversation.com/ethnic-religious-communities-may-be-the-no-campaigns-secret-weapon-in-same-sex-marriage-fight-82429">predicted</a>, social conservatism among many ethnic communities loomed large as a factor.</p>
<p>In NSW, the “yes” vote came in at 57.8% and the “no” at 42.2%, with a participation rate of 79.5% – but in some western Sydney electorates the “yes” vote was as low as 26.1%.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/same-sex-marriage-survey-by-the-stats-a-resounding-yes-but-western-sydney-leads-no-vote-87258">Same-sex marriage survey by the stats: a resounding 'yes' but western Sydney leads 'no' vote</a>
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<p>In the seat of Blaxland, held by Labor’s Jason Clare, 73.9% of respondents said “no” to making same-sex marriage legal in Australia. This electorate takes in suburbs such as Berala, Regents Park, Sefton, and Villawood, as well as parts of Auburn, Bankstown, Lidcombe, Merrylands, South Granville, Villawood, and Yennora.</p>
<p>The seat of Watson, held by Labor’s Tony Burke, was also a firm “no”: 69.6% of respondents said they did not support same-sex marriage, while just 30.4% did. This seat takes in Burwood Heights, Greenacre, Lakemba Punchbowl, Roselands, Strathfield South, as well as parts of Bankstown, Belmore, Beverly Hills, Burwood, Campsie and Canterbury.</p>
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<h2>What’s driving this?</h2>
<p>The opposition to same-sex marriage – and to the related issues that the “no” campaign raised such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/factcheck-will-safe-schools-be-mandatory-if-same-sex-marriage-is-legalised-84437">Safe Schools Coalition</a> – was particularly resonant in communities where people have fairly poor educational backgrounds, somewhat limited English language skills and their information is mediated primarily through religious institutions.</p>
<p>So, in localities where there are strong communities built around Eastern Orthodoxy, Islam, Eastern Catholicism, African Christianities, Asian Christianities (ranging from Catholic to Evangelical), and even in other areas with pockets of Orthodox Judaism, there were singular funnels of information presented in cultural and moral terms. </p>
<p>There’s little information available to those people from any other source that they would trust, or to which they have easy access.</p>
<p>These are electorates with high proportions of people born overseas. But being overseas-born is not, in itself, an indicator. Electorates such as the seats of Sydney and Melbourne also had a high “yes” vote and high proportions of overseas-born people. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-numbers-say-and-dont-say-in-the-same-sex-marriage-survey-87096">What the numbers say (and don't say) in the same-sex marriage survey</a>
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<p>The electorates in western Sydney where the “no” vote was strongest have high rates of unemployment. For instance, Blaxland, which has more than 50% of its population born overseas, has a <a href="http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/CED105">10.2% unemployment rate</a> (compared to a national unemployment rate of 5.6%).</p>
<p>The “no” vote was also strong in places where there is a high concentration of people from Chinese backgrounds. This was true even in electorates where there’s a higher socioeconomic profile, but significant numbers of people from China and Korea, such as the seats of Bennelong (where the “yes” vote came in at 49.8% and the “no” vote was 50.2%) and Banks (where the “yes” vote was 44.9% and the “no” vote garnered 55.1%).</p>
<p>In short, the electorates most likely to vote in favour of same-sex marriage have many highly educated non-believers, while the electorates most likely to vote against it would be more working-class, non-European overseas-born, religious communities. </p>
<h2>It’s complicated</h2>
<p>It is important not to allow stereotypes to overwhelm analysis: within many ethnic faith communities, groups of often very courageous marriage equality activists have been bringing their message to families and networks. </p>
<p>Moreover, there are many currents of political and social views within communities. The 2011 and 2015 NSW state elections revealed <a href="https://theconversation.com/multicultural-mayhem-lurks-in-the-shadows-of-the-nsw-election-38533">much about the reorientation of western Sydney’s communities</a>, especially those associated with Islam. </p>
<p>There are more than 60 nationalities in a variety of sects among followers of Islam in western Sydney, besides dozens of other religions and ethno-national backgrounds. </p>
<p>The strong coalitions that have emerged across groups over local political issues, and social media strategies of organisation among all ethnic communities, suggests a legacy from this campaign that will continue. The consequences are unpredictable.</p>
<p>My own research has tracked these developments for nearly 40 years. The <a href="https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/1442/3/2003001165.pdf">evolution of a new multicultural politics</a> from the interactions between <a href="https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/27005/4/2012006937OK.pdf">newcomers and older political forms</a> has been well documented.</p>
<p>This is not simply about religion; it’s about culture in a more complex sense. The electorate of Grayndler (where nearly 80% of respondents voted “yes”) takes in areas like Marrickville and Dulwich Hill and has a culture that is broadly cosmopolitan. Yet it borders with Watson (where the “yes” vote was as low as 30%), an electorate that can be thought of as almost a cluster of traditional villages. </p>
<p>So, too, in other communities we see <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-15/same-sex-marriage-how-my-dad-changed-his-mind/9152518">deep differences</a> between the older generations and their Australian-educated children. </p>
<p>Interestingly, most of the local MPs in these “no”-voting western Sydney seats are Labor MPs who are publicly supporting same-sex marriage. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194736/original/file-20171115-11275-1r22627.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194736/original/file-20171115-11275-1r22627.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194736/original/file-20171115-11275-1r22627.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194736/original/file-20171115-11275-1r22627.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194736/original/file-20171115-11275-1r22627.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194736/original/file-20171115-11275-1r22627.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1726&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194736/original/file-20171115-11275-1r22627.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1726&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194736/original/file-20171115-11275-1r22627.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1726&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marcella Cheng for The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>An electoral cycle ago, some of these MPs would have said they would abstain or vote against same-sex marriage if their electorate did not support it. They have moved on. They will take a deep breath and keep their fingers crossed when next they are up for election.</p>
<p>There are already alliances between conservative Christians, conservative Jews and conservative Muslims over some of these social issues. </p>
<p>My sense is we are going to see, over the coming years, some more religious, morally driven political movements around these regions, particularly in Muslim communities – the Muslim equivalent of the Australian Christian Lobby, if you will. We may see similar in Hindu and Sikh communities as well.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87509/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Jakubowicz is on the advisory board of MulticulturalNSW.</span></em></p>In the same-sex marriage survey, the ‘yes’ vote came in at 57.8% in NSW – but in some western Sydney electorates, the ‘yes’ vote was as low as 26%.Andrew Jakubowicz, Professor of Sociology, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/454282015-09-07T20:07:49Z2015-09-07T20:07:49ZMedia and social responsibility at a time of radicalisation<p>At the <a href="http://www.lindtinquest.justice.nsw.gov.au">ongoing coronial inquest</a> into the deaths arising from last year’s Lindt café siege in Sydney, experts cannot agree whether Man Haron Monis was <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-25/sydney-siege-inquest-hears-monis-a-radicalised-terrorist/6723172">a radicalised terrorist</a> or a mentally unstable <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/aug/26/sydney-siege-would-have-been-extremely-hard-to-predict-inquest-told">lone wolf</a> who used radical Islam as a “crutch”.</p>
<p>Throughout the inquest, prosecutors, solicitors and detectives are being grilled about their conduct and decisions made in the lead up to the siege. But one sector that hasn’t been subject to scrutiny is the media.</p>
<p>Is that a major omission? For 17 hours over December 15 and 16 last year, the siege played out live on the 24-hour news cycle. This coverage not only informed the public’s view of the situation as it unfolded, but shaped ideas about <em>why</em> it was taking place. </p>
<p>The media played a major role in the siege – from attempts by Monis to secure media attention, issue demands and speak directly to people such as the prime minister or journalists, to tweets and texts from hostages about developments inside the cafe. But how to put the media on trial, and for what purpose? </p>
<p>This article examines the particular stresses placed on the media when reporting about terrorism. It also examines the risks associated with reporters using social media as a “source”, and suggests that in an age of radicalisation, there needs to be a radical rethinking of which stories the media tells, and how. </p>
<h2>The siege</h2>
<p>The Sydney siege represents an unusual example of police and media organisations working together to produce coverage that didn’t play into the hostage-taker’s demands. </p>
<p>In fact the media’s reporting <a href="https://www.dpmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/170215_Martin_Place_Siege_Review_1.pdf">was praised</a> in the first official review of the siege, which was jointly conducted by the PM and cabinet and NSW Premier and Cabinet in January. </p>
<p>In a section titled Informing the public and engaging the media, the review stated:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Media reporting about the situation was measured and responsible <a href="E">…</a>xamples include radio presenters pulling callers off air if they expressed racist or inflammatory anti-Islamic views. Spokespersons conveying public messages about Monis’s actions during the siege were cautious in their choice of language.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But the report also cautioned that cooperation between the NSW Police Force and the media should not be “taken for granted”. It also recommended government-led training exercises for journalists.</p>
<p>Similar precautions were recommended by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) in its report, released in June, <a href="https://www.aspi.org.au/publications/gen-y-jihadists-preventing-radicalisation-in-australia/GenY_jihadists.pdf">Gen Y jihadists – Preventing radicalization in Australia</a>. </p>
<p>That report calls for greater cooperation between the media and counter-terrorism authorities. It also advocated for the establishment of media standards guidelines governing reporting about Muslim people in the context of terrorism.</p>
<p>The report warns:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>there are many examples in which reporting has been less than helpful, either by broadcasting the latest ISIL video or by using headlines that generate community anger rather than inform people.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In an interview with The Conversation for this story, <a href="https://www.aspi.org.au/research/find-an-expert/peter-jennings">ASPI executive director Peter Jennings</a> argued the media has become:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>cavalier in allowing unnecessary links to be made and assumptions about Islamic communities and terrorism.</p>
<p>The shock jocks have not been helpful, the tabloids vary a bit, but (enthusiasm for) jarring headlines (in newspapers) doesn’t help.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Jennings said reporting on social media activity presents a new challenge for media outlets. Terrorists understand it’s an outlet they can use, he said, and as such the risks associated with publishing their communications are significant. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>That’s the basis of a lot of reporting we see in the News Limited press. They need to put a lot of thinking into how they use social media and tracking twitter feeds. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Risks, benefits and active roles</h2>
<p>Last month, several news outlets <a href="http://newsinformer.info/au-national-news/sharroufs-daughter-defiant-about-fate-the-australian/">reported the tweets</a> of the 14-year-old daughter of the ISIL fighter Khaled Sharrouf. </p>
<p>Despite being attributed to “a Twitter account linked to Zaynab Sharrouf”, there was no apparent verification that it was actually her and not the ISIL propaganda machine producing the tweets. Stories detailed she had <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-29/karen-nettleton-describes-seeing-the-pictures-of/6582142">no desire to return to Australia</a>, contradicting claims by her inconsolable Australian grandmother <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/khaled-sharroufs-motherinlaw-karen-nettletons-plea-for-safe-return-of-her-child-and-grandchildren-20150623-ghvwd5.html">Karen Nettleton that Sharrouf’s family wanted to return home</a>.</p>
<p>So what is the value of reporting those tweets? Contrast it with last month’s <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/18/world/europe/jihad-and-girl-power-how-isis-lured-3-london-teenagers.html?_r=1">New York Times story</a> on the use of social media by ISIL to recruit young women. The story follows the path of three young English girls lured to Syria through propagandist images and texts on their mobile phones. </p>
<p>That article contextualises:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>a world in which teenage rebellion is expressed through a radical religiosity that questions everything around them. In this world, the counterculture is conservative. Islam is punk rock. The headscarf is liberating. Beards are sexy.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This echoes ASPI’s report in acknowledging that Gen Y jihadists share “a sense of injustice and humiliation, a need for identity and a need to belong”.</p>
<p>Peter Jennings argued the media must assume a more active role in what he calls the “social work end of counter terrorism”. He said the challenge is to normalise how we think about Muslim communities in Australia through drawing on success stories rather than inflammatory reports. </p>
<h2>Telling their own stories</h2>
<p>When <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/stage/nsw-poetry-slam-finalists-serving-up-words-with-an-impact-20141010-1136i0.html">Yasmin Lewis</a> was growing up she thought her grandparents’ names were Frank and Sue. The 23-year-old University of Western Sydney law student is descended from Turkish-Cypriot Muslims and Anglo-Irish Protestants.</p>
<p>Lewis eschews traditional media. She has a growing YouTube presence where she speaks to issues, and expresses herself with slam poetry:</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4KBKLqMH5h4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">If They Can Pronounce Shakespeare. Yasmin Lewis.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If They Can Pronounce Shakespeare, above, is her ode to grandparents Fuat and Sakarya – and has become something of an anthem for the “other”. In an interview for this article, Lewis said her generation is creating its own narrative because “you find a more culturally diverse Australia on YouTube”.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The media to some extent is a reflection of the politician’s views and the ones who are running the country. If you have Wi-Fi you can be your own producer.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In Lewis’s view, mainstream Australia has always had a problem with “the other” from its first peoples to its migrants. But she sees that situation as having a peculiar dimension with Muslims and the way they’re portrayed in mainstream media.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I hope that in future the marginalisation of Muslims will go the way it did for the others, the Italians and Greeks and other wogs. The raids in my local community were so personal and were an attack on the Muslim community, and that is different to the experiences of other groups in the past. It’s going to be harder to change and normalise.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Charters and new voices</h2>
<p>The charter obligations of both the <a href="http://about.abc.net.au/how-the-abc-is-run/what-guides-us/legislative-framework/">ABC</a> and <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/aboutus/corporate/index/id/25/h/SBS-Charter">SBS</a> require them to contribute to a sense of national identity and reflect the multicultural nature of Australia, but Peter Jennings said he could think of only one station that is performing its duty in that regard.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>National Indigenous Television’s (<a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/">NITV</a>) role is important. It has made a major contribution and done a lot of good work on what is normalisation.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But good work is being done elsewhere too. One publication designed specifically to target youth in danger of being radicalised is <a href="http://www.thepointmagazine.com.au/index.php">The Point Magazine</a>. Its first edition appeared online in July 2013, aimed at a readership of young, globally-aware and politically active Millennials from Australia’s multicultural community. </p>
<p>Produced by the Multicultural NSW Social Media Unit and funded by the Federal Government, its editor is Iraqi-born <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pub/widyan-fares/38/12b/637">Widyan Fares</a>, a former SBS cadet journalist and presenter of SBS Radio’s <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/shows/poparaby/">PopAraby</a> program.</p>
<p>She and Nawal Ali, who heads <a href="http://www.somalipodcast.org.au/about">Multicultural NSW’s Somali podcast project</a>, trawl through social media sites favoured by Gen Y to find what is trending and to identify misconceptions that are being circulated, some of them deliberately.</p>
<p>The magazine’s aim is to present a counter-narrative to what is being reported elsewhere; the stories it has covered range from radicalisation and foreign fighters, to dual citizenship and the AFP raids on communities. More introspective stories examine, for example, pressures places on outspoken Muslim women by their communities.</p>
<h2>Bringing multicultural press into the mainstream</h2>
<p>The Australian Press Council <a href="http://www.presscouncil.org.au/media-release-14-aug-2015/">announced last month</a> that it is “encouraging publications from the thriving multicultural press to join”. </p>
<p>For the first time since it was set up in 1976, the council is acknowledging the power of the ethnic press and its 300 newspapers, magazines and digital outlets and the need to control what they disseminate. How it will do this will be interesting, given a majority of these publications are in languages other than English. </p>
<p>[Pino Migliorino](http://www.ceh.org.au/dih/dih-about/organisers/pino_migliorino.html](http://www.ceh.org.au/dih/dih-about/organisers/pino_migliorino.html), a leading consultant to government and the private sector on multicultural issues, said having the ethnic press under the Press Council would be better, as in the past those outlets, where there was concern about reporting, would have had to resort to <a href="http://www.hrlc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/HRLC_Fact_Sheet_Australias_Racial_Vilification_Laws.pdf">Racial Vilification</a> laws.</p>
<p>Social work hasn’t traditionally been the remit of the media, but in a time of radicalisation the way information is gathered, and from which sources, should perhaps be subjected to greater scrutiny. As for the best way to do this, the jury is still deliberating.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45428/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Vatsikopoulos does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In an age of radicalisation, there needs to be a radical rethinking of which stories the media tells, and how.Helen Vatsikopoulos, Lecturer in Journalism, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/303972014-08-20T03:41:05Z2014-08-20T03:41:05ZDebate on free speech alone means little for minorities<p>Recent debates about freedom of expression in Australia have largely neglected the ethnic minority media sector. These debates came to a head in the lead-up to the federal government’s recent decision to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-06/abbott-insists-there-will-be-no-revival-of-racial-law-changes/5651414">abandon its weakening</a> of Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.</p>
<p>Some are refusing to give up the fight for the amendments. Family First senator Bob Day <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-09/bob-day-flags-plans-revive-racial-discrimanation-act-changes/5660236">plans to introduce a private member’s bill</a> to amend the legislation and some Liberals are still <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/cory-bernardi-warns-of-liberal-grassroots-alienation-over-section-18c/story-fn59niix-1227027187995">voicing their support</a> for the changes.</p>
<p>Those in favour of amending the act have argued for the importance of freedom of speech. Attorney-general George Brandis infamously declared that people have <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-30/george-brandis-ill-informed-on-right-to-be-bigots/5375302">“a right to be bigots”</a>. </p>
<p>What has been missing from the debate is any sustained discussion of ethnic minority media. A simplistic notion of “free speech” has often been bandied about as a catch-all justification for weakening racial discrimination laws. Had the nature of media itself, including inherent inequalities in terms of power and access, entered the debate, a more subtle argument might have emerged.</p>
<h2>Marginalised voices need to be heard</h2>
<p>Freedom of expression means little if it is not accompanied by a serious focus on the obligations and responsibilities of those in positions of power and influence, particularly those in the mainstream media. This includes the obligation to understand others and to recognise their right to be heard. This applies particularly to those who are marginalised from mainstream public debates.</p>
<p>Freedom of speech is no guarantee that those without access to the tools of public communication will have their voices heard, recognised or acknowledged. </p>
<p>One of the central functions of the Racial Discrimination Act, then, is that it goes some way to evening the playing field. It offers institutionalised protections to those whose voices are often silenced – in particular, ethnic minorities.</p>
<p>The act is a necessity for those who are often demonised in the mass media, but who lack the ability to respond.</p>
<p>Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner <a href="https://twitter.com/timwilsoncomau?original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2Flive%2F2014%2Faug%2F07%2Ffree-speech-2014-george-brandis-tim-wilson-to-speak-at-conference-live-updates&tw_i=496530499771195394&tw_p=tweetembed">Tim Wilson</a> reconfirmed his stance on Section 18c at a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2014/aug/07/free-speech-2014-george-brandis-tim-wilson-to-speak-at-conference-live-updates">free speech conference</a> in Sydney on August 7. He has previously justified his stance by arguing that with greater freedom of expression comes greater debate. This makes it more likely, so the argument goes, that racism and bigotry will be shouted down by a chorus of opposition voices.</p>
<h2>Free speech advocates ignore unequal access</h2>
<p>Such an approach assumes open and fair public debate, in which we all enjoy equal access to the central mechanisms of public communication: the mass media. For ethnic minorities this is demonstrably not the case.</p>
<p>Studies have shown that ethnic minorities are under-represented in Australian media content and media organisations. Not only do minorities enjoy less screen time, they are also <a href="https://theconversation.com/whose-views-skew-the-news-media-chiefs-ready-to-vote-out-labor-while-reporters-lean-left-13995">absent from the processes of news production</a>. </p>
<p>My research indicates that young African-Australian media producers, presenters and journalists find it hard to break into the mainstream media. Like other ethnic minority groups, African-Australians also lament the fact that they are seldom contacted when African issues or events are discussed in the mainstream press.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56839/original/qrn8yth4-1408495914.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56839/original/qrn8yth4-1408495914.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56839/original/qrn8yth4-1408495914.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56839/original/qrn8yth4-1408495914.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56839/original/qrn8yth4-1408495914.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=657&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56839/original/qrn8yth4-1408495914.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=657&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56839/original/qrn8yth4-1408495914.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=657&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Andrew Bolt, who inspired the so-called ‘Bolt law’ amendments, writes freely about minorities without seeking their side of the story.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/we_have_a_problem_and_not_just_with_african_beauty_pageants/">Herald Sun</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This situation has motivated Australia’s ethnic minority media producers to tell their own stories. Yet ethnic media outlets are under-funded, under-resourced and rely on the hard work and dedication of volunteers.</p>
<p>They also exist at the margins of the media landscape in Australia. Despite our multicultural make-up, Australian media outlets are still highly concentrated in the hands of a few.</p>
<p>The importance of legal protections against racism and bigotry was recently highlighted when the government sought to cut funding to community and, by default, ethnic minority media. </p>
<p>The National Ethnic and Multicultural Broadcasters Council <a href="http://www.nembc.org.au/nembc_home.php">protested strongly</a> against both the potential cuts to media funding and the proposed weakening of Section 18C. The council argued that any weakening of the Racial Discrimination Act would “water down the existing protections” and provide a “broad exemption for ‘public discussion’”. </p>
<p>In other words, expressions of racism and bigotry could be hidden under the auspices of public debate. The Racial Discrimination Act became known as the “Bolt laws” in media circles after a court found conservative columnist Andrew Bolt <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/andrew-bolt-x-racial-vilification-court-case/story-e6frg996-1226148919092?nk=eb5b190571171e852906d62be6ae24a8">contravened Section 18C</a>. This now infamous case led to battlelines being drawn in the mainstream media.</p>
<p>Until such public debate is carried out in a more balanced and equal media landscape, acts that guard against bigotry will be needed. For ethnic minority media the right to be understood, as well as the right to free speech, is vital. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30397/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Budarick does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Recent debates about freedom of expression in Australia have largely neglected the ethnic minority media sector. These debates came to a head in the lead-up to the federal government’s recent decision…John Budarick, Lecturer in Media, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.