tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/media-representation-35859/articlesMedia representation – The Conversation2023-07-27T00:56:42Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2089472023-07-27T00:56:42Z2023-07-27T00:56:42ZWhy the media aren’t helping to solve the ‘youth crime crisis’ they’re reporting<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537432/original/file-20230714-17-yp4n6z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2546%2C1680&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t49jRu_iWu8">7NEWS Australia/YouTube</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Media outlets across Australia have carried headlines about a “youth crime crisis” in recent months. While drawn from actual events, often involving serious criminality and antisocial behaviour, these often sensational reports have the same narrative subtext. The story is one of “bad kids” doing bad things in otherwise “good communities”. </p>
<p>Our understanding, as a society, of who we are is informed in part by the media. What the youth crime crisis is and who we understand young offenders to be corresponds with media framings of these individuals and their actions. </p>
<p>More often than not, the reports present a “good-bad” binary: where “bad” young people who do bad things should be locked up to protect “good” people. It’s a basic, albeit understandable, reaction that makes sense in terms of a logic of punishment and retribution.</p>
<p>For the <a href="https://youthcommunityfutures.org/">Youth Community Futures</a> research project, we have been working with groups of young people to explore how they engage with the community and how they feel about it. Our young people have said they are increasingly fearful and are conscious of being perceived negatively. They do not feel accepted by others or their communities. </p>
<p>In short, these young people feel they are viewed as “bad” because they are young. And when young people feel marginalised, the outcomes include withdrawing and becoming socially isolated. It also increases the potential for problematic anti-social behaviour – including crime. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537422/original/file-20230714-26239-jcarbi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Courier Mail, February 21 2023" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537422/original/file-20230714-26239-jcarbi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537422/original/file-20230714-26239-jcarbi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537422/original/file-20230714-26239-jcarbi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537422/original/file-20230714-26239-jcarbi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537422/original/file-20230714-26239-jcarbi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537422/original/file-20230714-26239-jcarbi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537422/original/file-20230714-26239-jcarbi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The front page of the Courier Mail on February 21 2023, when the newspaper launched its ‘Enough is Enough’ campaign.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-nts-tough-on-crime-approach-wont-reduce-youth-offending-this-is-what-we-know-works-160361">The NT's tough-on-crime approach won't reduce youth offending. This is what we know works</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Fuelling the fear of'folk devils’</h2>
<p>There is, of course, far more to the situation. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5288089/">Research</a> shows young people who engage in criminal activity are likely to have been victims themselves. The lives of many young offenders are complicated. Yet rarely are these situations and backgrounds factored into the media reports. </p>
<p>Beyond the circumstances of young offenders themselves, a further problem exists. When young people, as a defined social category, are presented in the media in such narrow terms, it becomes difficult to see them as anything other than threatening and dangerous. </p>
<p>Stanley Cohen’s seminal <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Folk-Devils-and-Moral-Panics/Cohen/p/book/9780415610162">sociology of British youth</a> from the 1960s demonstrates the ways that public sentiment often divorces from the facts of situations to create “folk devils”. When portrayals of young people, including those in the media, present them as threatening and menacing, it follows that public sentiment will be cast in similar ways. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1678702023599091712"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/three-ways-teenagers-are-misrepresented-in-society-101557">Three ways teenagers are misrepresented in society</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Blinding us to the complexities</h2>
<p>The challenge then is that it becomes difficult to understand the complexities of the situation and show empathy. This applies not only to “bad” young people, but to others who aren’t engaged in such problematic behaviour but who are caught within the narrow perceptions of who young people are. </p>
<p>This forms the central claim in our argument: the current youth crime crisis is as much a media-generated problem as it is a criminological problem. The way we understand and position young people as “folk devils” runs the risk of invoking fear and trepidation. Such fears lead the public to categorise all young people in problematic ways while failing to understand the complex challenges young people encounter. </p>
<p>More complex social narratives are required if we are to avoid a situation in which young people feel marginalised. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1673632265723850753"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-go-for-the-food-what-children-and-young-people-told-us-about-why-they-steal-from-houses-192857">'I go for the food': what children and young people told us about why they steal from houses</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>So, what is the solution?</h2>
<p>We need to develop deeper and more accurate understandings of who our young people are. This applies particularly to those who are caught up in criminality and anti-social behaviour. </p>
<p>Most young people do not set out in life to be “bad”. Their problematic behaviours are likely to be the result of complex challenges. Once we accept that, we have a responsibility to seek deeper understandings of the situations our young people face.</p>
<p>Sensationalist headlines that feed on public fears are not helpful. These might sell newspapers, but they do not make us stronger as a society. They create folk devils out of young people who probably require support, and they produce a fearful community. </p>
<p>We need to move beyond easy explanations and simple distinctions. While it is horrendous that homes are being broken into and cars stolen, understanding that the young people engaged in these activities are likely also victims themselves is important for realising that we, as a society, have an obligation to all individuals. </p>
<p>We need to ask why young offenders are in this situation. Once we acknowledge the importance of a better understanding of their circumstances, we can start to meaningfully resolve these social problems before they occur.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208947/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Hickey receives funding from the Queensland government. The authors acknowledge the contributions to the research by Stewart Riddle, Alarnah McKee, Danika Skye and Celmara Pocock.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachael Wallis receives funding from the Queensland government. </span></em></p>Media coverage is making young people feel they are all seen as ‘bad’ by a fearful community. Marginalising young people, while ignoring the complexities of their lives, won’t solve these issues.Andrew Hickey, Professor of Communications and Cultural Studies, University of Southern QueenslandRachael Wallis, Research Assistant, Youth Community Futures, University of Southern QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1956262023-01-11T21:34:04Z2023-01-11T21:34:04ZTo better address the needs of older populations, researchers and media should stop fussing over aging<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503690/original/file-20230109-7992-mvun5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C10%2C6873%2C4506&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Positive and negative stereotypes about aging have cultural and political implications that determine how societies care for their older generations.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The world seems to be obsessed with aging. The media is plagued with articles about <a href="https://www.economist.com/films/2021/12/21/the-true-costs-of-ageing">the costs of growing older</a>, <a href="https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2021/02/06/ageing-can-be-cured-and-in-part-it-soon-will-be">the cure to aging</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/31/well/live/aging-advice.html">secrets to aging successfully</a>. Alongside these concerns, we strive to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/13/well/live/stupid-things-i-do-when-get-old-book.html">age gracefully</a> or become “cognitive super-agers” — people <a href="https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/cognitive-super-agers-defy-typical-age-related-decline-brainpower">whose brains function like those of a much younger person</a>. </p>
<p>Not everyone fears aging. There are also those who embrace it, and suggest that, instead of viewing aging as something to overcome, we should view it as “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/9534/composing-a-further-life-by-mary-catherine-bateson/">second adulthood</a>” — an opportunity in life after retirement, to complete, consolidate and share experiences of lives that were meaningfully lived. But even in embracing aging, we seem to be defensive about it.</p>
<h2>Aging stereotypes in media</h2>
<p>The media is largely responsible for creating and driving ageist stereotypes of older adults. An analysis of more than one billion entries in British and American media databases found that negative aging descriptions <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168822">were six times higher than the positive descriptions</a>. </p>
<p>The study found that negative descriptions of older adults tended to be physical, like portraying them as frail. On the other hand, positive descriptions tended to be behavioural, such as portraying older adults as caring.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003046790-6/visual-representations-older-persons-eug%C3%A8ne-loos-jo-thijssen">Visual representations of aging create good and bad stereotypes</a>. Images of active and happy older adults create positive ageist stereotypes, while images of vulnerable and frail older adults create compassionate ageist stereotypes that are patronizing. These positive and negative stereotypes have cultural and political implications that determine how societies care for their older generations.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="An older woman sitting outside reading a book" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503689/original/file-20230109-17065-qx6px8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503689/original/file-20230109-17065-qx6px8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503689/original/file-20230109-17065-qx6px8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503689/original/file-20230109-17065-qx6px8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503689/original/file-20230109-17065-qx6px8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503689/original/file-20230109-17065-qx6px8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503689/original/file-20230109-17065-qx6px8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Images of active and happy older adults create positive ageist stereotypes, while images of vulnerable and frail older adults create compassionate ageist stereotypes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Najmeh Khalili-Mahani)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, a study about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00914150211024173">how older adults were portrayed in news media covering disasters in Canada</a> showed a mismatch in communication between journalists and the older individuals whose stories were reported. </p>
<p>The media portrayed older adults on a spectrum from vulnerable to heroic. By focusing on narratives of the brave older adult fighting for their home, journalists diverted the attention from the real need for disaster relief. </p>
<p>COVID-19 exposed the consequences of media ageism as well. One study found that news coverage of older adults in New Zealand treated them as a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03036758.2021.1884098">nameless, homogeneous group who were at risk and passive</a>. The consequence of such messaging became evident in high rates of insensitive and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fjgs.16508">stigmatizing comments about older adults on Twitter</a>. A cross-cultural study in the UK and Colombia showed that the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fjosi.12538">older adults were also angered by the protective ageism exercised during COVID-19</a>. </p>
<p>Our own investigation of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05581-2_26">the reactions on the social media to mainstream media articles about how older adults were coping with COVID-19 stress</a> showed that older adults strongly objected to the writers’ assumptions about their coping needs. We also found a generational difference between parents and children in understanding older adult coping resources.</p>
<h2>‘Successful aging’</h2>
<p>The concept of successful aging can be traced back to researchers John Rowe and Robert Kahn. In their 1987 study on different types of aging, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.3299702">they defined two distinct types</a>: successful aging (high functioning and low risk for developing age-related deficits) and usual aging (healthy but high risk for developing age-related deficits). They called on other researchers <a href="https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/article/37/4/433/611033">to seek interventions that increased the likelihood of belonging to the successful aging group</a>. </p>
<p>Helping older adults age successfully is now a worldwide research initiative. In 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced a collaboration with the United Nations’ agenda called <a href="https://www.who.int/initiatives/decade-of-healthy-ageing">the Decade of Healthy Ageing</a> to improve the lives of older people and their communities. </p>
<p>According to the WHO, healthy aging means the ability to maintain mental and physical capacity for staying mobile and active, making decisions, building and maintaining relationships, and contributing to society.</p>
<p>At first glance, concerns with aging seem to be motivated by a good cause, but upon closer inspection these concerns can be problematic. By overemphasising healthy aging, those who are unable to age successfully are implicitly stigmatized.</p>
<p>As gerontologist Tracey Gendron argues in her book <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/700435/ageism-unmasked-by-tracey-gendron/"><em>Ageism Unmasked</em></a>, overstating the necessity of retaining independence and functionality in later years of life gives rise to ageism.</p>
<h2>The catch-22</h2>
<p><a href="https://aging.columbia.edu/about/robert-butler">Robert Neil Butler</a>, the founding director of the National Institute on Aging, coined the term <em>Ageism</em> in 1969. In his highly cited article <em><a href="https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/article-abstract/9/4_Part_1/243/569551?redirectedFrom=fulltext">Age-Ism: Another Form of Bigotry</a></em> he wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We have chosen mandatory retirement from the work force and thus removed the elderly from the mainstream of life. Ageism is manifested in the taunting remarks about "old fogeys” in the special vulnerability of the elderly to muggings and robberies, in age-discrimination in employment independent of individual competence, and in the probable inequalities in the allocation of research funds.“</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Ironically, to further emphasize the necessity of increasing funding for studying aging, Butler reverted back to highlighting the narrative of age-related deficit: "persons 65 years of age and over account for 25% of all public mental hospital admissions.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An older woman doing biceps curls with a resistance band" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503693/original/file-20230109-9407-l58nun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503693/original/file-20230109-9407-l58nun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503693/original/file-20230109-9407-l58nun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503693/original/file-20230109-9407-l58nun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503693/original/file-20230109-9407-l58nun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503693/original/file-20230109-9407-l58nun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503693/original/file-20230109-9407-l58nun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">By overemphasizing healthy aging, those who are unable to age successfully are implicitly stigmatized.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is the catch-22, or <a href="http://www.nlpuniversitypress.com/html/D48.html">the double bind</a> created by paradoxical messaging from the same source. Like Butler, most researchers that focus on aging justify their proposals based on age-related deficits. </p>
<p>In a recent <a href="https://aging.jmir.org/2022/4/e43564/">literature review of assistive information technologies for healthy aging</a>, we found that the narrative of aging as a vulnerability or impending cost dominated the rationales for conducting research. </p>
<h2>Mind the language</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ageing-and-society/article/expressions-of-selfageism-in-four-european-countries-a-comparative-analysis-of-predictors-across-cultural-contexts/8EA6817D98346A0AED4B3126D74E1CF1">multinational study of self-ageism</a> shows that self-ageism — internalized prejudices against one’s own age — is culturally grounded.</p>
<p>Yale health professor Becca Levy has <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/breaking-the-age-code-becca-levy">extensively researched the adverse effects</a> of self-ageism on both mental and physical health. Beliefs about aging shape all aspects of our lives.</p>
<p>Negative stereotypes of aging <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnv094">mean older adults are less willing to seek help when they need it</a>. Ageism and a lack of age-friendly communications <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/cts.2022.1">alienate older adults from participating in research about their health</a>. This makes them shy away from seeking care, or participating in research that can benefit them.</p>
<p>Those who study successful aging are well aware that age — as a generalizing variable — does not predict the capacities or needs of older study participants. But then why do we keep using age as a numerical or categorical index?</p>
<p>This catch-22 is a conflict in communication — the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01924788.2021.1992712">words researchers use to communicate their goals matter</a>. If researchers wish to address the growing needs of older populations in a meaningful way and create effective assistive care strategies, they should stop sampling by age and start sampling by needs instead. To lock individuals into the narrative of age as a vulnerability means inevitably creating ageist stereotypes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195626/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Najmeh Khalili-Mahani received funding from FRQSC.</span></em></p>Locking individuals into the narrative of age as a vulnerability means inevitably creating ageist stereotypes.Najmeh Khalili-Mahani, Researcher, Director of Media-Health/Game-Clinic laboratory, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1811982022-09-15T11:58:27Z2022-09-15T11:58:27Z‘Too afraid to have kids’ – how BirthStrike for Climate lost control of its political message<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479875/original/file-20220818-8567-jvy2q9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=58%2C49%2C2344%2C1415&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Blythe Pepino, founder of BirthStrike, on the Tucker Carlson show.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saXUSm95fiw">YouTube</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In March 2019, Blythe Pepino, singer-songwriter and founder of the environmental activist group BirthStrike for Climate, appeared on the right-wing Tucker Carlson Tonight show <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saXUSm95fiw">on Fox News</a> in the US. </p>
<p>Carlson is a climate change denier, whose fans include Donald Trump and former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Yet, he started his interview with Pepino with a welcoming tone saying: “This story makes me sad, I don’t wanna attack you, I want to take what you’re saying seriously, but I’m not sure I understand why you’re choosing not to have children, so I would be grateful if you’d tell us.” In her early thirties and smartly turned out, Pepino came across as someone who was pushing back her trepidation to try and convey an important message. She told Carlson:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>BirthStrike isn’t about trying to stop other people from having children … we feel too afraid to have kids because we feel we are heading towards civilisation breakdown as a result of the environmental crisis.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Carlson – usually known for his confrontational interview style – remained apparently sympathetic, saying her answer was “sadder” than he was expecting. “You’re basically saying the species is over … we should in effect as a group end it, commit suicide?” </p>
<p>For Pepino, sharing her personal feelings about having children and the future they could face was intended to build solidarity and raise awareness. But her campaign raised a lot of people’s hackles and caused a lot of personal strife for her, ultimately leading to burnout and an early end for BirthStrike.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>This story is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> and is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects to tackle societal and scientific challenges.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Looking at the case of BirthStrike offers insights into public conversations about the climate crisis – and how they intersect with personal decision making, representations of women in the media and the thorny topic of how reproduction and environmental concerns might, and might not, be related. While BirthStrike achieved wide media coverage, we were in the privileged position to carry out in-depth research with members of the group, including Pepino. </p>
<p>What we found offers a salutary lesson about how core messages and themes can be misconstrued and misunderstood when put through a high-profile media lens. What we describe here centres on Pepino’s account, as a founder of the group and who we got to know over the course of our research. But our experience of researching and speaking with people about BirthStrike has made it clear that many accounts exist; many stories could be told and landing on a single or complete take on what BirthStrike was, meant, or achieved is not possible.</p>
<hr>
<iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/too-afraid-to-have-kids-how-birthstrike-for-climate-lost-control-of-its-political-message-181198&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<h2>What was BirthStrike?</h2>
<p>BirthStrike was founded by Pepino in the UK, but was open to people around the world. Pepino is a singer-songwriter who has experienced popularity and acclaim as part of the band <a href="http://www.entervaults.com/">Vaults</a>, whose music appeared on the soundtracks of the film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2322441/soundtrack">Fifty Shades of Grey</a> and a <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/john-lewis-christmas-advert-2016-song-cover-vaults-one-day-i-ll-fly-away-moulin-rouge-a7402706.html">John Lewis Christmas advert</a>. She now fronts the band <a href="https://www.babylegsrecords.com/mesadorm">Mesadorm</a>.</p>
<p>Birthstrike sought to draw attention to the severity of the existential threats of climate change through public discussions about how they would affect future generations. It curated video and written testimonials on its website and social media so people could share their personal concerns about having children in the climate crisis, while Birthstrike activists attended demonstrations, rallies and other climate-related events.</p>
<p>Pepino carefully explained her fear about the likely effects of the climate crisis and the need for people to come together to try and prevent it becoming worse through demanding government action and corporate accountability. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/saXUSm95fiw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>This conversation about how reproductive decision making might be entwined with anxieties about the future of humans on a warming planet has come to the fore in recent years. One well-known example is an <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-children-climate-change-aoc-instagram-young-people-a8797806.html">Instagram video</a> in which American congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez says: “There’s scientific consensus that the lives of children are going to be very difficult. And it does lead young people to have a legitimate question: Is it OK to still have children?” </p>
<p>BirthStrike aimed to provide a space for people – most, but certainly not all of whom, were younger women – to share and express their concerns about their future children’s lives in a world with an irrevocably changed climate. Pepino told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When I’m afraid of something, where I want to change something, I think about how can I make this into a piece of theatre? Or how do I communicate this by song? Or … how can I communicate and connect with people around this and do something? </p>
</blockquote>
<p>We carried out <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01459740.2022.2083510">in-depth interviews</a> with 16 members of BirthStrike and the similar climate activist groups, <a href="https://conceivablefuture.org/">Conceivable Future</a>, based in the US, and No Future No Children, based in Canada, as well as others with related concerns to talk about their thoughts and decision making when it came to having children during the climate crisis. We analysed media coverage and 164 testimonials on the collectives websites – all of which centre on the idea that children born today will have very difficult lives. For the people involved in these campaigns, this is both a source of personal grief and a motivation for activism to halt the climate crisis. </p>
<p>BirthStrike fascinates us as researchers because it was an activist intervention that mobilised powerful “normal” ideas, such as the desire to have children, and which capitalised on the privileged idea that, if young articulate women expressed fear about bringing children into the world, this would be sufficiently alarming to galvanise broader action. </p>
<p>Yet at the same time, it sought to effect radical ends and Pepino and the other leaders of BirthStrike genuinely wished to work towards a world in which everyone felt safe enough to enjoy family life. In this way, it was progressive and problematic at the same time. </p>
<h2>Sounding the alarm</h2>
<p>We first met Pepino in 2019 and have interviewed her several times since. We have found her to be an intelligent and articulate person who thinks seriously about issues, but also has a keen sense of fun. Drinking coffee in the sunny kitchen of her rented house in east London during the summer of 2021, we asked her to reflect on the story of BirthStrike.</p>
<p>In 2019, she was living in Stroud, a rural town in south-west England with a long history of involvement in the environmental movement. Attending an Extinction Rebellion (XR) seminar and reading <a href="https://unfccc.int/topics/science/workstreams/cooperation-with-the-ipcc/ipcc-special-report-on-global-warming-of-15-degc">the IPCC’s 2018 report</a> led her to “wake up” to the existential threats of climate change. She knew she needed to do something and an idea occurred to her, which became BirthStrike. </p>
<p>She started to discuss her fears about the existential threats of climate change with friends and members of XR, and her particular concerns about the future of any children she might have. She said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The impression I got [from others] was, ‘I’ve been thinking about this, I don’t know how to speak about it because it seems really taboo and almost too scary for me to say out loud’.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In our conversations, Pepino has reflected several times on how meeting her partner Josh had led to a profound conviction that she would like to have children with him. Yet, her deeper understanding of the climate crisis threw this into disarray. Like the other members of BirthStrike who joined her, she wondered how she could possibly bring children into a world facing ecological collapse. Another research participant described her feelings about finding BirthStrike like this:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It was quite empowering to come across BirthStrike, because it felt like going out and talking about it was another form of protest … It’s sounding the alarm and saying ‘this is how bad it is’ … saying that ‘I’m too scared about this exact same society that you’re living in, to have children in it’ … On some level I hope it might wake somebody up. I mean, that’s kind of why I do it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1102521679887052800"}"></div></p>
<p>In 2015, Pepino was involved in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMYadSJmJxQ">Each Body’s Ready</a> campaign against a notorious Protein World advert that many <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/apr/28/beach-body-ready-tube-ad-protest-protein-world">criticised</a> for being sexist and body-shaming. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/thank-you-bikini-terrorists-for-moving-us-on-from-throwback-diet-ads-now-eachbodysready-40973">Thank you bikini terrorists for moving us on from throwback diet ads – now #eachbodysready</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>She drew on this and her experience in the music industry when she decided in 2019 that she needed to spread the message about the climate crisis to the general public. The aim was to spark conversations and use her own (in her words) privileged status as a middle-class white woman to “pull everyone in” and provoke “fast change”. She told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Those are the people I was trying to get to, the privileged community. The point of BirthStrike in a way, was to get to those people, and I was most happy when we were in <a href="https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/reports/a37446765/climate-anxiety/">Cosmopolitan</a>, when we were in those kinds of magazines, where we would be talking to people who were still in that dream of like, ‘everything’s cool … the world’s really nice’, you know? </p>
</blockquote>
<p>One of the aspects of the climate crisis that particularly concerned her, as she tried to explain to Carlson, is the political inertia and mismanagement of environmental threats that has led to climate change being a present reality rather than a future threat. </p>
<p>She wanted to spread the message – and, perhaps, some of the fear that she felt – in order to persuade others to unite to pressure governments and corporations to act to prevent the worst predictions coming true. Though, as she later acknowledged to us, she became increasingly unconvinced that many journalists were understanding the nuance of her argument.</p>
<h2>An epiphany?</h2>
<p>At one point in his interview, Carlson suggested Pepino had had something akin to a religious conversion, and in some ways it is an apt comparison. The story she tells of her awakening to the existential threats of climate change does sound like an epiphany – it was a point of no return where she could no longer un-see the realities of the climate crisis, and felt compelled to warn others. </p>
<p>The 2021 Netflix film <a href="https://www.netflix.com/dk-en/title/81252357">Don’t Look Up</a> has been read as an analogy for inertia about the climate crisis. In the movie, PhD candidate Kate Dibiasky (played by Jennifer Lawrence) discovers an enormous comet headed for a collision course with the Earth. Along with her PhD adviser, Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio), she tries to convince the world of the threat that the comet poses for life on Earth while there might still be time to avert its course. They appear on television breakfast show, the Daily Rip, where the frivolous, and scientifically illiterate, treatment of their message by the show’s hosts infuriates Kate to the point where she screams, “we’re all going to die!”, only to be discredited on social media as a hysterical lunatic.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RbIxYm3mKzI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Watching Don’t Look Up, and the character of Dibiasky in particular, reminded us of Pepino and the struggle she had to be taken seriously as a conveyor of a very serious message. Both she and Kate were cropped-fringed Cassandras, trying to convince the world of an existential threat that was incontrovertibly supported by <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/">scientific data</a>. </p>
<h2>Losing control of the message</h2>
<p>While Pepino and other spokespeople for BirthStrike consistently emphasised that they had no intention to tell people what to do, this was often how their message was interpreted. Pepino told us how the media “ended up talking about population numbers a lot” and “constantly referring to fertility rates” which she felt undermined their call for system change.</p>
<p>This interpretation can be attributed to two existing narratives about climate change. The first of these is a “<a href="https://www.reference.com/world-view/definition-neo-malthusian-theory-3015a8d65f028b9e">neo-Malthusian</a>” argument that people should have fewer children because a growing human population contributes to carbon emissions. The second one is that people should take personal actions to mitigate their own impact on the environment. Both of these arguments, which were officially disavowed by BirthStrike, have been criticised: the first for ignoring the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/02/17/eugenics-is-trending-thats-problem/">insidious history</a> of population control, from mass murder during the Holocaust to compulsory sterilization in India in the 1970s and China’s one-child policy. It has been used to justify curtailing the sexual, reproductive and human rights of people on the grounds of race, people on low incomes, people with disabilities and people with diverse gender and sexual identities. The second argument has been criticised for deflecting responsibility away from corporations and governments which hold <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220504-why-the-wrong-people-are-blamed-for-climate-change">far greater responsibility</a> – and power – to prevent climate change than individuals. Pepino said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I knew right from the beginning that population was going to be an issue … So the name BirthStrike, I think, triggered a lot of populationism, essentially, in people’s brains most of the time. So whenever people did read pieces on us, unless it categorically was all about the fact that we weren’t doing a population thing, then it would often be misconstrued as a population thing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>She noted that some journalists didn’t know about the history of population control. Because of this, they didn’t understand the potential danger of inciting ideas about <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-should-be-wary-of-blaming-overpopulation-for-the-climate-crisis-130709">overpopulation</a>. </p>
<p>In reality there is clear evidence which shows that global human population is not increasing exponentially, but is <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/health-53409521">in fact slowing</a> and is predicted to stabilise at around 11 billion by 2100. It could be argued that focusing on human numbers obscures the true driver of climate change – modern capitalism’s focus on endless growth and profit accumulation. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-should-be-wary-of-blaming-overpopulation-for-the-climate-crisis-130709">Why we should be wary of blaming 'overpopulation' for the climate crisis</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The danger that Pepino described reached its grim nadir in recent <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/17/buffalo-shooting-suspect-eco-fascism">mass killings</a> by eco-fascists, animated by the “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/08/a-deadly-ideology-how-the-great-replacement-theory-went-mainstream">Great Replacement</a>” theory (which has repeatedly been pushed by Carlson). The theory is predicated on the premise that white Americans and Europeans are being actively “replaced” by immigrants of colour.</p>
<p>Another problem for the BirthStrike campaign was that sex and reproduction are usually thought of as private matters, so many were confused about the link that Pepino and others were making between their personal feelings and decisions and their political demand for systemic change to address the climate crisis. We are used to hearing about how we should care for the environment and reading lists of tips about how to reduce our carbon footprint, so it’s not surprising that many heard BirthStrike as an instruction not to have children in order to save the planet. </p>
<p>Sex and reproduction are still in many ways taboo subjects and many, especially those who are more conservative, do not want to hear about them in the media. Childlessness is also stigmatised, especially for women, while declining birth rates are causing some <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55226098;%20https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-46558562">governments</a> and <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2021/07/baby-bust-how-declining-birth-rate-will-reshape-world">public</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/03/27/do-it-for-denmark-campaign-wants-danes-to-have-more-sex-a-lot-more-sex/">commentators</a> to panic about ageing societies and the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/16/opinion/sunday/capitalism-children.html">future of humanity</a>. </p>
<p>Carlson, who is married to his boarding school sweetheart and has four children, ended his interview with some paternalistic counsel, remarking:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s a bit early for me to be giving you advice, but I just wanna end with this: I think you should have children, I think they solve a lot of problems, put things in perspective. You seem like a nice person …</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Carlson claimed to be taking Pepino’s concerns seriously though, like other rightwing commentators who discredited BirthStrike as just another example of “<a href="https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/stephen-kruiser/2019/03/23/birthstrike-movement-fights-climate-change-by-not-having-babies-or-something-n64547">climate hysteria</a>”, he framed this in terms of her personal feelings rather than her political opinion. His comment, “you seem like a nice person”, while apparently friendly, also implies a judgement about what “kind” of person should reproduce.</p>
<p>Pepino recognised that she was unsettling deeply held ideas about what <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691167480/making-a-good-life">makes a “good life”</a>. She said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s critiquing the very pro-natalist aspect of our society and how we’re led to believe that children equals good … I suppose we were playing with the shock element of disagreeing with that in order to show how fucked up things are, basically.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Carlson has a history of <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/2021-fox-news-still-spreading-dangerous-climate-denial">pushing climate denialism</a> and, during the interview, he made several attempts to reposition Pepino’s specific focus on climate change towards a narrative of the fall of western “civilisation” and political influence. Pepino had mentioned “civilisational collapse” as a likely outcome of the climate crisis and he picked up on this to suggest that her argument was that, “the species is over, we should effectively as a group commit suicide”. This kind of misanthropic argument has been rejected by Pepino, as it can invoke apathy and a sense of doom that can paralyse activism – precisely the opposite of what she was aiming to do with BirthStrike.</p>
<p>BirthStrike suffered a problem of representation – both in terms of who and what people understood the movement to be, and in how their message was interpreted and represented to the public by journalists. This is illustrated by the Carlson interview, but also by subtler approaches, such as frequently pairing BirthStrike with campaigners who are focused on “overpopulation” in <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/05/health/birthstrike-climate-change-scn-intl/index.html">articles</a> and <a href="https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/2019/session/the-battle-over-birth/">panel debates</a>. Or misrepresenting BirthStrike as only including <a href="https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/cwn/2019/march/scared-of-the-potential-danger-to-the-planet-some-british-women-go-on-birthstrike-nbsp">women</a>, or conflating BirthStrike’s specific argument with a generalised <a href="https://www.spiked-online.com/2019/08/02/the-turn-against-motherhood/">misanthropy</a> or <a href="https://quillette.com/2021/01/20/birthstrike-the-movement-to-end-all-movements/">anti-natalism</a>.</p>
<p>Conservative commentators like Carlson clearly have a reason to downplay or reframe such unambiguous messages about the existential threats of climate crisis, yet even for those who are more sympathetic to Pepino’s point of view, the message of existential threat is very troubling to hear. Indeed, Pepino’s own sense of despair when she realised the potential effects of climate change was precisely what led her to question whether having children was the right thing to do. When she read the <a href="https://unfccc.int/topics/science/workstreams/cooperation-with-the-ipcc/ipcc-special-report-on-global-warming-of-15-degc">2018 IPCC report</a> and attended her first XR seminar, she said she felt that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>… a lot of the fears I’d had about climate change and, and the environment and how humans treat the world were essentially coming true … and so I became sort of addicted to the idea of telling the truth [about the climate].</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Whose reproduction is newsworthy?</h2>
<p>Importantly, the critique of BirthStrike didn’t only come from the right. When we have told people about <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01459740.2022.2083510">our research</a> on this movement, those on the left sometimes dismiss those involved in BirthStrike and groups like it as just being “privileged” white, middle-class women who are demonstrating a sense of entitlement. In other words, why should anyone would care whether they have children or not? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Protestors holding signs and banners and wearing covid-19 masks and school uniforms." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479891/original/file-20220818-2226-al5pgb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479891/original/file-20220818-2226-al5pgb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479891/original/file-20220818-2226-al5pgb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479891/original/file-20220818-2226-al5pgb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479891/original/file-20220818-2226-al5pgb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479891/original/file-20220818-2226-al5pgb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479891/original/file-20220818-2226-al5pgb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A group of student protesters striking for climate change action in Melbourne, Australia, in May 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/melbourne-victoria-australia-may-21-2021-1978126466">Shutterstock/Christie Cooper</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This critique is a generalisation, of course – not everyone involved in BirthStrike fits this characterisation and Pepino herself deliberately tried to leverage her position as a white middle-class woman (and as someone with a media profile) to effect progressive goals. Nonetheless, it is crucial to recognise that, throughout history, some people’s reproductive decisions have been more respected and supported than others and that this tends to reflect how people are categorised by race, class, disability, gender and sexuality.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-a-national-crisis-uks-birth-rate-is-falling-dramatically-121399">'It's a national crisis': UK's birth rate is falling dramatically</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>As <a href="https://zora.medium.com/sorry-yall-but-climate-change-ain-t-the-first-existential-threat-b3c999267aa0">some commentators</a> have also pointed out, many people in marginalised groups and throughout history have experienced existential threat. So the idea of climate change’s threat to survival being a wake-up call reflects the relative privilege of those involved in the campaign.</p>
<p>As the campaign grew, the leadership expanded. Jessica Gaitán Johannesson became more involved in leading the group, and became co-founder. Johannesson is a writer, who published <a href="https://scribepublications.co.uk/books-authors/books/the-nerves-and-their-endings-9781913348656">a collection</a> of essays related to climate and responsibility, including one about her involvement in BirthStrike and her perspective as a queer woman of colour. </p>
<p>Reflecting on the experience Johannesson wrote: “Running BirthStrike taught me that using birth as a political tool, in a society that only sees individual choices and not the context in which they’re made, nor the incredible injustice surrounding them, inevitably leads to judgment. In a society mired in racism and exploitation, this is dangerous: whose children are deemed desirable? Who should be having fewer? It was a difficult lesson to learn in many ways, but one I’m also grateful for.” </p>
<h2>Burnout: the end of BirthStrike</h2>
<p>Ultimately, in the summer of 2021, the leadership of BirthStrike decided to disband the campaign and propose rerouting members towards a private group in which they could share their feelings and gain support, instead of an explicitly political campaign.</p>
<p>During 2020 and 2021, Pepino had conversations with her partner about the “political danger”, as he saw it, of getting involved in the population debate. She also asked for advice from researchers (including us) about why BirthStrike was being misrepresented as a campaign to tell people to have fewer children to reduce their carbon footprint. Further reflecting on this, Pepino said “the whole conversation about population is just inappropriate right now because we are too immature to have the conversation … We haven’t done our homework. We haven’t cooperated, we haven’t evened things out, we’ve not accounted for wealth inequality”.</p>
<p>It is no coincidence that this realisation about the political dangers of the campaign came at the same time in which people in the UK, US and all around the world were coming to recognise the true <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/george-floyd-black-lives-matter-impact/">scale</a> of racism and inequality in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the disproportionate effects of the pandemic on <a href="https://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/pmc/articles/PMC7211498/">racialised groups</a>.</p>
<p>This is apparent in the statement that BirthStrike released announcing its decision to end the campaign, which described how months of reflection and the public conversations about racial and social justice sparked by the Black Lives Matter movement had led to an understanding that it would be “dangerous” to continue in the same vein. </p>
<p>In the public announcement the group named the “flaws” in the campaign. First, they attributed the name itself, BirthStrike, to their being aligned with the neo-Malthusian argument that more children means a bigger carbon footprint. The statement continued:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Witnessing the loss of control of our narrative has been very distressing and humbling. We have to concede that we underestimated the power of ‘overpopulation’ as a growing form of climate breakdown denial – even in some of our most revered scientists and fellow climate activists.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The announcement reflected the intense consideration and reflection that Pepino and others put into BirthStrike and its future, as well as the importance of understanding the histories of previous activism around reproductive rights and environmental justice when starting a new campaign. </p>
<p>So, why did BirthStrike come to an end? As well as the leaders’ own sense of it having become dangerous, the fundamental problem for BirthStrike was the tension between individual reproductive decision making and the much broader “ask” of rapid structural change from governments and corporations to arrest the climate crisis. This tension ultimately confused their message. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/czZIYN51DiQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The wide audience that BirthStrike were trying to reach found it hard to hear the message about the existential threats of climate change. Pepino aimed to raise the alarm but, for many, it was just too alarming. As she told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think a lot of those [media] interviews, not only was it a prism of their not really understanding, but it was also a real inability to connect with the full emotional truth of what’s happening.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The implication of this message, that individual actions will not solve the crisis, also exacerbated the anxiety and uncertainty of this historical moment. Nonetheless, along with other contemporary social movements, BirthStrike did open up a space for discussion and provide a forum for people to discuss their concerns about having children in a warming world. Reflecting on this after the disbanding of BirthStrike in 2021, Pepino told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m still worried that its overall effect has been to amplify populationism as a topic, essentially … Then again, it did give a lot of the people who joined a sense of community … which was really useful, I think, for a lot of people who were really struggling at that time.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Historically, climate activism has focused on extreme weather events and their consequences. But the environmental crisis is also bound up with how people think about the future and what kind of world they want to live in. For many, this prompts thoughts about future generations – whether their own children, or a more generalised sense of people who will be born in coming decades, as well as the kinds of responsibilities that current generations bear towards them. Yet, attempts to appeal to apparently universal values, like women’s desire to be mothers, are tricky because they can reinforce norms of gender, family and sexuality. </p>
<p>Pepino has never completely discounted the idea of ever having children but recognised she needed to slow down and take care. She reflected:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I realised I was burnt out. I had a lot of health issues that I needed to look at … As a sensitive, artistic human, essentially, I could pretend to be that person for a bit. But I’ve given up on abusing my mind and my body to the point where I can be someone else, because I saw the road and the road was ill health.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The short history of BirthStrike shows that raising the alarm can be galvanising for some, but paralysing for others. Similarly, eye-catching demands can succeed in grabbing attention, including that of those who are not normally interested in these topics, but this can come at the cost of losing control of the political message. Because of the flaws in the campaign, the message about the existential threats of climate change and the likely unstable future of children born today often went unheard. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>For you: more from our <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Insights series</a>:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-scientists-concept-of-net-zero-is-a-dangerous-trap-157368?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Climate scientists: concept of net zero is a dangerous trap
</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/sexual-exploitation-by-un-peacekeepers-in-drc-fatherless-children-speak-for-first-time-about-the-pain-of-being-abandoned-188248?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Sexual exploitation by UN peacekeepers in DRC: fatherless children speak for first time about the pain of being abandoned
</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-public-cost-of-private-schools-rising-fees-and-luxury-facilities-raise-questions-about-charitable-status-182060?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">The public cost of private schools: rising fees and luxury facilities raise questions about charitable status
</a></em></p></li>
</ul>
<p><em>To hear about new Insights articles, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value The Conversation’s evidence-based news. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-2?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK"><strong>Subscribe to our newsletter</strong></a>.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/social-media-and-society-125586" target="_blank"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479539/original/file-20220817-20-g5jxhm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=144&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="100%"></a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181198/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katharine Dow receives research funding from the Wellcome Trust. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather McMullen 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>BirthStrike offers a salutary lesson about how core messages can be misconstrued and misunderstood when put through a high-profile media lens.Katharine Dow, Senior Research Associate, Department of Sociology and Deputy Director of the Reproductive Sociology Research Group, University of CambridgeHeather McMullen, Lecturer, Centre for Public Health & Policy, Queen Mary University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1499862020-11-18T18:54:59Z2020-11-18T18:54:59ZThere’s a big problem with the Murdoch media no one is talking about — how it treats women leaders<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369933/original/file-20201118-15-nhiwpz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ben McKay/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has long dominated the Australian media landscape, wielding great <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mitchell_Hobbs/publication/269710349_'Kick_this_mob_out'_The_Murdoch_media_and_the_Australian_Labor_Government_2007_to_2013/links/5494b4230cf20f487d2c4715.pdf">political and cultural influence</a>. </p>
<p>Former prime minister Kevin Rudd’s <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/petition_list?id=EN1938">record-breaking petition</a> calling for a royal commission into Australian media ownership has once again put this issue in the spotlight. It has gained more than <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-09/media-diversity-petition-started-by-kevin-rudd-lodged-parliament/12863982">500,000 signatures</a> and led to a <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/senate-votes-to-hold-media-diversity-inquiry-after-record-breaking-murdoch-petition">Senate inquiry</a> into media diversity. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/paper-chase-why-kevin-rudds-call-for-a-royal-commission-into-news-corp-may-lead-nowhere-147996">Paper chase: why Kevin Rudd's call for a royal commission into News Corp may lead nowhere</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Rudd has described News Corp as a “<a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/cancer-on-our-democracy-kevin-rudd-calls-for-inquiry-into-murdoch-media-dominance">cancer on democracy</a>”, while fellow former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has labelled it “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/nov/10/qa-malcolm-turnbull-clashes-with-news-corps-paul-kelly-over-climate-coverage">pure propaganda</a>,” and slammed its “campaign on climate denial”. Labor’s Julia Gillard, has also made <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/julia-gillard-blasts-biased-murdoch-news-corp-20141028-11ctmj">similar claims</a>. </p>
<p>However, these discussions fail to consider how the Murdoch press is particularly hostile towards women politicians.</p>
<h2>How does the Murdoch press represent women?</h2>
<p>While <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/media-gender-stereotypes-worse-for-gillard-than-for-thatcher/11996326">studying media representations</a> of women in politics, I’ve noticed a stark difference in Murdoch press coverage of men and women leaders.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard leaving a press conference at Parliament House." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369927/original/file-20201118-17-i2f244.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369927/original/file-20201118-17-i2f244.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369927/original/file-20201118-17-i2f244.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369927/original/file-20201118-17-i2f244.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369927/original/file-20201118-17-i2f244.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369927/original/file-20201118-17-i2f244.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369927/original/file-20201118-17-i2f244.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There is a difference in the way male and female leaders are represented in News Corp papers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lukas Coch/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My research, recently published in <a href="https://t.co/0OdPkrP4NL?amp=1">Feminist Media Studies</a>, compared Australian media portrayals of Gillard’s prime ministerial rise with that of Helen Clark’s in New Zealand. Both leaders experienced a sexist focus on their gender, appearance and personal lives. But it was far more frequent and intense for Gillard. </p>
<p>My research suggests two key explanations for this contrast: the different political contexts they operated in, and the dominating influence of the Murdoch press in Australia versus its absence in New Zealand. </p>
<p>As Rudd has argued, the Murdoch press is hyper-partisan and ideologically driven, “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/how-much-influence-does-the-murdoch-media-have-in-australia-20201015-p565dk.html">blending editorial opinion with news reporting</a>”. News Corp is also known to reward Murdoch’s allies, while <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/sep/20/very-australian-coup-murdoch-turnbull-political-death-news-corps">damaging his enemies</a>. </p>
<p>Yet this has notably gendered ramifications. Murdoch’s conservative morality, traditionalist values, and opposition to left-wing movements appear constantly in his newspapers, making them uniquely hostile to women. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/courting-the-chameleon-how-the-us-election-reveals-rupert-murdochs-political-colours-149910">Courting the chameleon: how the US election reveals Rupert Murdoch's political colours</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Gillard did not simply threaten the political status quo as Australia’s first woman prime minister. As an unmarried, child-free, atheist woman from the left of the ALP, she also threatened Murdoch’s conservative ideology. His newspaper therefore portrayed Gillard in a highly gendered — even misogynistic — manner <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10361146.2017.1374347">intended to undermine</a> her. This was evident in the criticisms of her fashion choices, such as a headline condemning her “technicolour screamcoat” in The Daily Telegraph.</p>
<h2>Things have not changed since Gillard’s days</h2>
<p>Though it’s been ten years since Gillard became prime minister, not much has changed. News Corp papers continue to attack women in politics, especially if they are from the left. </p>
<p>Queensland Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is another seasoned veteran of News Corps’ sexist coverage. This includes the Sunshine Coast Daily’s 2019 <a href="https://theconversation.com/queensland-paper-backtracks-after-using-violent-imagery-to-depict-annastacia-palaszczuk-117501">front page image</a>, which featured Palaszczuk in crosshairs with the headline, “Anna, you’re next”. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1130361877316263936"}"></div></p>
<p>More recently, <a href="https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/is-palaszczuk-now-punishing-sydneysiders-over-a-personal-gripe-she-has-with-gladys/news-story/658631747c9158d544f637076cbbcac1">The Courier Mail</a> labelled her dealings with Liberal NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian over border closures, “schoolgirl behaviour”. </p>
<p>Even Liberal women aren’t immune from sexist coverage. Julie Bishop, the Coalition’s former foreign affairs minister, was likened to the power-hungry “Lady Macbeth” by <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/nation/to-be-or-not-to-be-julie-lady-macbeth-bishop-is-the-voters-pick/news-story/3a7fad34421e5d4d325a23d7f3512ae3">The Australian</a> for her 2018 leadership tilt. She was also <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/opinion/libs-would-never-have-looked-to-starstruck-bishop/news-story/fa44f51f9aa63cbf36743fac9996d102">ridiculed</a> by the same paper for calling out the Liberal party’s sexist bullying culture.</p>
<p>Berejiklian has also endured sexist reportage, particularly during the recent scandal over her relationship with disgraced former NSW MP Daryl Maguire. One <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/premier-gladys-berejiklians-wedding-fantasy-defies-laws-of-blokespeak/news-story/10ada392f2091ec28b114395c1efe87b">Daily Telegraph</a> article waxed lyrical about her supposed “wedding fantasy”, a “feminine albeit old-fashioned thing to do” which, they argued, might have kept a workaholic like Berejiiklian “sane”. </p>
<p>However, the News Corp’s partisan bias towards the Coalition is also evident in these stories. Rather than holding Berejiklian to account, the Murdoch press largely ran <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/why-berejiklian-should-stand-firm-in-this-sad-icac-affair/news-story/140cd04fd2b5a57a287bd991612535c0">sympathetic stories</a> about the premier’s behaviour. This starkly contrasts with the onslaught of sexist coverage Gillard received during the <a href="https://theconversation.com/awu-scandal-says-more-about-the-medias-ethics-than-the-pms-11035">AWU affair</a>, which haunted her for the rest of her term in office.</p>
<h2>International leaders also under attack</h2>
<p>Australian women aren’t the only targets. The <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/16/jacindamania-set-to-return-jacinda-ardern-as-new-zealand-pm">globally popular</a> New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has frequently borne the brunt of biased News Corp coverage. </p>
<p>In the lead up to the 2020 New Zealand election, columnist Greg Sheridan argued Ardern doesn’t live up to the hype, <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/jacinda-ardern-goes-global-but-kiwis-pay-the-price/news-story/97286e9e9a8ec08d1dd40dddfcd573d6">claiming</a> in The Australian,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>part of the international Jacindamania comes from the fact she is a young left-wing woman who gave birth in office and took maternity leave.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sheridan also labelled her government’s COVID-19 response and progressive style of politics as “inherently authoritarian” that also “enjoys bossing people around”. </p>
<p>When Ardern won the election in a historic landslide, The Australian <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/danger-across-the-ditch-as-incompetent-leader-ardern-wins-office/news-story/6dfed9819cbe1334602cbc240dfe1b7f">responded with a piece</a> describing her as “grossly incompetent” and “the worst person to lead New Zealand through this economic turbulence”. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1317942066379280384"}"></div></p>
<p>Notably, the clear bias here drew criticism from the <a href="https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/10/disgraceful-australian-columnist-slammed-for-calling-jacinda-ardern-grossly-incompetent.html">New Zealand press</a>. </p>
<p>In August, Johannes Leak’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-australians-racist-kamala-harris-cartoon-shows-why-diversity-in-newsrooms-matters-144503">cartoon</a> in The Australian, also received <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/17/business/media/murdoch-racism-kamala-harris.html">international condemnation</a> for its misogynistic and racist depiction of vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1294078231197310976"}"></div></p>
<h2>Don’t forget gender</h2>
<p>It is clear the Murdoch press has a “woman problem”. </p>
<p>This poses a real obstacle for women in politics, especially those who oppose Murdoch’s conservative ideology. But it also broadcasts a message about women’s roles and place in society more generally — that no matter how privileged or powerful a woman might be, it’s nearly impossible to escape sexist commentary and the objectifying male gaze.</p>
<p>This is why it is so essential to hold the Murdoch press to account in a specifically gendered light.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149986/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Blair Williams 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>There is a renewed discussion about the role of News Corp in Australia. But so far, this is ignoring how the Murdoch press is particularly hostile towards female politicians.Blair Williams, Associate Lecturer, School of Political Science and International Relations, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1382622020-05-25T19:48:16Z2020-05-25T19:48:16ZMindy Kaling’s ‘Never Have I Ever’ makes me feel hopeful about representation, gender and race<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336558/original/file-20200520-152349-1pxhstq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=83%2C16%2C1293%2C911&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, left, stars in _Never Have I Ever_ as Devi, a delightful protagonist who has endearing, thoughtful friends with stories of their own, Fabiola (Lee Rodriguez), center, and Eleanor (Ramona Young), right.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Lara Solanki/Netflix)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Television depictions of South Asians can be uneven at best — <em>Big Bang Theory</em>, <em>Homeland</em>, <em>Saving Hope</em>, <em>24</em>, to name a few. When I sat down to watch the new Mindy Kaling-produced sitcom, <em>Never Have I Ever</em>, for the first time, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. </p>
<p>Some reviewers critiqued the show for its unevenness, <a href="https://www.flare.com/tv-movies/never-have-i-ever-representation/">the stereotypes</a> and <a href="https://www.laineygossip.com/mindy-kalings-never-have-i-ever-gets-off-to-rough-start-but-takes-on-new-life-after-episode-three/66166">having Indian culture explained by former tennis star John McEnroe</a>. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, <em>Never Have I Ever</em> is a fresh, fun and poignant addition to television’s repertoire of coming-of-age stories. With its tender portrayal of imperfect teens navigating a complex world, it is reminiscent <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/aug/26/my-so-called-life-claire-danes-show-that-changed-tv">of <em>My So-Called Life</em></a>, which starred Claire Danes. </p>
<p>Although Danes’s character Angela is more introverted than Maitreyi Ramakrishnan’s hotheaded and occasionally self-destructive Devi Vishwakumar, both young women are the core of their stories, frequently awkward and at risk of missing out on real friendships and love as they pursue handsome, popular and vulnerable young men. </p>
<h2>Devi and Indian girl adolescence</h2>
<p>For Devi, of course, the travails of high school politics are even more acute because of her refusal to acknowledge the grief she feels over the death of her father. She also struggles with confusion over her identity; as a young American woman of Indian descent, Devi doesn’t know — or want to know — how to feel comfortable in the skin that marks her as different.</p>
<p>It’s a battle that <a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/dreaming-in-canadian">many second-generation and third-generation immigrants know well</a> — <a href="https://doi.org/10.20355/C5901G">we are marked</a> as having a particular identity but <a href="http://tupress.temple.edu/book/3128">either don’t want to enact it or don’t know how</a>. And yet, persistently, we are told that we must. </p>
<p>In some ways, this theme underpins the story of showrunner Kaling, and has formed part of the backdrop for the interest in <em>Never Have I Ever</em>. Regardless of her success, she is often asked to explain why she hasn’t paid more homage to her Indian roots, to account <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/ywy9zm/mindy-kaling-is-finally-changing-her-disappointing-track-record-on-diversity">for the whiteness in her writers’ rooms and for the fact that her character on <em>The Mindy Project</em> dated mainly white characters</a>. </p>
<p>Kaling is singled out on the basis that women of colour who succeed are obligated to remember their minority status, and to extend a helping hand to other people of colour. Indeed, artists such as director Ava DuVernay, show creator Shonda Rhimes and screenwriter/producer Lena Waithe are <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/ywy9zm/mindy-kaling-is-finally-changing-her-disappointing-track-record-on-diversity">rightly applauded for having opened doors of opportunity to others</a>. At the same time, the notion that we should be particularly critical of a woman of colour — more critical than we are of white showrunners, it seems — for not promoting visible minorities <a href="https://www.elle.com/culture/a29340748/mindy-kaling-interview-2019/">seems like a rather noxious double standard</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HyOCCCbxwMQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Released in April, Mindy Kaling-produced <em>Never Have I Ever</em> depicts the life of Devi, an Indian American teenage girl.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The enlightened racism of television</h2>
<p>With <em>Never Have I Ever,</em> Kaling is responding to her critics. The cast is gloriously diverse with characters who are Black, Asian, South Asian, Jewish and gay. (Devi’s hunky crush is half Japanese, and his sister is a person with Down Syndrome.) But the appeal of the show is not just that the cast is diverse. </p>
<p>One of the main criticisms of <em>The Cosby Show</em> (before the sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby, that is) was that the show portrayed a successful family who <em>just happened</em> to be black — a perspective that <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/watching-race">television scholars such as Herman Gray</a> have criticized. </p>
<p>As media scholars Sut Jhally and Justin Lewis argue, this <a href="https://books.google.ca/books/about/Enlightened_Racism.html?id=vzGopxuoksoC&redir_esc=y">enables a form of enlightened racism</a>. That is, the presence of people of colour on screen begs the question: does the text engage meaningfully with what it means to be a person of colour in a society shaped by racism? </p>
<p>Devi doesn’t just happen to be brown. It’s a significant part of her identity, and part of her coming-of-age, coming-to-terms-with-herself story. And yet, her brownness is not the entirety of who she is. </p>
<p>She is a rebellious teen who chafes at her mother’s strict rules, misses her father, can be self-centred in the way of teenagers, uses some of her prayers to ask earnestly for a thinning of her arm hair (believe me, the young women of South Asian origin get it), and is trying to reconcile the vision of sexuality she sees in the media with the reality before her. </p>
<h2>A future of Devis</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.trutv.com/shows/the-problem-with-apu">Unlike other brown characters who have appeared on television before her, such as <em>The Simpson’s</em> Apu</a>, Devi is more than a sidekick or a figure of fun. She drives the narrative, and in ways that are alternately inspiring, cringe-worthy and relatable. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1260822148404273152"}"></div></p>
<p>And while Devi’s mother and cousin Kamala do invoke stereotypes of Indian culture and gender, they are also smart, strong and good-hearted — even if Devi’s mother has a tough exterior and Kamala presents initially as a Bollywood trope. Clearly, the show isn’t perfect, and <a href="https://www.flare.com/tv-movies/never-have-i-ever-representation/">as the actress portraying Devi has noted</a>, Devi is only one representation of South Asian culture. </p>
<p>The arrival of <em>Never Have I Ever</em> on the television scene carries with it a sense of promise: of future seasons where we learn more about Devi and where she learns more about herself. Hopefully, future shows will have representations of other girls of different backgrounds. When we have enough of those representations, there won’t be quite so much pressure riding on a show like this one.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138262/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Faiza Hirji 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>“Never Have I Ever” is a fresh, fun and poignant addition to television’s repertoire of coming-of-age stories, especially for stories of Indian teenage girls.Faiza Hirji, Associate Professor Department of Communication Studies and Multimedia, McMaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1224642019-09-01T19:47:39Z2019-09-01T19:47:39ZOn an average day, only 1% of Australian news stories quoted a young person. No wonder so few trust the media<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290054/original/file-20190829-106524-vykecs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C10%2C7200%2C4774&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">One clear way for news organisations to begin building trust with young people is to start including them in news stories in meaningful ways. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tim Mossholder/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On one unremarkable day in April this year, just over a third of news stories were about issues likely to impact young people, such as policies to address climate change, school teacher training, the impact of automation on future employment and proposed social media regulation.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://westernsydney.edu.au/medialiteracy/research/snapshot">snapshot study</a> analysed the television and newspaper news in Australia on April 1, 2019. And our aim was to critique how young Australians aged four to 18 were included and represented in these traditional news forms that remain influential and popular, despite the rise of social media. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/media-files-australians-trust-in-news-media-is-falling-as-concern-over-fake-news-grows-119099">Media Files: Australians' trust in news media is falling as concern over 'fake news' grows</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In total, we analysed 276 news stories across eight national, state and regional newspapers and four national and state television news bulletins. </p>
<p>Of all the news stories we examined, only 11% included the views or experiences of young people. Usually, their inclusion was via adult mediators like parents, police and experts. Just 1% of news stories directly quoted a young person.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290044/original/file-20190829-106517-w6q6ny.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290044/original/file-20190829-106517-w6q6ny.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290044/original/file-20190829-106517-w6q6ny.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290044/original/file-20190829-106517-w6q6ny.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290044/original/file-20190829-106517-w6q6ny.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290044/original/file-20190829-106517-w6q6ny.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290044/original/file-20190829-106517-w6q6ny.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290044/original/file-20190829-106517-w6q6ny.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The topic of news stories where young people are the focus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When young people were included in the news, we found it was most likely related to accidents and social welfare. They were absent from stories about the economy, politics, the environment and climate change. </p>
<h2>Young people used as visual props</h2>
<p>We also found young people were ten times more likely to be seen rather than heard in the news. </p>
<p>Of the news stories we analysed that day, 11% included a photograph or video footage of a young person or young people. Television news included images of young people almost twice as often as newspapers. </p>
<p>However, our analysis of these images finds young people are usually only peripherally included in the substance of the story, often acting as visual props to introduce colour or emotion, rather than being an integral part of the story itself. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-fake-news-gets-into-our-minds-and-what-you-can-do-to-resist-it-114921">How fake news gets into our minds, and what you can do to resist it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In this way, young Australians are not being given opportunities to speak about themselves and their experiences, with journalists not consulting them or taking them seriously. </p>
<p>The Australian news media provide an important lens through which we see ourselves and our nation: they both reflect and influence public discourse and priorities. So young people should be meaningfully included in the news to ensure we are all better informed of their views and experiences.</p>
<h2>A trust crisis affecting the future of news</h2>
<p>We’ve been hearing a great deal about the future of news media in recent years. Usually these public conversations focus on how news organisations survive in the digital age; the role of <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-richard-boyle-and-witness-k-to-media-raids-its-time-whistleblowers-had-better-protection-121555">whistleblowers</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/media-raids-raise-questions-about-afps-power-and-weak-protection-for-journalists-and-whistleblowers-118328">journalists</a> in a global news environment; and the issue of so-called <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-fake-news-gets-into-our-minds-and-what-you-can-do-to-resist-it-114921">fake news</a> and its impact on democracy. </p>
<p>These issues are all urgent and complex. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that they have been the focus of our efforts in Australia to address problems associated with news. This includes through two ongoing parliamentary enquiries: <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/focus-areas/inquiries/digital-platforms-inquiry">one by the ACCC</a> focused on news and digital platforms, and a second focused on <a href="https://theconversation.com/parliamentary-press-freedom-inquiry-letting-the-fox-guard-the-henhouse-119820">press freedom</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-richard-boyle-and-witness-k-to-media-raids-its-time-whistleblowers-had-better-protection-121555">From Richard Boyle and Witness K to media raids: it’s time whistleblowers had better protection</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But surely the crisis in trust of the news media is just as urgent as these other issues. </p>
<p>The Australian 2019 Digital News report <a href="https://theconversation.com/australians-are-less-interested-in-news-and-consume-less-of-it-compared-to-other-countries-survey-finds-118333">found</a> just 44% of adults trusted Australian news. And our own 2017 survey of 1000 young Australians aged eight to 16 <a href="https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/1331847/EMBARGOED_to_Monday,_November_20,_2017._News_and_Australian_Children,_How_Young_People_Access,_Perceive_and_are_Affected_by_the_News-small1.pdf">found</a> just 23% have high levels of trust in news media organisations. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290046/original/file-20190829-106517-1tvm4sz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C4%2C2733%2C1815&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290046/original/file-20190829-106517-1tvm4sz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C4%2C2733%2C1815&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290046/original/file-20190829-106517-1tvm4sz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290046/original/file-20190829-106517-1tvm4sz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290046/original/file-20190829-106517-1tvm4sz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290046/original/file-20190829-106517-1tvm4sz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290046/original/file-20190829-106517-1tvm4sz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290046/original/file-20190829-106517-1tvm4sz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">More representation of young people in the news will boost their trust in the media.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Keenan Constance/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This lack of trust is important to consider since many of the young people who responded to our national survey said they felt passionate about the role news played in their lives. </p>
<p>For instance, a boy in our study, aged 12 from Queensland, said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Kids need to understand the world around us and not to just get scary news like murders and hurricanes [but] more news about jobs of the future and things that will be more helpful for our age group.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And a girl, 10, from Tasmania said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[News] helps me understand the world and know what’s going on and how it might affect me and my family and friends.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>It’s likely young people’s lack of trust in news organisations is closely linked to their lack of representation.</p>
<p>One clear way for news organisations to begin building trust with young people is to start including them in news stories in meaningful ways. </p>
<p>It doesn’t have to be complicated. For example, in the many instances where young people are photographed, but not quoted, they could be asked to give their opinion or relay their experience. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australians-are-less-interested-in-news-and-consume-less-of-it-compared-to-other-countries-survey-finds-118333">Australians are less interested in news and consume less of it compared to other countries, survey finds</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>News organisations could also direct resources to undertake research about stories involving young people. They could build connections with youth-focused organisations who are well connected to young people, familiar with their experiences and with current research.</p>
<p>And they could track who they include as sources, experts and witnesses (considering gender, age range, race and ethnicity) to support organisational reflection on representation and bias.</p>
<p>This will take time and resources, but it seems prudent at a time when news organisations are trying to rebuild the public’s confidence in news integrity and support their own future viability.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122464/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research report discussed in this article is part of project, Advancing the News Media Literacy of Young Australians. This project is funded by the Museum of Australian Democracy, Google Australia and Western Sydney University. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research report discussed in this article is part of project, Advancing the News Media Literacy of Young Australians. This project is funded by the Museum of Australian Democracy, Google Australia and Western Sydney University.</span></em></p>Of all the news stories examined in a snapshot study, only 11% included the views or experiences of young people. And that inclusion was usually via adults.Tanya Notley, Senior Lecturer in Digital Media, Western Sydney UniversityMichael Dezuanni, Associate professor, Creative Industries Faculty, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1167952019-06-13T12:41:51Z2019-06-13T12:41:51Z‘I still get tweets to go back in the kitchen’ – the enduring power of sexism in sports media<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279231/original/file-20190612-32361-mhtbnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lesley Visser was one of the first female television sports reporters – but she's appalled at how little progress has been made.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Watchf-Associated-Press-Sports-Minnesota-United-/d41890b5deb24287becbb18a7b5cf8d6/1/0">AP Photo/Bill Sikes</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The story of the 2019 U.S. women’s national soccer team is not yet written, but its opening chapter – <a href="https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48600795">a 13-0 drubbing of Thailand</a> – has inspired American fans hoping for a championship repeat. </p>
<p>The U.S. women’s soccer team has long been the envy of the world. And yet, thanks to a scheduling “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/07/sports/womens-world-cup-preview.html">oversight</a>,” should the squad make the Women’s World Cup final on July 7, they’ll have to complete for viewers with the Copa America and Gold Cup finals, which will be held on the same day.</p>
<p>In other words, two regional men’s soccer tournaments might upstage a signature worldwide women’s sporting event.</p>
<p>To me, this scheduling “oversight” is just a microcosm of the way women are treated in the world of sports. And it isn’t just relegated to the playing field. </p>
<p>In my new book, “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Power_of_Sports.html?id=eVZxDwAAQBAJ">The Power of Sports</a>,” I draw upon dozens of interviews to look at the barriers female athletes and journalists face. </p>
<p>It’s worse than you think. </p>
<h2>Lack of interest or lack of coverage?</h2>
<p>Almost every single survey of sports media over the years – irrespective of the sport or outlet – finds female athletics wildly underrepresented relative to men’s. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1177/2167479515588761">one 25-year-long study</a> showed that local news outlets spend only 3% of their airtime covering women’s sports, with ESPN allocating a mere 2% of its coverage. </p>
<p>Not until the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278591905701964">1990s</a> did women’s sports begin receiving – barely – more attention than sports involving horses and dogs. Of course, that didn’t prevent Serena Williams’ 2015 selection as Sports Illustrated’s “Sportsperson of the Year” from <a href="https://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-serena-williams-american-pharoah-sports-illustrated-20151214-htmlstory.html">igniting a debate</a> over whether Triple Crown thoroughbred American Pharaoh deserved the honor instead.</p>
<p>The typical rebuttal to the lack of coverage is an alleged lack of interest.</p>
<p>But this obscures the circular logic that bedevils women’s sports: The way in which sports media outlets market and cover games partly determines how much fan interest they’re able to gin up. In other words, ratings are often generated by hyping the games. When ratings go up, it justifies the use of those resources.</p>
<p>So when a WNBA game gets punted to an obscure cable channel and has a low production value, it sends a message about priorities to audiences.</p>
<p>Networks like to claim they’re just responding to market forces when they ignore these games. But it’s never been a level playing field: <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-case-for-boosting-wnba-player-salaries-100805">Women’s sports rarely receive the media attention lavished on men’s</a>, so the comparison seems unfair.</p>
<p>When I asked ESPN’s executive vice president for programming and production about this problem, he shrugged. “Any media entity,” he said, “tend[s] to focus the majority of [its] coverage on the topics that are most interesting to your viewers, right?” </p>
<p>In other words, ESPN claims to be amoral on questions of gender equality. Its obligation is to simply give the audience what it thinks it wants.</p>
<h2>All men, all the time</h2>
<p>Meanwhile, sports media remains an overwhelmingly male field.</p>
<p>More than 90% of <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1177/2167479515588761">anchors</a>, <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1177/2167479512467977">commentators</a> and <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1177/2167479513482118">editors</a> are men. Not until 2017 did a woman announce a men’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/10/sports/ncaabasketball/another-woman-at-the-march-madness-mike-that-only-took-2-decades.html">March Madness</a> or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/18/sports/nfl-beth-mowins-julie-dicaro.html">Monday Night Football</a> game.</p>
<p>Might this color the way female athletes are portrayed? <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1177/2167479512472883">One 2013 review</a> highlighted some notable disparities. When talking and writing about female athletes, commentators tend to focus more on their emotions. They tend to downplay their physical prowess on the field and <a href="https://www.sicovers.com/anna-kournikova-2000-june-05">sexualize</a> their bodies off the field.</p>
<p>Conditions aren’t much better for women working in the media.</p>
<p>Lesley Visser was a sportscaster across multiple networks for four decades. In the late 1970s, as a young reporter for The Boston Globe, she received – and <a href="https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2016/01/25/Champions/Visser.aspx">ignored</a> – a media credential stipulation that forbade “women or children in the press box.”</p>
<p>She assumed that waves of women would have followed her lead. But she can’t believe how little progress has been made. </p>
<p>“I go to the NFC Championship, and in the press box there are maybe three women out of 2,000 credentials,” she told me. “I think we’re at the same percentage as in the 1980s.”</p>
<h2>Social media mobs swarm</h2>
<p>The few that do break through can expect to be targeted on social media.</p>
<p>“I still get tweets to go back in the kitchen,” Tina Cervasio, a sports reporter for Fox’s New York affiliate, told me. “They’re worried about color of hair and how a woman looks. … If I was as fat and bald as [some male sportscasters], I would not have that job.”</p>
<p>Kim Jones of the NFL Network concurred. “I’ve gotten tweets that the only reason I have a job is because of my looks; I’ve also gotten plenty more tweets that, you know, I’m an unattractive reporter who shouldn’t be on television.”</p>
<p>This highlights <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1080/07393180600933147">the double bind</a> that female sports journalists face: They feel the pressure to look good for the cameras. But then they’re also denigrated by some who say they only have their jobs because of that attractiveness. It’s tough to imagine a handsome male sportscaster having the same charge leveled against him.</p>
<p>And when mistakes get made – as any human is liable to do – the female sports reporter feels like she’s given less leeway than her male counterpart because he doesn’t have to prove that he really belongs there.</p>
<p>As former ESPN anchor Jemele Hill explained to me, whenever she makes an honest error, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The immediate reaction from a still-too-large segment of the public is going to be, ‘That’s why women shouldn’t talk sports.’ Even though most guys that are in [my] position probably would make a similar mistake, but it’s never going to be about their competence. It’s never going to be about their gender, where it will be for me.”</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279230/original/file-20190612-32351-lpopn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279230/original/file-20190612-32351-lpopn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279230/original/file-20190612-32351-lpopn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279230/original/file-20190612-32351-lpopn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279230/original/file-20190612-32351-lpopn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279230/original/file-20190612-32351-lpopn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279230/original/file-20190612-32351-lpopn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Journalist Jemele Hill speaks on stage during the 2017 Hashtag Sports Conference in New York City.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Hashtag-Sports-Conference-Day-Two/321d9b1db7164f3ebd2228d67cf2890e/16/0">Steve Luciano/AP Images for Hashtag Sports</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2016, an award-winning <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tU-D-m2JY8">public service announcement</a> featured male fans reading actual tweets that had been directed at prominent female sportscasters. </p>
<p>“I hope you get raped again,” one read. Another: “One of the players should beat you to death with their hockey stick like the whore you are.”</p>
<p>One of those targeted on social media, Chicago sports talk radio host Julie DiCaro, weighed in poignantly this past April. </p>
<p>“It always seems to come down to this idea that men have a proprietary interest in sports that women don’t have,” <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/stevens/ct-life-stevens-tuesday-stephen-moore-keep-women-out-of-sports-0423-story.html">she told The Chicago Tribune</a>. “As if we aren’t the daughters of Title IX. As if some of my earliest memories aren’t sitting on my dad’s lap watching the Bears and Cubs. … Sports belong to all of us.”</p>
<p>They should. They just don’t – yet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116795/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Serazio does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Female athletes barely receive more attention than horses and dogs. And if you’re a woman who wants to become a sports journalist, you should steel yourself for some social media venom.Michael Serazio, Associate Professor of Communication, Boston CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1102132019-01-22T09:25:58Z2019-01-22T09:25:58ZThe Riz Test: how Muslims are misrepresented in film and TV<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254728/original/file-20190121-100261-1717ceg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Anjli Mohindra as Nadia in The Bodyguard.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">BBC PIctures</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/mar/02/riz-ahmed-warns-lack-of-diversity-on-tv-will-drive-young-to-isis">speech to the UK’s House of Commons</a> in March 2017, actor and rapper Riz Ahmed, a Muslim, delivered a message about the importance of diversity and representation in the media: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>What people are looking for is a message that they belong. Every time you see yourself it’s a message that you matter, that you’re part of the national story.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/36bcxDVNr1s?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>But when it comes to the “national story”, the one about Muslims is pretty grim. The pressing issue of Islamophobia is both fuelled and defined by the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/oct/18/miqdaad-versi-very-polite-fight-against-british-media-islamophobia">misrepresentation and stereotyping</a> of Muslims in the media. Instead of challenging the images of the “oppressed” Muslim woman, or the violent Middle Eastern man that propagate our media, mainstream films often reinforce them. But films are also platforms with the potential to create change through alternative narratives. Our visual culture can play a crucial role in the way we understand the world. So the question is, what do our visual platforms tell us about our cultural perceptions of Muslims? In other words, how are Muslims represented in our stories?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-not-just-about-race-and-gender-religious-stereotypes-need-tackling-too-92132">It's not just about race and gender – religious stereotypes need tackling too</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>With backgrounds in education research and tech respectively, <a href="http://goldsmiths.academia.edu/shabib">Sadia Habib</a> and <a href="http://www.shaf.co/">Shaf Choudry</a> have kickstarted a project that not only asks this question, but also strives to offer evidence-based answers. In an attempt to quantify the representation of Muslims, the duo has coined what they call <a href="https://www.riztest.com/">the Riz Test</a>. Inspired by the Bechdel test, (which challenges viewers to consider the way women are represented in whatever they happen to be watching) and Riz Ahmed’s speech, Habib and Choudry use five points to measure the depiction of Muslims in films and TV shows.</p>
<p>In their own words, the Riz Test: “is a project to measure the portrayal of Muslims in film and TV. What’s new is that we’re creating a data set that measures how poorly Muslims are represented.”</p>
<p>Any film with at least one identifiably Muslim character can be put to the test. The test asks, is the character:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Talking about, the victim of, or the perpetrator of terrorism?</p></li>
<li><p>Presented as irrationally angry?</p></li>
<li><p>Presented as superstitious, culturally backwards or anti-modern?</p></li>
<li><p>Presented as a threat to a Western way of life?</p></li>
<li><p>If the character is male, is he presented as misogynistic? or if female, is she presented as oppressed by her male counterparts?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>If the answer to any of the above questions is yes, the film has failed the test.</p>
<p>What is shocking is that many critically acclaimed shows fail the test. When I interviewed the pair about the Riz Test recently Choudry told me that the recent BBC hit drama Bodyguard “failed all five criteria of the Riz Test within the first 12 minutes of its first episode”. Habib added that there “are serious consequences to these misrepresentations. Muslim women, especially those visibly marked by the hijab, are often targets of abuse and Islamophobia”.</p>
<h2>Moving beyond stereotypes</h2>
<p>Most Muslims will tell you that the images and tropes used in portraying the community mainly rely on lazy, racist and Islamophobic stereotypes. The films that fail the Riz Test reproduce such images and, by drawing attention to these misrepresentations and moving towards something concrete and quantifiable, the test smashes any assumptions that Islamophobia in media is merely a myth.</p>
<p>We must demand better from our media. One way to counter this is to invite an alternative way of thinking and to challenge the discourse and culture around Muslims and their representations.</p>
<p>So how do we demand better representation? With its growing data set, the Riz Test is a great way of drawing attention to the problem – presenting the movie makers with evidence is a great first step that can challenge the film industry at large.</p>
<p>Not only do we need to diversify the roles in our current film industry, but we also need to diversify the kinds of films we watch. World cinema, I think can offer a much more complex depiction of “other” places and people - one that challenges the power dynamics at play and introduces the idea of self-representation, agency and voice.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254739/original/file-20190121-100264-172aw8n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254739/original/file-20190121-100264-172aw8n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254739/original/file-20190121-100264-172aw8n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254739/original/file-20190121-100264-172aw8n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254739/original/file-20190121-100264-172aw8n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254739/original/file-20190121-100264-172aw8n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254739/original/file-20190121-100264-172aw8n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Taraneh Alidoosti and Shahab Hosseini in The Salesman, which won an Oscar for best Foreign Language Film in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Artificial Eye</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While a good film won’t solve all our problems, it can bridge gaps by bringing a diverse audience into the same space. Prominent Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi won Iran its <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/feb/27/oscar-success-a-separation-iran">first academy award</a> for A Separation in 2012 (he won another in 2017 for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/feb/27/the-salesman-wins-best-foreign-language-oscar-asghar-farhadi">The Salesman</a>. At a time of political chaos and isolation, Farhadi has familiarised the world with his home country through its art and human stories.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-415-91824-4">her book</a> Reel to Real, Sex and Class at the Movies, feminist thinker and activist <a href="http://www.bellhooksinstitute.com/">bell hooks</a> argues that films “make culture”. The visual medium is strong – and representation matters. By putting pressure on the kinds of images we’re exposed to, and the kind of images we reproduce, we can indeed “make culture”, or perhaps, at this point, fix aspects of our culture so that our “national story” doesn’t take representation for granted.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110213/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zahra Khosroshahi 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>Muslims have long been unfairly stereotyped in films and on TV.Zahra Khosroshahi, PhD Candidate, University of East AngliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1076922018-12-13T11:43:49Z2018-12-13T11:43:49ZWith a limited on-screen presence, autistic characters have emerged in another medium: fan fiction<p>In one Harry Potter fan fiction story, Hermione Granger anxiously awaits the results from a recent test. </p>
<p>It isn’t her performance on an exam in a potions course that she’s concerned about. Instead, the higher-ups at Hogwarts had ordered she undergo some psychological tests. They had noticed how quickly she talked, along with her nervous tics.</p>
<p>Hermione eventually sees the results: “I stared at my parents, blinking my eyes. I knew the results would be here today, but I didn’t think the outcome would be like this. Asperger, the paper said.”</p>
<p>In this piece of fan fiction, Hermione Granger has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. </p>
<p>As scholars of <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3g8BiiIAAAAJ&hl=en">fan fiction</a> and <a href="http://uci.academia.edu/JonathanAlexander">young adult literature</a>, we started noticing how some fan fiction authors were incorporating autism into their stories – sometimes through new characters and other times by rewriting existing ones.</p>
<p>Since then we’ve been collecting and analyzing fan fictions in which young writers have created characters with autism. </p>
<p>These amateur writers seem to be eager to create the kinds of characters they aren’t regularly seeing in the media. The Harry Potter universe, in particular, has emerged as a popular setting.</p>
<h2>The importance of autistic characters</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html">According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>, approximately 1 in 59 children is diagnosed with autism, a word that covers a spectrum of conditions that psychologists refer to as autism spectrum disorder.</p>
<p>How autism manifests can vary greatly from person to person. Some experience significant disability, while others experience milder forms of cognitive difference and social discomfort. </p>
<p>But one thing is clear: Diagnoses have increased in the past 20 years, with the National Autism Association <a href="http://nationalautismassociation.org/resources/autism-fact-sheet/">identifying autism</a> as the “fastest growing development disorder.”</p>
<p>At the same time – outside of a couple of notable examples, like Dustin Hoffman’s character in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095953/">Rain Man</a>” and <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/julia-sesame-street-new-muppet-autism-2/">Julia</a> from “Sesame Street” – there continues to be a dearth of autistic characters in books, television shows and films. </p>
<p>Yet these media portrayals are extremely important: Accurate portrayals of autism can help people understand the complexities of this condition. Nonexistent depictions – not to mention misleading ones – foster misinformation and bias.</p>
<p>In 2015, Sonya Freeman Loftis, an assistant professor of English at Morehouse College, published “<a href="http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=807803">Imagining Autism: Fiction and Stereotypes on the Spectrum</a>,” one of the few academic studies to take up the representation of autism in fiction. </p>
<p>Loftis critiques stereotypical depictions of autism in a range of fictional narratives, such as the character of Lennie in Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men,” a figure whose disability is linked to sexual violence. </p>
<p>But she also points out that positive representations of autism spectrum disorder can actually highlight some of the strengths that those with autism possess: attention to detail, high levels of concentration, forthrightness, dedication and strong memory skills.</p>
<p>Activists and scholars like Loftis <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/they-dont-want-an-autism-cure">have argued</a> that people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder should be more justly and accurately understood as “neurodiverse”: If neurological faculties exist on a continuum, theirs could simply be thought of as “different” from the statistical norm.</p>
<h2>Young writers take the lead</h2>
<p>If major studios and publishing companies express little interest in telling stories about people with autism, who can fill the void?</p>
<p>Fan fictions and other forms of do-it-yourself media-making are an outlet for people to explore issues that are often missing from mass market and popular entertainment. </p>
<p>Some of the most famous examples from fan fiction take place in the Star Trek universe, particularly those that <a href="https://www.fanfiction.net/community/Kirk-Spock-slash/77285/">imagine a gay relationship</a> between Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. In doing so, fans were able to integrate queer plots and themes into Gene Roddenberry’s science fiction universe at a time when few gay relationships were appearing on TV. </p>
<p>Given the paucity of mass media representation of autism, we wondered if young people might be using fan fiction to explore this complex topic. </p>
<p>Beginning in 2016 – and working with University of California, Irvine graduate student Vicky Chen – we started analyzing the writings that have appeared on a hugely popular <a href="https://www.fanfiction.net/">fan fiction clearinghouse</a>. </p>
<p>After selecting for categories such as “neurodiverse” and “differabilities,” we noticed that a number of stories set in the Harry Potter universe seemed to have autistic or neurodiverse characters. We collected and coded these stories, and are set to publish our findings in a forthcoming essay in the Journal of Literacy Research.</p>
<p>Most of the stories were written by young people who have siblings, relatives or friends with autism spectrum disorder. We concluded that, while some of these characters occasionally slip into stereotypes, most of them affirm the ability of people with autism spectrum disorder to confront bigotry and speak about their own conditions. </p>
<p>By extension, the stories promote an understanding of autism as something that isn’t scary or horrific.</p>
<p>In one story, for instance, the writer creates a new character, Albus Potter, the son of Harry Potter, who is autistic and newly enrolled in Hogwarts. In the story, Albus initially has difficulty forming relationships. But he ultimately finds friends in houses as diverse as Gryffindor and Slytherin. </p>
<p>His overprotective mother tries to shield him from ridicule by students and even some biased faculty. But she’s challenged by others, including her husband, who suggests that “Albus can do a great many things that people have said he couldn’t.”</p>
<h2>The ‘magic’ of autism</h2>
<p>Why the Harry Potter universe? </p>
<p>We reasoned that many of these young writers are still in school and likely huge fans of Harry Potter, so the choice of Hogwarts as a common setting isn’t surprising.</p>
<p>But many of the young authors also linked autism to a kind of “magic” or ability that could be understood at Hogwarts as special – even advantageous – in ways that “muggles,” or normal people, wouldn’t see. In all of the stories we analyzed, everyone with autism also has magical abilities. </p>
<p>In other cases, autism isn’t depicted as an impairment or a challenge to overcome. Instead, it simply appears as a “difference” – a portrayal that’s aligned with the goals of those who argue that autism should be thought of as a form of neurodiversity, not as an illness or disability.</p>
<p>Perhaps most significantly, this research points to the ways in which young people can craft complex representations of autism that the media shies away from. </p>
<p>We can’t say when positive representations of autism will move from fandom to the mainstream. </p>
<p>But until then, these young writers are quietly doing the work to help dispel stereotypes and generate understanding – perhaps even appreciation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107692/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Harry Potter universe has become a popular setting for stories featuring autistic characters, written by young writers eager to tackle a complex topic.Jonathan Alexander, Chancellor's Professor of English and Gender & Sexuality Studies, University of California, IrvineRebecca Black, Associate Professor of Informatics, University of California, IrvineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1002072018-07-19T09:56:32Z2018-07-19T09:56:32ZResearch shows four in five experts cited in online news are men<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228273/original/file-20180718-142423-w8trst.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&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>Who gets to speak? Who do we listen to? And whose opinions do we respect? These questions are always important, but even more so now, as the UK faces an uncertain future, and political leaders need to make some tough decisions. So it’s disappointing to learn that female voices continue to be marginalised in the nation’s news coverage. Women’s expertise is going untapped and unheard at a critical time.</p>
<p>An analysis conducted by the <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/policy-institute/cmcp/index.aspx">Centre for the Study of Media, Communication and Power</a> on behalf of the <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/giwl/index.aspx">Global Institute for Women’s Leadership</a> at King’s College London has found that four out of every five people quoted as experts in online news articles by the main UK news outlets are male. The research analysed a representative sample of all news articles published online across a seven day period by major news outlets including the BBC, Channel 4, ITV, Sky, Daily Mail, Star, Express, The Times, Financial Times, Guardian, Independent, Mirror, Sun, and the Telegraph.</p>
<p>The imbalance is even greater for certain fields, such as foreign politics and business and finance, where men make up almost nine out of ten expert sources. And despite all the media campaigns and focus on equal representation in recent years, these figures haven’t materially shifted since a <a href="http://cdn.agilitycms.com/who-makes-the-news/Imported/reports_2010/national/UK.pdf">similar study</a> was carried out in 2010.</p>
<p>So what’s driving this imbalance? It’s true that the UK is unfortunately still a country with a well-documented under-representation of women in leadership positions across various sectors (not least <a href="https://www.iwmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IWMF-Global-Report.pdf">news journalism</a>), and this certainly plays a part. But <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17512786.2016.1232173">previous research</a> has identified other factors. A tendency to rely on known contacts, reliable performers and suggestions from previous informants all militate against a widening of the expert pool.</p>
<p>And then there’s the question of who we consider to be an “expert”. Judgements about who is and isn’t credible <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17512781003760519">play a large role</a> in determining who gets to be a source, and therefore have a voice, in the national conversation. But judgements about credibility are not value-free. A series of studies have shown that we find the same information to be more credible when it is presented by a man, rather than a woman. Whether it be <a href="http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2441841">political tweets</a>, <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1077699012447922">articles about sport</a> or <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1075547012472684">abstracts for scientific papers</a>, simply changing the name on the information has been shown to affect respondents’ judgement of the quality, competence or expertise of the content.</p>
<h2>Updating the address book</h2>
<p>These biases show just how hopelessly naïve it is to argue that expert sources should “just be the person with the best expertise”. This person is a chimera – for how on earth would this expertise be ranked? Any attempt to work out who they are would be influenced by biases, not only on the part of the journalist in terms of judging their credentials, but by the fact that those credentials were earned in a gender-biased world.</p>
<p>A related line of thought might concede a level of bias in the selection of experts, and yet contend that it doesn’t matter. After all, aren’t experts there to simply present the facts and give an objective assessment of reality? While I’m sure many academics would be touched by this level of faith in their pronouncements, it is far from the truth.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228246/original/file-20180718-142414-1ki0lbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228246/original/file-20180718-142414-1ki0lbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228246/original/file-20180718-142414-1ki0lbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228246/original/file-20180718-142414-1ki0lbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228246/original/file-20180718-142414-1ki0lbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228246/original/file-20180718-142414-1ki0lbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228246/original/file-20180718-142414-1ki0lbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women experts are significantly under-represented in the media.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sam McGhee/ Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A fascinating <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/kykl.12166">study</a> from earlier this year illustrates the point. After surveying more than 1,000 economists from 18 countries, the researchers found that female economists were far more likely than men to prefer government interventions over market solutions. They were also more likely to be in favour of increased environmental protection, to think that labour market policies were unequal, and were slightly more likely to disapprove of austerity. Such questions could hardly be less central to the future of society.</p>
<p>The differing views of female economists are not due to some inherent “redistributive gene” that is missing on the Y chromosome, but because such views rely on an analysis of certain approaches, and different life experiences will inform how we weight the associated costs and benefits. Indeed, as Sweden’s feminist government is showing, from <a href="https://www.government.se/information-material/2017/10/swedens-feminist-foreign-policy--examples-from-three-years-of-implementation/">foreign policy</a> to which <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/dec/05/sweden-gender-equality-uk-government">streets to snowplough</a> first, the answer to policy questions changes when you include the perspective of the other half of the population.</p>
<p>Journalists have a responsibility to seek out diverse voices, rather than “neutrally” hold up a mirror to society. Who we see explaining the world around us sends a strong symbolic signal about whose views we value, and what is possible for different groups of people. Surely if anything is going to challenge bias then it will be seeing female names in areas that society codes “male”. This may require extra effort from journalists to look beyond their existing networks, but with a wealth of resources – from <a href="http://thewomensroom.org.uk/findanexpert">The Women’s Room</a> to <a href="http://www.womensmediacenter.com/shesource/">SheSource</a> and more – there is no longer any excuse not to make it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100207/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Jones 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>The shocking lack of gender balance is not just bad for women. It’s doing the public a major disservice.Laura Jones, Research Associate at the Global Institute for Women's Leadership, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/951292018-04-17T21:51:23Z2018-04-17T21:51:23ZThe deportation of Lucy Francineth Granados: A symbol of Canada’s rising anti-immigrant sentiment<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215196/original/file-20180417-163962-1it7aqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People arrived at the Immigration Detention Centre in Laval, Que., shortly after 3 a.m. on April 13 to protest the deportation of Lucy Francineth Granados. She was deported to Guatemala, accompanied by two Canada Border Services Agency officials and a doctor. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Solidarity Across Borders)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On April 13, Montreal resident <a href="http://www.solidarityacrossborders.org/en/francais-face-a-un-blocus-festif-lasfc-coupe-une-cloture-pour-faire-sortir-lucy-granados">Lucy Francineth Granados was deported to Guatemala</a>. Despite mobilization by groups like Solidarity Across Borders and No One is Illegal, Granados was not allowed to stay in Canada.</p>
<p>The way the media portrays racialized immigrants plays an important role in these situations and in general exerts much power over how we imagine our nation. This is particularly true when an audience has little or no knowledge of the community being represented. </p>
<p>Journalists and media producers tend to use short-hand devices <a href="https://theconversation.com/american-style-deportation-is-happening-in-canada-94634">that portray good versus bad citizens and racial minorities as “others” who can never fit into Canada</a> or whose differences can only be tolerated if they become like “us.” For example, <a href="https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/media-and-crime-in-the-us/book244315">crime TV shows are designed to intimidate populations</a> by scaring them with demonstrations of the negative outcomes of breaking laws. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/american-style-deportation-is-happening-in-canada-94634">American-style deportation is happening in Canada</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In this way, <a href="http://www.gmj.uottawa.ca/0902/v2i2_jiwani%20and%20dakroury.pdf">the mass media use different people to communicate symbolic messages</a>. Sometimes, the lack of cohesion in these messages demonstrates conflicting viewpoints, illustrating differences of opinions and mandates within government or news agencies, and thus maintaining a semblance of objectivity and balance.</p>
<p>At other times, though, such messages, especially when they revolve around issues like illegal immigration, tend to be quite uniform. </p>
<p>For example, in cases involving representations of racialized minorities, research shows how most mainstream media tend to either portray them as <a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/social-text/article-abstract/18/4%2520(65)/25/32571/Sporting-FaithISLAM-SOCCER-AND-THE-FRENCH-NATION?redirectedFrom=fulltext">exceptional</a> cases of success, or more frequently, they are portrayed as <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ncJ2AwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=Jiwani,+criminals&ots=SbSQzxAl4c&sig=kf-oMln6cQYSw-Z9BwTlaQmLp9c#v=onepage&q=Jiwani%252C%2520criminals&f=false">criminals or people who don’t fit in</a>.</p>
<h2>Lucy Granados was used as an example</h2>
<p>The government said Granados had committed a crime by remaining in the country for nine years as an undocumented worker after her initial application for refugee status was denied. Granados came forward and applied in the hope her status would be legalized. </p>
<p>This, in itself, was a risky move and it alerted the authorities right away that she had been residing in the country illegally. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215197/original/file-20180417-163971-14vw3w5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215197/original/file-20180417-163971-14vw3w5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215197/original/file-20180417-163971-14vw3w5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215197/original/file-20180417-163971-14vw3w5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215197/original/file-20180417-163971-14vw3w5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215197/original/file-20180417-163971-14vw3w5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215197/original/file-20180417-163971-14vw3w5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protesters leave signs outside of the federal detention centre in Laval, Que., where Lucy Granados was being held before her deportation on April 13.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Solidarity Across Borders)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The government denied hearing Granados’s case to stay on humanitarian grounds. I believe <a href="https://www.thing.net/%7Erdom/ucsd/biopolitics/HomoSacer.pdf">Granados becomes the example of what the state will not tolerate</a>. Her deportation sends a message to other undocumented workers that if they come forward in order to seek legal status they too will be at a heightened risk of deportation.</p>
<p>The deportation of Lucy Granados and other undocumented workers and the way these stories are talked about needs to be contextualized within a wider set of issues. Primarily among these is the continued and growing <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=Representing%20minorities%3A%20Canadian%20media%20and%20minority%20identities&author=M..%20Mahtani&journal=Canadian%20Ethnic%20Studies&volume=33&issue=3&pages=99-133&publication_year=2001">anti-immigration</a> sentiment that remains a consistent thread in the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12134-008-0062-z">nation’s fabric</a>. It is partly fuelled by the <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=bd8cBQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=stuart+hall+policing+the+crisis&ots=Mj3X3DWWoQ&sig=FrGoABbDHkNW4f_NjxQ0IK7nQkY#v=onepage&q=stuart%20hall%20policing%20the%20crisis&f=false">amplifying power</a> of the mainstream media and its reliance on <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=jGHNDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=lance+bennett+news&ots=eyWlDy73dv&sig=fnNT0s_YcaJrtoZ9fm3DzwYfin8#v=onepage&q=lance%20bennett%20news&f=false">bureaucratic sources of power and authority</a> (government, police, courts).</p>
<h2>A wave of anti-immigration</h2>
<p>With recent media portrayals of Haitians and others <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/3696080/misinformation-illegal-crossing-canada-wrong-information-campaign/">crossing the borders</a>, there is a heightened panic that the immigration system has broken down and that the country will be overwhelmed by its benevolence. </p>
<p>At the same time, the story is that Ottawa is doing what it can to stem the tide and to defuse the impact of <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/3696080/misinformation-illegal-crossing-canada-wrong-information-campaign/">misinformation</a> about the immigration system. </p>
<p>This backdrop then informs the Granados case, but fails to rectify the situation. Rather, it simply underscores the reality that we have become like the United States in terms of expelling and deporting those we don’t consider as “fitting into” our nation.</p>
<p>The tide of anti-immigration sentiments is apparent in other instances. </p>
<p>For example, Québec Mosque shooter Alexandre Bissonnette shot and killed six Muslims and injured 19 others at the Québec Grand Mosque because he was afraid of an imminent terrorist attack and because as he said in court, “<a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-city-mosque-shooting-bisonnette-sentencing-1.4618414">the Canadian government was, you know, going to take in more refugees, you know, those who couldn’t go to the United States would end up here.”</a></p>
<p>Bissonnette was not simply reacting in a vacuum. He had heard news reports about Muslim terrorists, followed U.S. President Donald Trump’s incessant tweets and watched YouTube for information on guns. He was convinced his family was in danger of a terrorist attack. So, he chose to act first by annihilating what he thought was the threat. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215198/original/file-20180417-163966-7g16wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215198/original/file-20180417-163966-7g16wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215198/original/file-20180417-163966-7g16wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215198/original/file-20180417-163966-7g16wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215198/original/file-20180417-163966-7g16wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215198/original/file-20180417-163966-7g16wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215198/original/file-20180417-163966-7g16wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A family from Yemen crosses the U.S.-Canada border in Hemmingford, Que., in March, 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The perceived threat was sparked by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/13/canada-mosque-shooter-alexandre-bissonnette-trudeau-trump-refugees-travel-ban">Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s statement welcoming refugees</a> following Trump’s travel ban prohibiting visitors and immigrants from seven Muslim majority countries. Framed in this way, his actions are rendered legible — though insane.</p>
<p>The refugees and potential terrorists (read Muslims) are then to be blamed for Bissonnette’s mental decline and his murderous actions. To be sure, <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/record-number-of-refugees-admitted-to-canada-in-2016-highest-since-1980-1.3382444">Canada has accepted a high number of refugees</a> but are these refugees to be blamed for seeking entry and for striving for a better life? </p>
<h2>Exceptional immigrants versus criminal ones</h2>
<p>The media’s framing of refugees and immigrants as threats has been widely documented in <a href="https://spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/josi.12027">existing studies</a>, both here and <a href="http://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/jlp.9.1.01kho">in other</a> <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781134584055/chapters/10.4324%2F9780203458549-9">Western nations</a>. These, overwhelmingly, <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781134584055/chapters/10.4324%2F9780203458549-9">negative depictions</a> fuel moral panics when refugees and immigrants are portrayed as flooding into the nation. The <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=qh0-CgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=van+dijk+racism&ots=-92fMLndTA&sig=uEh-svrgm8Oh8p91pircExIvCX0#v=onepage&q=van%20dijk%20racism&f=false">language of the stories</a> suggest an “avalanche,” or “invasion” that threatens the nation. The pictures accompanying such stories tend to present the refugees in huddled masses, or as masses on the move.</p>
<p>The stories rarely touch on the contributions of these immigrants and refugees. Many of them are sponsored by families, organizations and concerned others. They pay taxes, buy goods and do the jobs that no one else wants to do. Though trained as doctors, lawyers and engineers, many end up driving taxis, opening small businesses like restaurants and feeding the economy in other ways. Their contributions feed the nation, supplement our reserves, supplying the funds that will sustain our future be it through social programs or the consumer economy.</p>
<p>Just as race exceptionalism in media representations can work to make icons of particular success cases, so can stereotyping make them appear as if they are all the same. The illegal refugee comes to stand in for all refugees, as does the illegal immigrant.</p>
<p>In a recent interview I participated in on <a href="http://www.iheartradio.ca/">CJAD Radio</a> (popular among Anglophones in Montréal), <a href="http://www.iheartradio.ca/cjad/shows/the-leslie-roberts-show-1.2220633">Neil Drabkin, an immigration lawyer responded to my analysis</a> about the diverging reality between the rhetoric of Canada as a benevolent nation and the reality of the brutality of deportation by beginning his interview segment with the following statement: “Let me put down my violin.” </p>
<p>His statement was designed to convey to listeners a dismissal and trivialization of my argument and position me as one of a “bleeding heart liberal” telling a sob story. </p>
<p>I wonder how all those Canadians who have privately sponsored Syrian and other refugees, or families that have sought to reunite with their loved ones would feel about this. And what about the painstaking work that non-profit organizations do about safeguarding the rights of those who have no rights in this country?</p>
<p>Permanent resident status should be based on more than formal rules and regulations. It should take into consideration the work that people have done for the good of society, not just in terms of economic investment, but in terms of working towards a more equitable and just social order. To wit, at the end of the day, the nation state is a constructed entity - real sovereignty belongs to Indigenous nations. Yet, as history reveals, the <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0192512109102435">dispossession of Indigenous sovereignty</a> is the state’s way of ensuring a particular kind of nation.</p>
<p>Had the existing structures taken this into account, Lucy Granados who worked for nine years in Montréal to support women workers, might have had her deportation order stayed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95129/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yasmin Jiwani has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p>Montreal resident Lucy Francineth Granados was deported to Guatemala last week. Media representations play an important role in these situations and exert much power over how we imagine our nation.Yasmin Jiwani, Professor of Communication Studies; Research Chair on Intersectionality, Violence and Resistance, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/727072017-02-14T14:00:55Z2017-02-14T14:00:55ZThe Shannon Matthews story: when personal tragedy becomes public spectacle<p>It’s fair to say that Moorside, a recent <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08dxvc0">two-part BBC drama</a> which chronicles the notorious kidnapping of nine-year-old Shannon Matthews has raised more than a few eyebrows in Britain.</p>
<p>Critics have claimed it’s too soon for such a programme to be made – Matthews disappeared from a housing estate in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, in northern England in 2008. Mathews’ own family <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2017/02/08/moorside-good-idea-family-critics-viewers-reacted-shannon-matthews/">voiced similar concerns</a>. Shannon’s grandparents spoke out against the programme, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4205954/Shannon-Matthews-family-fury-sick-BBC-drama.html">saying</a> it is “sick” that their family’s trauma was made into a TV show.</p>
<p>The BBC drama tells the story of how Shannon’s mother, Karen Matthews, together with her boyfriend’s uncle, Michael Donovan, orchestrated Shannon’s disappearance so they could claim the reward money once Donovan had “found” her.</p>
<p>Shannon herself is now living with a new family under a different identity. But there are fears that at only 18-years-old, Shannon might be further traumatised if she were to see the programme. It has been reported that <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/producers-warned-shannon-matthews-tv-9759790">she was warned in advance</a> about the TV drama featuring her ordeal by her social workers.</p>
<h2>Public trauma</h2>
<p>These anxieties about the possible fallout of the drama may appear overblown to an impartial observer. But their concerns are a testament to the long-lasting and sometimes devastating effects media discourses have on those directly involved in a personal or community tragedy.</p>
<p>Shannon went missing less than a year after the much publicised disappearance of four-year-old Madeleine McCann – who vanished while on holiday with her parents in Portugal. McCann’s parents have also <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/shannon-matthews-madeleine-mccann-parents_uk_589b3087e4b0a1dcbd0429e8">spoken out against the BBC drama</a>, calling it “very insensitive”.</p>
<p>Many comparisons were made between the two cases at the time. Despite the initial similarity in the cases, it was the McCann story that prompted high profile media campaigns across the British tabloid press – “find Madeleine” was on the front pages of many papers for several months. The media coverage of Shannon Matthew’s disappearance, however, was much more subdued. Stories in the broadsheet press <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2008/mar/05/whyismissingshannonnotget">questioned the lesser amount of media coverage</a> that her case was attracting. For some <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/missing-the-contrasting-searches-for-shannon-and-madeleine-790207.html">it was clearly a class issue</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QQPwx0tJ0nI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The McCanns, doctors in Leicestershire, were portrayed as articulate, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2008/mar/05/whyismissingshannonnotget">middle-class professionals</a>. Karen Matthews and her supporters, despite their attempts to engage with the press and create a positive campaign to find Shannon, could not easily escape their working-class origins. This made them less “media friendly”, which led to the public perception that the Moorside estate where Matthews lived was a place where bad things happened.</p>
<h2>Media portrayal</h2>
<p>It tends to be that when the media is covering a story, almost everyone can fall into a stereotype – if pushed hard enough – be they rich or poor, good or bad, deserving or undeserving. So when the people involved in a story do not fit these roles so well, the media struggles to create an acceptable narrative that conforms to preexisting prejudices.</p>
<p>This is undoubtedly what happened in the case of the Shannon Matthews. For a time coverage tentatively portrayed a downtrodden community coming together in a time of crisis. So, for a short time, at least, the residents of the Moorside were depicted as heroes.</p>
<p>But after the truth of the events came to light, some <a href="http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/61284/Scum-mum-from-hell">media outlets claimed to have been suspicious</a> of Karen Matthews’ involvement all along, and rapidly re-positioned both her and the community she came from in terms of accepted social prejudices.</p>
<p>This is the nature of media representation. On a good day it can have the effect of mobilising public support by keeping a story in the public sphere. It can also positively influence police activity and provoke political debate. This is why people at the centre of tragic events seek the support of the media.</p>
<p>But on a bad day it can cause devastation and damage to all involved. Because of this, communities such as Moorside are rightly suspicious about the media. They know exactly how they are typically portrayed in the press and subsequently viewed by the wider public. A view that has been reinforced time and time again. </p>
<p>So when Karen Matthews was found to be involved in her daughter’s disappearance, the public was ready to believe her guilt because she was always guilty of something – being a bad mother, being on benefits, being poor. The headlines are already in place for people like her.</p>
<p>Those depicted in high profile media stories can often come to be defined by the narrative created by the media discourse – for better or for worse. These narratives exist outside of reality because to capture public attention the media must exaggerate the often mundane truth. And in this regard Karen Matthews was, and still is, <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/karen-matthews-branded-pure-evil-363965">described as</a> “pure evil” by the police and media – because this narrative is easier to understand than any alternative explanation. </p>
<p>But the impact of this representation is wide ranging – on Matthews herself, who is never allowed to rehabilitate. On a daughter, who may never reconcile with her mother. And on a community, who might question their sense of togetherness for a second time round – after once again finding themselves the centre of attention for all the wrong reasons.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72707/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Siobhan Holohan 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>Reliving trauma on a national scale.Siobhan Holohan, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Keele UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.