Introduction
Countries that are previous colonies have always faced the issue of minimal involvement of the indigenous people in the criminal justice system and legislation-making processes. This fact is also actual for the Australian system. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have long fallen victim to disproportionate representation as offenders and victims. The marginalization of Indigenous Peoples has led to this over-representation. According to (Bouveng, 2023), the indigenous populations of Australia form the oldest known culture in the world. However, they are still the most vulnerable communities and individuals in the world, both physically and mentally. Some ills propagated against these people include depopulation, legal control, using ideology through religion, education, the media, urbanization, and paternalism. It is also factual that the Australian federal government has intentionally ignored addressing the marginalization issue. Instead, it focuses on the indigenization of the same system. On its part, the government, through institutions such as the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATSILS) and the Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia (ALSWA), assume an equal representation of indigenous people stating that their imprisonment rates are “well documented” (Cubillo, 2021).
If, in any case, policy-making about indigenous people and their efforts is to have success and to end over-representation, the government needs to consider historical processes affecting the same people. The social injustice from this system is further worsened by the Australian media, which plays a significant role in portraying the political and public perceptions of indigenous issues. Avison and Meadows (2000) argue that media is central in framing our thought lines, explicitly telling us “what to think about”. It has an educational and entertainment role, and in reality, the latter has superseded the prior, and the media has led to perverseness in reporting indigenous relationships with the government. In specific situations, such as the Northern Territory Emergency Response and Red Fern Riots, the media was openly biased against such people (Budarick, 2011). This paper will use the theory of critical discourse analysis to evaluate how strategic communication initiatives by media firms in Australia impact the depiction of the interaction of indigenous populations with the criminal justice system.
Media Influence on indigenous inequality
In most cases, the country is called “Post-apology Australia” while communicating indigenous issues. This reference was sparked by the 2008 apology to the indigenous people for the institutional racism against them offered by the then prime minister Kevin Rudd (Lightfoot, 2015). This event is a significant hallmark in Australian history and, in Rudd’s words, was meant to “remove a great stain from the nation’s soul and, in a true spirit of reconciliation, to open a new chapter in the history of this great land”. However, little change has been witnessed since this admission of guilt by the state. As Kane (2011) captured, “The more things change, the more things remain the same”.
The media in Australia has a sense of free press or free speech, and for criminal proceedings, the accused has a right to a free trial. The media have long used these two notions in the defence way they report a story. However, there are open instances of adverse reporting by the same media based on these premises.
Ideology
A definition of ideology is a representation of the aspects of the world which create, sustain and shift social dynamics of power, domination and exploitation. In this sense, the media can be viewed as an agent of communicating biased ideologies and propelling racial agendas against the Indigenous of Australia. One such ideology is neocolonialism, an aspect of multiple nations where instead of moving into post-colonial periods, the tact to dominate the Aboriginals has just changed. News outlets such as The Guardian, News.com and 9news often reinforce decriminalization to control Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. An example is the media coverage of the 2017 Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory, which largely neglected to amplify Indigenous voices and perspectives (Anthony, 2018). The media coverage emphasized the findings of the commission and the government’s response but failed to adequately represent the experiences of Indigenous children and families impacted by the justice system.
Focus on the symptoms rather than the cure.
Media outlets have been accused of focusing on inequality rather than the solution. For example, Perth Now’s article, “W.A. Government aims to reform Aboriginal justice, over representation in jails” (Fear-Segal and Tillet, 2013). The author repeats Premier Colin Barnett’s quote that the initiative was meant to reduce incarceration of low-level offenders, providing safer living conditions for inmates and diversion initiatives. In a sense, this only highlights the causes of biased indigenous treatment but offers no recommendations. Omitting historical, social, and systemic sidelining, which contributes to the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the justice system, can perpetuate misconceptions and reinforce negative narratives.
Sensationalism
Media sensationalism pertains to highlighting a news article’s sensational, startling, or provocative elements to captivate the audience’s attention and stimulate interest (Uzuegbunam and Udeze, 2013). In 2018, several news sources heavily covered a small number of people of African descent who were involved in criminal activities in Melbourne. The media excited these events by using offensive headlines, graphic images, and overstated language to make it seem like “African gangs” were involved in widespread and organized crime (Majavu, 2020).
The sensationalized news coverage made people afraid and worried, which made the neighbourhood feel less safe. The media put too much emphasis on the crimes of a few people, making them seem like they were typical of the whole African community in Melbourne. This made people from African backgrounds look bad and made them feel like they did not belong. It also created an atmosphere of racial tension and discrimination. Also, laws got stricter, which led to a rise in the number of people like this in jail.
References list
Anthony, T., 2018. “They were treating me like a dog”: The colonial continuum of state harms against indigenous children in detention in the Northern Territory, Australia. State Crime Journal, 7(2), pp.251-277.
Avison, & Meadows, M. (2000). Speaking and Hearing: Aboriginal Newspapers and the Public Sphere in Canada and Australia. Canadian Journal of Communication, 25(3), 347–. https://doi.org/10.22230/cjc.2000v25n3a1163
Bouveng, N. (2023). Connecting with culture on the Cape. [online] Australian Geographic. Available at: https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/travel/2023/04/connecting-with-culture-on-the-cape/ [Accessed 16 May 2023].
Budarick, J., 2011. Media narratives and social events: The story of the Redfern Riot. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 35(1), pp.37-52.
Cubillo, E.J., 2021. What Does ‘Self-Determination Mean in the Context of Legal Service Provision for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (ATSILS)? (Doctoral dissertation).
Fear-Segal, J. and Tillett, R. eds., 2013. Indigenous Bodies: Reviewing, Relocating, Reclaiming. State University of New York Press.
Kane, E.J., 2011. Politics and Fed policymaking: The more things change, the more they remain the same. Journal of Monetary Economics, 6(2), pp.199-211.
Lightfoot, S., 2015. Settler-state apologies to Indigenous peoples: A normative framework and comparative assessment. Journal of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, 2(1), pp.15-39.
Majavu, M., 2020. The ‘African gangs’ narrative: Associating Blackness with criminality and other anti-Black racist tropes in Australia. African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal, 13(1), pp.27-39.
Uzuegbunam, C.E. and Udeze, S., 2013. Sensationalism in the media: the right to sell or the right to tell. Journal of Communication and Media Research, 5(1), pp.69-78.
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