Asylum Seekers in Australian News Media: Mediated (In)humanity

Description

This book sheds light on how the public engage with, make sense of, and discursively evaluate news media constructions of people from asylum seeking backgrounds. As a case study, the author discusses her recent research combining Critical Discourse Analysis with a cultural studies Audience Reception framework to examine the perspectives of 24 Western Australians who took part in semi-structured interviews. During their interviews, participants were asked open-ended questions about: their general views on people seeking asylum, including Australia’s policy responses, their media engagement habits and preferences, and their views concerning how the Australian media represents people seeking asylum. The author compares and contrasts this research with broader interdisciplinary discussion, and the book will therefore appeal to students and scholars of migration, political communication, sociology, audience reception, critical media studies and sociolinguistics. Acknowledgements Contents List of Tables 1: Introduction References 2: Asylum Seekers in the Australian News Media: What Do We Know So Far? Introduction Seeking Asylum in Australia: The Political Landscape News Media and Societal Discourses Audience Perspectives and the Questions that Remain References 3: Concepts, Methods, and Ethical Considerations Introduction Approach, Aims, and Research Questions Data Collection Sampling and Participants Interviews Theoretical Framework and Analytical Lens Settler Colonialism, Social Exclusivism, and Cosmopolitan Acceptance Understanding Discourse Discursive Approaches to News Values Researching News Audiences Analysis Ethical Considerations References 4: ‘Open the Floodgates’: Metaphor as a Tool for Legitimising Australia’s ‘Invasion’ Panic Introduction Australia’s Collective Fear of the Asylum Seeker ‘Other’ Mediated Sensationalism and Moral Panics Water and Containment Metaphors Australian News Audience Perspectives ‘Hordes of People Showing Up’: Audience Perspectives that Reflect Moral Panic Discourses ‘I Can’t Blame People for Being Confused’: Resistance to Moral Panic Discourses Some ‘Flood’ for Thought? References 5: ‘Nation Prepares for War’: The Discursive Securitisation of Asylum Seekers Introduction The Discursive Securitisation of People Seeking Asylum in Australia Discourses of ‘Border Control’ and the Language of War State Sovereignty and the Exclusionary Rhetoric of Ethnonationalism Asylum Seekers as ‘Non-Human’ Australian News Audience Perspectives ‘Protect Your Own First’: Reproducing Securitisation Themes ‘Just a Sales Pitch’: Responses to Securitisation Discourses in the Australian Media What Do Securitisation Discourses Achieve? References 6: ‘Fight Against Illegals’: Constructing Asylum Seekers Through Frames of Criminality and Illegitimacy Introduction Framing Asylum Seekers Along Discourses of Illegitimacy and Deviance Asylum Seekers as ‘Illegal’ ‘Genuine’ Refugees Versus ‘Queue Jumpers’ Australian News Audience Perspectives ‘You Have to Wait in the Queue’: Reproducing ‘Proper Channels’ and Illegitimacy Discourses ‘Political Pawns’: Resisting Illegality Narratives and ‘Queue Jumper’ Framings About Asylum Seekers Criminalisation Narratives as an Agenda-Setting Exercise References 7: ‘Taxpayers Foot the Bill’: Scapegoating Asylum Seekers Through ‘Economic Migrants’ and ‘Burden’ Narratives Introduction The Positioning of Asylum Seekers as Economic Scapegoats Creating a Scapegoat The ‘Burden’ of People Seeking Asylum in Australia ‘Economic Migrants’ Australian News Audience Perspectives ‘Taking Other People’s Jobs’: Constructing Asylum Seekers as ‘Burdens’ and ‘Economic Migrants’ ‘There’s No Evidence This Even Happens’: Critiques of Economic Scapegoating Discourses The Simultaneous Triumph and Failure of Economic Scapegoating Narratives References 8: Conclusion References Index