The reading for this week focused on how refugees are portrayed in the media. The reading does not openly suggest that journalists are intentionally racist towards refugees but rather that they are being what Bailey and Harindranath (2005, p. 275) suggest is a negative connotation being unfairly attributed to refugees.
The reason Bailey and Harindranath raise this issue is to promote what they call (2005, p. 275) a ‘global culture’ in which we all walk hand in hand. The culture that is promoting the discrimination against refugees is the journalist’s instinctual behaviour to best represent and defend their country. I have always felt that since 2001 and the attacks on the United States there has been a general fear of foreign people coming to western cultures. I don't claim that every western citizen is a racist, that would be ridiculous claim, what I mean to suggest is that since 9/11 western culture and western media has been quick to shoo away foreign people, whether in Australia legally or a refugee.
Television programs like ‘A Current Affair’ use the term ‘un-Australian’ openly to discriminate against those who do not meet the criteria set by them as Australians. I remember one story last year in which they reported on the high proportion of Islamic and Middle Eastern people moving to the Gold Coast; even though all of the people they reported on were Australian Citizens or legal residents of Australia the tagline of the story was ‘They moved here to steal our Holiday destinations’.
With this kind of discrimination hidden into news programs it is no wonder that bailey and Harindranath (2005) felt compelled to write an essay on the racism and discrimination in news media. Stories as obvious as the one from ‘A Current Affair’ along with the subtly placed messages in newspapers the people of Australia are being forced into a mentality of ‘Us vs. Them’. This attitude can only perpetuate a sub conscious attitude against the refugees and asylum seekers attempting to enter Australia.
Bailey, O.G. & Harindranath, R., 2005, ‘Racialised ‘othering’: The representation of asylum seekers in news media’ in Journalism: Critical Issues, ed. S Allen, Open University Press, Berkshire, pp. 274-286
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