Steven Maras, David Nolan, G. Goggin, K. Fitch, D. Bossio, J. Hutchinson, Stephanie Brookes, J. Freeman
{"title":"Communication research and teaching: the Australian Communication Association at 40 years","authors":"Steven Maras, David Nolan, G. Goggin, K. Fitch, D. Bossio, J. Hutchinson, Stephanie Brookes, J. Freeman","doi":"10.1177/1329878X231177837","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X231177837","url":null,"abstract":"This article presents responses from a range of Australian scholars on communication research and teaching in the context of a roundtable in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Australian Communication Association (ACA), the precursor organisation to the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA). Emphasising the range and diversity of approaches and epistemologies in this field, the roundtable invited a ‘situated’ response to questions considering scholarship, frameworks, and theoretical perspectives useful in thinking through the near and mid-term challenges facing the area. Emerging from the exercise is a snapshot of different agendas for research and teaching, many of them future-oriented and reformist in their emphasis on responsible practice and social change.","PeriodicalId":46880,"journal":{"name":"Media International Australia","volume":"205 1","pages":"74 - 88"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76451074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A ‘Humanitarian Disaster’ or a ‘Liberation Struggle’: A comparative analysis of the coverages of The Independent and The New York Times of the 2016 and the 2017 military operations in Aleppo and Al-Raqqa","authors":"A. Rabea","doi":"10.1177/1329878x231179283","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878x231179283","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the coverage by The Independent and The New York Times of the 2016 and the 2017 military operations in Aleppo and Al-Raqqa. It highlights the uneven reporting on the humanitarian crisis in the two cities. The analysis shows that the similarities in the coverage of the two newspapers were greater than the differences. The New York Times and The Independent (to a lesser extent) espoused a pro-US narrative of the Syrian conflict by framing Aleppo as a humanitarian ‘catastrophe’ and Al-Raqqa as a ‘liberation’ struggle. Biases were constructed out of several elements including (1) the dominance of US sources and selective use of UN and NGO sources; (2) the use of visual content quantitatively and qualitatively; (3) the use of graphic and emotive terms; (4) focus on the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo and the military operations in Al-Raqqa.","PeriodicalId":46880,"journal":{"name":"Media International Australia","volume":"39 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81267085","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Broadcaster video-on-demand in Australia: Platforms, policy and local content","authors":"Alexa Scarlata, R. Lobato","doi":"10.1177/1329878x231177122","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878x231177122","url":null,"abstract":"Over the last decade Australia's free-to-air commercial networks Seven, Nine and Ten have undergone a protracted digital transformation with the development of their online, ad-supported broadcaster video-on-demand (BVOD) platforms 7Plus, 9Now, and 10Play. The present article considers some of the questions these commercial BVODs raise for television policy in Australia, with specific reference to local content regulation. Through content audits of 7Plus, 9Now and 10Play, we assess the localism of the BVODs’ catalogues in terms of the availability and discoverability of Australian titles. We find that these BVOD services – which are not presently regulated for local content – are less local in their programming than the networks’ free-to-air linear channels, but are more local than competing subscription video-on-demand services such as Netflix and Prime Video. We also reflect on how the networks position themselves in the newly expanded Australian television market, and how they reconcile their historical status as protected national broadcast institutions with their newer status as ‘just another app’ in the streaming ecosystem.","PeriodicalId":46880,"journal":{"name":"Media International Australia","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88377196","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Journalism unions and digital platform regulation: a critical discourse analysis of submissions to Australia's News Media Bargaining Code","authors":"T. Neilson, KB Heylen","doi":"10.1177/1329878x231176583","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878x231176583","url":null,"abstract":"Journalism unions are among the chorus of voices advocating for digital platform regulation. Yet, despite the documented impacts of platformisation on working conditions and labour markets, few of the recent inquiries into platform power have addressed the impacts of platforms on labour. In this article, we ask: what is the role of labour unions in shaping digital platform regulation? As our case study, we analysed how Australia's journalism union (the MEAA) articulated the interests of news workers in submissions to the Digital Platform Inquiry and the resulting News Media Bargaining Code. Through a critical discourse analysis of the union's submissions, we found that the MEAA's lobbying efforts championed the interests of freelancers, advocated for a more inclusive Code, and sought guarantees that the revenue it generated would be used to pay for content creation. The MEAA used a range of discursive strategies, including seizing on ambiguity surrounding the definition of the policy problem and key actors. For the most part, the submissions aligned the union with the regulator, state and media companies in pursuit of platform regulation. However, the competing interests among this advocacy coalition became increasingly clear in the later stages of the policy-making process. Ultimately, the union's strategies were constrained by the hegemony of market-centric discourses that framed the inquiry and shaped the policy outcomes.","PeriodicalId":46880,"journal":{"name":"Media International Australia","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-05-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79061719","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exploring health misinformation on WhatsApp within the African migrant and refugee community in Southeast Queensland (SEQ)","authors":"S. Coulibaly","doi":"10.1177/1329878X231177836","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X231177836","url":null,"abstract":"Health misinformation, a major public health challenge, is increasingly spread through social networking sites such as WhatsApp which is popular among culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities including the African migrant and refugee community, a relatively disadvantaged minority in Australia. Knowledge remains limited about how health misinformation spread occurs through WhatsApp in this community. The present study explored the mechanism of health misinformation circulation on WhatsApp, and the ways members of the African community in Southeast Queensland (SEQ) respond to it. Findings include a technological aspect of WhatsApp, especially technological affordances that facilitate health misinformation spread with features such as sharing and forwarding buttons. Also, at a user or an individual level, trust in significant others favour the reception and sharing of unverified health information to WhatsApp contacts and group members. Although WhatsApp group members, especially leaders usually set up rules to moderate content including health misinformation to primarily preserve harmony in groups, lack of or suboptimal content moderation on WhatsApp exacerbates its spread among community members whose responses vary. Responses include fear and mistrust which could confuse them and hinder acceptance and compliance to public health measures from credible sources such as governments. Therefore, it is essential that public health stakeholders acknowledge and foster information-sharing culture on WhatsApp in the African community. They should also raise awareness among community members and train them on how to deal with health misinformation. The training could focus on reducing negative individual and social influences by improving literacy and self-efficacy in detecting health misinformation and decreasing echo chamber effects. Additionally, the training could emphasise health misinformation management on WhatsApp by leveraging African community leaders’ gatekeeping role and involving them in content moderation.","PeriodicalId":46880,"journal":{"name":"Media International Australia","volume":"4 1","pages":"8 - 23"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73046260","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ethnic Media, Diversity and Settlement: A Qualitative Study","authors":"John Budarick","doi":"10.1177/1329878x231176584","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878x231176584","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the role of migrant media and communication in the long- and short-term settlement experiences of migrants through interviews with community leaders from seven migrant communities in South Australia. Bringing together literature on ethnic media and migrant settlement, multiple, interacting and overlapping forms of communication are incorporated into the analysis. These including traditional ethnic media, digital media and face-to-face communication. It is argued that the role of communication is best understood when migrants are taken as active ‘achievers and consumers’ who still face challenges to settlement. The results show the importance of migrant-controlled communication in providing a granular and tailored approach in which migrants are able to shape and determine the communication forms that best serve their needs. However, the paper also demonstrates the impact internal differences have on experiences of communication.","PeriodicalId":46880,"journal":{"name":"Media International Australia","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87812828","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book Review: Nationalism on the Internet: Critical Theory and Ideology in the Age of Social Media and Fake News by Christian Fuchs","authors":"Benjamin Hunt Pollock","doi":"10.1177/1329878x231167888","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878x231167888","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46880,"journal":{"name":"Media International Australia","volume":"56 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88431441","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book Review: Challenges of Reporting Africa for an International Audience by Levi Obijiofor & Richard Murray","authors":"S. Franks","doi":"10.1177/1329878x231167889","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878x231167889","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46880,"journal":{"name":"Media International Australia","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77538561","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Secondary, security threat, and sage: Eulogy effect and the framing of female politicians as political martyrs in the Elite press of South Asia","authors":"Azmat Rasul, Mcdowell D Stephen, M. E. Rasul","doi":"10.1177/1329878x231163898","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878x231163898","url":null,"abstract":"How do newspapers frame female politicians, and does this framing change after a female politician's death during an election campaign? Benazir Bhutto, who served two terms as prime minister of Pakistan, was assassinated in 2007 by a terrorist group. South Asian newspapers framed her as corrupt, inefficient, and a threat to national security before her death; however, the elite press characterized her as a martyr and sage posthumously. Using qualitative content analysis, this study examines the editorial coverage of two newspapers ( The Hindu and The Times of India) in India and two newspapers ( The News and The Dawn) in Pakistan to examine how these elite newspapers framed Benazir Bhutto before and after her tragic death. We found that the framing of the slain leader changed from negative to positive after her assassination. The study concludes that her assassination influenced the media coverage and produced a eulogy effect that helped her party stay in power after her assassination.","PeriodicalId":46880,"journal":{"name":"Media International Australia","volume":"211 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78071555","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Social media: Connecting and sharing in a bushfire crisis","authors":"S. Atkinson, J. Lee","doi":"10.1177/1329878x231163367","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878x231163367","url":null,"abstract":"Social media has become an integral channel for official agencies to communicate with citizens in a natural disaster crisis and increasingly time, effort and money are being spent on improving social media strategies and practices. However, there is much less research focused on understanding how people engage with official social media content, a significant piece of the crisis communication puzzle. As the use of social media for crisis communication in natural disasters is increasing and the amount of information threatens to overwhelm people, understanding how people engage with official social media content is vital. Using quantitative content analysis, this study examined the use of Facebook by two Australian emergency response agencies during a specific bushfire event and explored how the attributes of social media content are related to user engagement with the information. The findings show that the two agencies had markedly different approaches which resulted in differences in user engagement.","PeriodicalId":46880,"journal":{"name":"Media International Australia","volume":"62 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91031113","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}