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Shawn Lourigan News Limited and the Construction of Howard Government Discourse about Muslims in Australia 2001-2007 Author Lourigan, Shawn Daniel Published 2017 Thesis Type Thesis (Masters) School School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science DOI https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/1395 Copyright Statement The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise. Downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10072/365742 Griffith Research Online https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au News Limited and the construction of Howard Government discourse about Muslims in Australia 2001-2007 Shawn Lourigan BA (Hons), Dip Ed, MVA School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science Arts, Education and Law Group Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Philosophy November 2013 ABSTRACT The 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre can be justifiably viewed as a turning point in relations between the Islamic world and the West, foregrounding a dominant pejorative representation of Muslims and Islam that continues unabated. The aim of this thesis is to explore media representations of Howard Government discourse about Muslims in Australia from 2001 to 2007. The research examined three prominent and highly popularised cases relating to Islam and Muslims, namely comments made in 2006 by the ex-Grand Mufti of Australian Muslims, Sheik Hilali; the arrest and detention in 2007 of Doctor Mohamed Haneef; and the discourse surrounding the traditional female Muslim garment known as the hijab. This thesis examines the language used by the government and by News Limited print media when referring to Muslims and Islam from 2001 to 2007, to ascertain whether there was a marked increase in the use of terms that could be classified as being negative or perpetuating stereotypes. I used a combined qualitative/quantitative methodology to examine both the collated newspaper articles and political documents. Findings based on content analysis of selected media releases in 2001 and 2007 reveal the unrelentingly negative way in which the federal government discussed the Muslim community in Australia. The Howard Government’s negative tenor was found to be consistent during the period studied, with a focus on specific pejorative terms ranging from “threat” through to “other”, “un-Australian” and “burden”. The negative construction of Australia’s Muslim community is clearly evident in the majority of Howard Government statements surveyed. Analysis of News Limited newspaper reporting during the same period indicated that it largely adopted the negativity and specific references of the federal government. Media dependence upon government statements and spokespersons in part explains this relationship. The findings generally support the Herman and Chomsky “propaganda model” that holds a pessimistic view of the news media’s critical 2 abilities. However, on a number of occasions the newspapers departed from the Howard Government’s unchanging stance, following certain key events and revelations such as occurred in the Dr Haneef case. I find that there is clearly scope for disrupting a flow of negative constructions from government to media and ultimately to audiences, and suggest some ways in which responsibility might be taken for doing this. 3 STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This work has not been previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge, belief and understanding this work contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference has been made in this thesis itself. ____________________ Shawn Daniel Lourigan 15 May, 2017 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. 2 STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ........................................................................... 4 LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................... 8 LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... 9 ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................... 10 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... 11 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................... 12 1.1 Background to the Research ....................................................................................... 13 1.2 Islam in Australia ........................................................................................................ 18 1.2.1 Population ............................................................................................................... 19 1.2.2 History of Islam in Australia .................................................................................. 21 1.2.3 Diversity ................................................................................................................. 22 1.2.4 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 24 1.3 Structure of the Thesis ................................................................................................ 25 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................ 28 2.1 Orientalism and the representation of Islam and Muslims in Western discourse 28 2.1.1 Key Terms .............................................................................................................. 28 2.1.2 Orientalism ............................................................................................................. 29 2.1.3 Constructs of Muslims in Western Discourse ........................................................ 37 2.1.4 Media and Islamic issues in Australia .................................................................... 39 2.2 Media in Australia prior to and in the aftermath of 2001 ....................................... 44 2.3 Australian media representations of Muslims and Islam ........................................ 47 2.4 Politicians’ Attitudes towards Australian Muslims and Islam ................................ 50 2.5 Overview of the Literature Survey ............................................................................. 53 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY AND DATA ......................................... 55 3.1 Methodology ................................................................................................................. 55 3.3 Scope of Study .............................................................................................................. 57 3.3.1 Choice of media ...................................................................................................... 58 3.4 Ethical considerations ................................................................................................. 60 3.5 Establishing the parameters: search terms, allied terms and variables ................. 61 5 3.6 Sourcing the data ......................................................................................................... 62 3.6.1 Data collation software ........................................................................................... 64 3.7 Discourses of Fear ........................................................................................................ 65 3.8 Problems of Translation .............................................................................................. 66 3.9 Recursive reflection on themes ................................................................................... 69 3.10 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 70 CHAPTER FOUR: AUSTRALIAN POLITICAL AND MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS OF SHEIK TAJ EL-DIN AL-HILALI ............................ 71 4.1 The Lakemba sermon .................................................................................................. 71 4.2 Overview of the case of Sheik Taj El-Din Al-Hilali .................................................. 72 4.3 Themes in media reporting ......................................................................................... 73 4.3.1 Political discourse ................................................................................................... 77 4.4 Political and Media Representations of Sheik Taj El-Din Al-Hilali ....................... 81 4.4.1 Hilali, Howard and the media ................................................................................. 82 4.4.2 Other Government ministers and “Australian values” ........................................... 88 4.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 99 CHAPTER FIVE: THE DETENTION OF DOCTOR MOHAMED HANEEF 103 5.1 Australian Anti-Terror Laws Post 2001 .................................................................. 103 5.1.1 The Discourse on Terrorism in Australia ............................................................. 105 5.1.2 Media reaction to anti-terror legislation ............................................................... 107 5.2 The attempted attacks in London and Glasgow ..................................................... 112 5.3 Political and Media Representations of Dr Mohamed Haneef .............................
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