MIGRATION ACTION LIBRARY BROTHERHOOD OF ST. LAMPFaIPF Vol XV, Number 3 67 BRUNSWICK STREET December, 1993 FITZROY VICTORIA 3 The media SHOOTING THE MESSENGER OR THE MESSAGE? NEW BOOKS FROM EMC's BOOKSHOP B600 Labour Market Experience, Education and Training of Young Immigrants In Australia: An Intergenerational Study By: Flatau, Paul & Hemmings, Philip. 1992. RRP: $8.95 B601 Making Something of Myself: Turkish-Australian Young People By: Inglis, C.; Elley, J. & Manderson, L. 1992. RRP: $ 1 4 .9 5 B602 Directory of Ethnic Community Organizations in Australia 1992 By: Office of Multicultural Affairs. 1992. RRP: $ 2 9 .9 5 B604 Inventory of Australian Health Data Collections Which Contain Information On Ethnicity By: van Ommeren, Marijke & Merton, Carolyn. 1992. RRP: $ 16.95 B606 Temporary Movements of People to and From Australia By: Sloan, Judity & Kennedy, Sean. 1992. RRP: $ 1 2 .9 5 B607 Discrimination Against Immigrant Workers In Australia By: Foster, L.; Marshall, A. & W illiam s, L.S. RRP: $ 19.95 B 6 1 3 Growing Up Italian In Australia: Eleven Young Women Talk About Their Childhoods By: Travaglia, Joanne; Price, Rita & Dell'Oso, Anna Maria et al. 1993. RRP: $ 1 6 .9 5 B614 New Land, Last Home: The Vietnamese Elderly and The Family Migration Program By: Thomas, Trang & Balnaves, Mark. 1993. RRP: $9.95 B615 From All Corners: S ix Migrant Stories By: Henderson, Anne. 1993. The author tells the stories of six women who came to settle in Australia. RRP: $ 1 7 .9 5 Purchases from the EMC Bookshop may be made by calling the EMC Librarian on (03) 416 0044 / MIGRATION ACTION Contents VOL XV NUMBER 3, DECEMBER 1993 Editorial ISSN: 031 1-3760 The media - shooting the messenger or the message?..... 2 Migration Action is Media self-regulation and ethnic communities published by the Ecumenical Andrew Jakubowicz..............................................................3 Migration Centre, What the media has contributed to 1 2 5 Leicester Street, Fitzroy, ethnic communities in Australia Victoria, Australia, 3065 David Bednall ..................... 7 Tel: (03)416 0 0 4 4 The Australian media and multiculturalism Fax: (03)416 1827 Philip B e ll..............................................................................11 SBS TV - Reflecting the EMC is a non-government agency which, through its welfare, educational, project and multicultural face of Australia community work fosters the development of Australia as a multicultural society. The centre Geoff Abbott.........................................................................14 has been working with migrants since 1962. Towards a sound for all - Its work is diversified, from community service and development to social action and Strategies for cultural diversity on ABC Radio community education. Paul Vincent.................................................................... 19 Within a framework of ensuring equal access and rights for all in Australian society, EMC provides counselling services and community Style and standards - development activities to a number of ethnic But where are our migrant voices? communities, both established and newly arrived. Kalinga Seneviratne........................................................... 24 EMC also initiates research towards an understanding of a range of issues, and Media representations of ethnic identity: promotes change where necessary. The Vietnamese in Brisbane EMC operates a Documentation Centre comprising a library, a bookshop and Jeffrey Pittam........................................................................ 29 publishing house, formerly the Clearing House on Migration Issues (CHOMI). This is a unique Deconstructing the media: information centre on migrant, refugee and ethnic issues. The library holds over 40,000 A vital dimension of anti-racist practice documents and 250 periodicals which are used by students, teachers, government departments, John Twitchin.......................... 33 community organisations and others seeking up-to- date information or undertaking A plea for help from EM C ................................................ 36 research. Editorial Committee: Tony Pensabene, Tonina Gucciardo and Vivian Papaleo Editing, design and production: Shane Scanlan M ed ia TIO N Printing: Printgraphics It is not the intention of this journal to reflect the opinion of either the staff or the committee of EM C . In many matters this would be difficult to ascertain, nor do the editors think it desirable. The aim of the journal is to be informative and stimulat­ ing through its various articles, suggestions and comments. SU B SC R IP TIO N RATES: (per volume of 3 issues) As from January 1 9 9 3 — $ 3 6 .0 0 (individuals) — $ 4 5 .0 0 (institutions) — $ 5 0 .0 0 (abroad) — Single issue: $ 1 5 .0 0 . DECEMBER 1993 1 T 0 R A L Boigration A ction The media - shooting the messenger or the message? » n this issue of Migration Action we examine the services and information, focusing rather on cultural role the media plays in shaping and presenting the learning, cultural maintenance and the teaching of views of ethnic communities in Australia. English. The media exerts a powerful influence over society. Bell is critical of the fact that Australia’s popular It serves two roles. First, it filters and reflects media has largely excluded representations of active, community views and opinions. By studying the positive aspects of cultural diversity and social media we discover ourselves, our views and our heterogeneity. Pittam examines the representation prejudices. of the Vietnamese community in Brisbane and finds Second, the media also plays a leading role in that negative images seem to pervade the shaping community views. If the media thinks an presentation of the community in headlines and issue is important, then it must be important. If the stories. media says this is the truth, then it must be the truth. Kalinga Seneviratne provides a community Of course, the reality is often more complex. The broadcaster’s view of SBS television. He finds the media sells simple messages and that why it is so service lacking in terms of the reality it presented of effective. Asian communities as opposed to the rhetoric. Two national broadcasters of relevance to Australia’s And finally, English journalist John Twitchin gives us image of multicultural society are the Australian an international perspective on racism in the media. Broadcasting Commission (ABC) and the Special Are we shooting the messenger or the message? Broadcasting Service (SBS). We are fortunate to This is the dilemma faced by researchers and ethnic have major contributions from both public funded communities in seeking to ensure that the media broadcasters. SBS arose from the desire for ethnic give fair balance and representation to ethnic communities to have their own voice. ABC radio, communities. Australia’s national broadcaster, is developing Migration Action has sought to fill this gap over the policies and programs to reflect Australia’s diverse last 20 years. This is my last issue as editor. Over population. the last five years the importance and Commenting on the role of the media are some of professionalism of the journal has grown as a voice our leading researchers into the media - Professor of the community. Andrew Jukabowicz, David Bednall, Phillip Bell and I hope you will continue to support M igration Jeffery Pittam. Jakabowicz focuses on self-regulation A ction in the future. and the failure of the system in the past to adequately represent the interests of minorities. Bednall focuses on the failure of the media to Tony Pensabene adequately inform ethnic communities on settlement Chairperson 2 DECEMBER 1993 Media self-regulation and ethnic communities vilification legislation either in place or under preparation. By Andrew The Screen Producers’ Association adopted a policy Jakubowicz on cultural pluralism and non-traditional casting in 1992. The Advertising Standards Council monitors School of Humanities advertisements, and participates in the Media Council University of of Australia. Finally the Media Alliance (the union Technology, Sydney covering journalists) has an ethics statement which seeks to constrain journalists from using race or ethnicity in inappropriate ways. hile Channel 9 supremo Bruce Gyngell may The average media consumer could thus be forgiven well think that Australian television shows for throwing her arms in the air, and wishing a pox such as N eig h bou rs and H om e a n d A w ay on all their houses, as she tries to find a single body W able to help her navigate her way through the appeal to the British audiences because they give messages of a harmonious if racist society before situation. How did we get to this state of affairs? In black immigration (Sydney Morning Herald, the name of de-regulation and self-regulation why November 1, 1993)- He might also have said they do we now have a system which makes complaint appeal to Australian audiences for similar reasons. and action by ethnic communities so very complicated? Whatever changes were in the wind, the Australian media is for all intents and purposes now self­ We can go back to the mid-1970s when the then regulating on issues of race and ethnicity. The last Labor government under Media Minister Moss Cass formal government controls were abandoned in late began to work out what sort of responsibilities the 1992 when the Australian Broadcasting Authority media had to the general public and what protection replaced the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal as the they needed
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