Are Aboriginal people a threat to the modern nation? A study of newsprint coverage of a racial discrimination complaint
Our latest edition of Australian Aboriginal Studies is now available. The featured article in our latest edition ofAustralian Aboriginal Studies, ‘Are Aboriginal people a threat to the modern nation? A study of newsprint coverage of a racial discrimination complaint’, follows a recent Aboriginal Studies Press research publication ‘Does the media fail Aboriginal political aspirations? 45 years of news media reporting of key political moments’.
The latter publication revealed that mainstream media over a 45-year period have propagated deep narratives about Aboriginal people, which has the effect of stymying Aboriginal peoples’ legitimate demands for recognition.
‘White mastery’, Thomas et al. argue (2019:236), is one such deep narrative; it is the notion that denies the legitimacy of an Aboriginal polity by claiming that Aboriginal people are no different to the wider white body politic.
With reference to coverage of a 2016 racial discrimination case and subsequent litigation, this new paper by Norman et al., argues that the Australian newspaper reproduces a ‘white mastery’ deep narrative and discourses of ‘Indigenous privilege’ and ‘white discrimination’ that destabilise public support for allied human rights instruments and institutions, and undermine appreciation of Aboriginal agency and recognition.
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