'Stopping the boats' to save lives? Humanitarian concern as a slow moral panic. Issue 1 (2nd January 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Eades, David
• Is Part Of: Media Practice and Education. Volume 20:Issue 1(2019)
• Page Start: 87
• Page End: 106
• Publication Date: 2019-01-02
• Subjects: Asylum seekers -- critical discourse analysis -- framing -- moral panic -- paranoid nationalism; Journalism -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; Mass media -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; 302.23071141
• DOI: 10.1080/25741136.2018.1464734
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2574-1136

Abstract

ABSTRACT: In this article, the headlines and photographs of three major Australian newspapers on refugee arrivals are reviewed, asking whether they contribute to Cohen's notion of 'moral panic' and Hage's concept of a 'paranoid nationalism'. It will examine two identifiable orientations on how articles are framed: 'mainly concerned about' and 'mainly concerned for' asylum seekers. The hypotheses are that Newscorp's The Daily Telegraph and The Australian would show a different orientation than The Sydney Morning Herald and that neither would move beyond the 'threat' and 'national burden' rhetoric but all neglect a 'mainly respect for' the contribution asylum seekers have and can make to the nation, the third frame of analysis. What was surprising in this case study was the unexpected slow moral panic that was reflected through all media corporations in their reporting of the issue. This research contributes to advancing our knowledge regarding the interaction of political framing, community fears, the print media and how these link to the marginalization of people seeking asylum. In particular, understanding the discursive mechanisms and depictions by which the media engage with the global issue of forced migration and asylum is particularly relevant at a time of continued international crisis in many countries of the world.