Separate worlds: a discourse analysis of mainstream and Aboriginal populist media accounts of the Northern Territory Emergency Response

• Published in: Journal of Sociology
• Main Authors: Proudfoot, F, Habibis, D
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Sage Publications Ltd. 2013
• Subjects: Studies in Human Society; Sociology; Social Theory; First Nations
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1177/1440783313482368; http://ecite.utas.edu.au/92974

Critical commentary about the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) has includedthe claim that the media presented a simplistic and stereotyped image of Aboriginal communitiesat the time of its introduction in 2007, but to date there has been no systematic analysis to supportthis. This study addresses this research gap through a critical discourse analysis of reportage of theNTER in mainstream and Aboriginal populist print media. The findings reveal major differencesin these accounts, with radically different propositions and normative assumptions. Mainstreammedia were overwhelmingly negative in their portrayal of remote Aboriginal communities, weresilent about Aboriginal resistance and portrayed urgent Commonwealth intervention as necessaryand heroic. The Aboriginal media provided contextualised accounts of the issues and focusedintensely on the human rights implications of the intervention. The findings reveal a concerningracialised divide in representations of the issues facing remote Aboriginal communities in 2007that helps to explain why the Australian public accepted policies that discriminated againstAustralias First Nations peoples.