Recent polls point to a stark contrast between the general public and Chinese-Australians in their assessments of the performance of our media, and that contrast became the point of departure for a new study from the Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI) at UTS.
The ACRI study was undertaken in the hope of understanding why there is such a difference, and what this difference means in terms of trust, equitable representation of marginal voices, and social cohesion.
The study has outlined a diverse range of views, some of which make for sobering reading.
The good news is that people who participated in the survey and interviews show an overwhelming preference for and appreciation of our democratic system. They also think Australian media are trustworthy and professional in reporting on domestic issues and affairs.
The not-so-good news is that the people who participated in the survey and interviews do not trust our media to report on China and their own communities with accuracy, fairness and balance. Many experience a profound sense of emotional anguish, even alienation, in response to such reporting. A significant percentage of people in the Mandarin-speaking community experience a low level of social acceptance. There's a low level of mutual trust between our mainstream media and this community, and most people in the latter cohort feel disempowered and voiceless when it comes to engaging with media.
This is not good news if our media are genuinely serious about where our multiculturalism is going, and about the question of social inclusion, equity, and multicultural harmony.
How should Australian media respond to such findings? This may depend on which media outlets. There is little point trying to persuade commercial media – either Nine or Murdoch media – that social cohesion is important. Commercial media are most likely to march to their own drums, and while some good journalists do their best to produce quality journalism under time and resource constraints, the main objective of the companies they work for is to retain readers and grow their subscriptions.
But our taxpayer-funded public broadcasters have a responsibility to lift their games. They need to do better than their commercial competitors, instead of being led by the nose by them. Chinese-Australians are rights-bearing citizens and permanent residents in Australia. They deserve better. The Australian public deserves better.
And journalists who are serious about genuine investigative work need to think about how their work impacts on real people. Careless, irresponsible reporting has directly led to increased racism and abuse of Chinese-Australians.
Chinese-Australians should not be considered first and foremost as subjects of suspicion and distrust. Nor should they be reported mostly as naive or unthinking individuals who are likely to be susceptible to state-media propaganda from the PRC. Media practitioners should also reflect on their roles vis-à-vis the government’s national security policies – is it their job to question the political machinations behind this policy-making, or simply to function as the mouthpiece of our security and defence establishments?
Wanning Sun
Deputy Director, UTS Australian-Chinese Relations Institute
Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, UTS