Abstract
Kerry McCallum and Lisa Waller locate the diverse, abundant and dynamic field of Indigenous media within the rapidly changing broader Australian media landscape. While there are some parallels with the ethnic media sector, this chapter shows that the unique development of the Indigenous media sector has been determined by Australia’s colonial past and its complex political and policy history. Simultaneously, Indigenous people have developed their own media for self-determination, sovereignty, cultural representation and for talking back to those in power. The development of a dynamic community broadcasting sector and the flourishing of Indigenous digital media provides Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with a voice that enables them to make strategic incursions into policy debates.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Australia’s most successful referendum occurred in 1967, with 90.77 per cent voting to change the constitution to enable the Commonwealth to make laws for all Australians and to take account of Aboriginal people in determining the population.
References
Alia, V 2010, The New Media Nation: Indigenous Peoples and Global Communication, Berghahn Books, New York.
Attwood, B & Markus, A 2007, The 1967 Referendum: Race, Power and the Australian Constitution, 2nd ed. Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra.
Australian Government, 2016, Constitutional Recognition. Available from: http://www.dpmc.gov.au/indigenous-affairs/constitutional-recognition
Bacon, W 2005, ‘A Case Study in Ethical Failure: Twenty Years of Media Coverage of Aboriginal Deaths in Custody’, Pacific Journalism Review, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 17–41.
Behrendt, L 2014, ‘Indigenous Recognition: The Concerns of those Opposed Must be Taken Seriously’, The Guardian.
BeyondBlue 2015, ‘The Invisible Discriminator: Stop. Think. Respect’, accessed 20 July 2015 at https://www.beyondblue.org.au/resources/for-me/stop-think-respect-home/the-invisible-discriminator
Bostock, L 1997, The Greater Perspective: Protocols and Guidelines for the Production of Film and Television on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, SBS, Sydney.
Burrows, E 2010, ‘Tools of Resistance: The Roles of Two Indigenous Newspapers in Building an Indigenous Public Sphere’, Australian Journalism Review, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 33–43.
Burrows, E 2016, ‘Revitalising Indigenous Resistance and Dissent Through Online Media’, The IAFOR Journal of Media, Communication and Film, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 1–19.
Carlson, B & Frazer, R 2015, ‘It’s like Going to a Cemetery and Lighting a Candle’: Aboriginal Australians, Sorry Business and Social Media’, AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 211–224.
Cottle, S & Lester, L 2011, Transnational Protests and the Media, Peter Lang, New York.
Couldry, N 2004, ‘Theorising Media as Practice’, Social Semiotics, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 115–132.
Coulthard, G 2014, Red Skin, White Masks. Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.
Curthoys, A 2000, ‘An Uneasy Conversation: The Multicultural and the Indigenous’, in J. Docker & G. Fischer (Eds), Race, Colour and Identity in Australia, UNSW Press, Sydney, pp. 21–36.
Davis, M 2016, ‘Listening but not Hearing: When Process Trumps Substance’, Griffith Review, vol. 51, pp. 73–87.
Davis, M & Williams, G 2015, Everything You Need to know About the Referendum to Recognize Indigenous Australians. NewSouth, Sydney.
Downing, J & Husband, C 2005, Representing Race: Racisms, Ethnicities and Media, Sage, London.
Dreher, T 2010, ‘Speaking up or being Heard? Community Media Interventions and the Politics of Listening’, Media, Culture & Society, vol. 32, pp. 85–103.
Dreher, T, McCallum, K & Waller, L 2016, ‘Indigenous Voices and Mediatized Policy-Making in the Digital Age’, Information, Communication & Society, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 23–39.
Due, C & Riggs, D 2011, Representations of Indigenous Australians in the Mainstream News Media, Post Pressed, Brisbane.
Dunne Breen, M 2015, ‘Blackout: The Mediated Silencing of Aboriginal Public Opinion About the Australian Government’s Northern Territory Emergency Response 2007ʹ, Platform: Journal of Media and Communication, vol. 6, pp. 33–44.
Eggerking, K & Plater, D (eds) 1992, Signposts: A Guide for Journalists, Australian Centre for Independent Journalism, Sydney.
Ewart, J 1997, ‘The Scabsuckers: Regional Journalists’ Representation of Indigenous Australians’, Asia Pacific Media Educator, vol. 3, pp. 108–117.
Fairclough N 1995, Media Discourse, Edward Arnold, London.
Finkelstein, R 2012, Report of the Independent Inquiry into the Media and Media Regulation, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Melbourne.
Forde, S, Foxwell-Norton, K, & Meadows, M 2009, Developing Dialogues: Indigenous and Ethnic Community Broadcasting in Australia, Intellect, United Kingdom.
Forde, C, Bamblett, L, Lovett, R, Gorringe S, & Fogarty, W 2013, ‘Discourse, Deficit and Identity: Aboriginality, the Race Paradigm and the Language of Representation in Contemporary Australia’, Media International Australia vol. 149, pp. 162–173.
Hall, S (ed.) 1997, Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices, Sage, London.
Hall, S 2014, ‘The Whites of Their Eyes: Racist Ideologies and the Media’, in G. Rodman (ed.), The Race and Media Reader, Routledge, New York, pp. 37–51.
Hanusch, F 2013, ‘Dimensions of Indigenous Journalism Culture: Exploring Maori News-making in Aotearoa New Zealand’, Journalism, vol. 15, no. 8, pp. 951–967.
Hartley, J 2003, ‘Their Own Media in Their Own Language’, in C. Lumby & E. Probyn (eds), Remote Control: New Media, New Ethics, pp. 42–66, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Hartley, J & McKee, A 2000, The Indigenous Public Sphere: The Reporting and Reception of Aboriginal Issues in the Australian Media, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Hess, K & Waller, L 2015, ‘Community Journalism in Australia: A Media Power Perspective’, Grassroots Editor, vol. 56, no. 1 and Community Journalism, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 2–10.
Hokowhitu, B 2013, ‘Theorizing Indigenous Media’, in B. Hokowhitu & V. Devadas (eds), The Fourth Eye: Maori Media in Aotearoa New Zealand, pp. 101–123, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.
Hollinsworth, D 2006, Race and Racism in Australia 3rd ed., Social Studies Press, Katoomba NSW.
Indigenous Remote Communications Association (IRCA) 2016, History of the Remote Indigenous Media Sector. Available from: http://www.irca.net.au/sector/history-remote-indigenous-media-sector
Jakubowicz, A, Goodall, H, Martin, J.A, Mitchell, T, Randall, L & Seneviratne, K 1994, Racism, Ethnicity and the Media, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Johnson, E 1991, Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody National Report: Overview and Recommendations, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.
Kral, I 2012, Talk, Text & Technology: Literacy and Social Practice in a Remote Indigenous Community, Multilingual Matters, Bristol, Buffalo, Toronto.
Langton, M 1993, ‘Well, I Heard it on the Radio and I Saw it on the Television’: An Essay for the Australian Film Commission on the Politics and Aesthetics of Filmmaking by and About Aboriginal People and Things, Australian Film Commission, Sydney.
Liddle, C 2015, Rantings of an Aboriginal Feminist. Available from www.blackfeministranter.blogspot.com.au.
Macoun, A 2012, ‘Aboriginality and the Northern Territory Intervention’, Australian Journal of Political Science, vol. 46, no. 3, pp. 519–534.
McCallum, K 2011, ‘Journalism and Indigenous Health Policy’, Australian Aboriginal Studies, vol. 2, pp. 21–31.
McCallum, K & Holland, K 2010, ‘Indigenous Discourses in Australian News Reporting’, Australian Journalism Review, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 5–18.
McCallum, K & Waller, L in press, The Dynamics of Media and Indigenous Policy in Australia, Intellect, Bristol.
McCallum, K, Waller, L & Meadows, M 2012, ‘Raising the Volume: Indigenous Voices in News Media and Policy’, Media International Australia, vol. 142, pp. 101–111.
McCallum, K, Waller, L & Dreher, T 2016, ‘Mediatization, Marginalization and Disruption in Australian Indigenous Affairs’, Media and Communication, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 30–42.
Meadows, M 2001, Voices in the Wilderness: Images of Aboriginal People in the Australian Media. Greenwood, Westport.
Meadows, M 2005, ‘Journalism and Indigenous Public Spheres’, Pacific Journalism Review, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 36–41.
Meadows, M 2016, ‘Dangerous Dancing. A Commentary on Australian Indigenous Communication Futures’, Media and Communication, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 33–37.
Meadows, M & Oldham, C 1991, ‘Racism and the Dominant Ideology: Aborigines and the Bicentenary’, Media Information Australia, vol. 60, pp. 30–39.
Meadows, M & Molnar, H 2002, Songlines to Satellites: Indigenous Communication in Australia, the South Pacific and Canada, Pluto Press, Sydney.
Medhora, S 2015, ‘Australia Day: Tony Abbott Promises not to Neglect Indigenous Recognition’, The Guardian, 26 January. Available from: http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jan/26/tony-abbott-promises-not-to-neglect-Indigenous-recognition [26 January 2015].
Mesikämmen, E 2016, ‘Limited Interests, Resources, Voices: Power Relations in Mainstream News Coverage of Indigenous Policy in Australia’, Media, Culture & Society, vol. 38, no. 5, pp. 721–737.
Moreton-Robinson, AM 2009, ‘Imagining the Good Indigenous Citizen: Race War and the Pathology of Patriarchal White Sovereignty’, Cultural Studies Review, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 61–79.
Moscato, D 2016, ‘Media Portrayals of Hashtag Activism: A Framing Analysis of Canada’s #Idlenomore Movement’, Media and Communication, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 3–12.
Muecke, S 1992, Textual Spaces: Aboriginality and Cultural Studies, UNSW Press, Sydney.
Ormond-Parker, L, Corn, A, Forde, C, Obata, K & O’Sullivan, S (eds) 2013, Information Technology and Indigenous Communities, AIATSIS Research Publications, Canberra.
Paradies, Y, Harris, R & Anderson, I 2008, The Impact of Racism on Indigenous Health in Australia and Aotearoa: Towards a Research Agenda, Discussion Paper No. 4, Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health, Darwin.
Pearson, L 2015, IndigenousX Constitutional recognition survey. Available from: http://indigenousx.com.au/constitutional-recognition-survey/
Recognise 2016, Available from: http://www.recognise.org.au
Rennie, E 2013, ‘Co-creative Media in Remote Indigenous Communities’, Cultural Science, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 22–36.
Rennie, E & Featherstone, D 2008, ‘“The potential Diversity of Things we Call TV”’: Indigenous Community Television, Self-Determination and NITV’, Media International Australia, vol. 129, pp. 52–66.
Rennie, E, Hogan, E, Gregory, R, Crouch, A, Wright, A & Thomas, J 2016 Internet on the Outstation: The Digital Divide and Remote Aboriginal Communities, Amsterdam, Institute for Network Cultures.
Rigney, LI 1999, ‘Internationalisation of an Indigenous Anticolonial Cultural Critique of Research Methodologies: A guide to Indigenist Research Methodology and its Principles’, Wicazo Sa Review, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 109–121.
Ross, T 2015, ‘Journalism or Culture: Pacific Audience Evaluations of the Role of Ethnic Media’, Proceedings of the 2015 Conference of the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association, Queenstown, 8–10 July 2015, ANZCA.
Smith, LT 2004, Decolonising Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples, Zed Books, London.
Stockwell, S & Scott, P 2000, All-media Guide to Fair and Cross-cultural Reporting for Journalists, Program Makers and Media Students, Griffith University, Brisbane.
Stoneham, MJ, Goodman, J & Daube, M 2014, ‘The Portrayal of Indigenous Health in Selected Australian Media’, The International Indigenous Policy Journal, vol. 5, no. 1. Available from: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/iipj/vol5/iss1/5 [20 July 2015].
Strömbäck, J & Esser, F 2014, ‘Introduction. Making Sense of the Mediatization of Politics’, Journalism Studies, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 243–255
Sweet, M, Pearson, L, & Dudgeon, P 2013, ‘@Indigenousx: A Case Study of Community-led Innovation in Digital Media’, Media International Australia, vol. 149, pp. 104–111.
Van Dijk, T 1987, Racism and the Press: Critical Studies in Racism and Migration, Routledge, London.
Van Dijk, TA 2000, ‘New(s) Racism: A Discourse Analytical Approach’, in S Cottle (ed.) Ethnic Minorities and the Media, pp. 33–49, Open University Press, Buckingham.
Van Gorp, B 2007, ‘The Constructionist Approach to Framing: Bringing Culture Back In’, Journal of Communication, vol. 57, pp. 60–78.
Waller, L 2010, ‘Indigenous Research Ethics: New Modes of Information Gathering and Storytelling’, Australian Journalism Review, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 21–33.
Waller, L 2013, ‘It comes with the Territory: ‘Remote’ Indigenous Reporting for Mainstream Australia’, Australian Journalism Monographs, vol. 14, pp. 5–38.
Waller, L, Dreher, T & McCallum, K 2015, ‘The Listening key: Unlocking the Democratic Potential of Indigenous Participatory Media’, Media International Australia, vol. 154, pp. 57–66.
Waller, L & McCallum, K 2016, ‘Keystone Media: The Australian and Indigenous Affairs’, Media International Australia, vol. 161, pp. 109–119.
Watkins, J, Park, S, Blood, RW, Deas, M, Breen, MD, Fisher, C, Fuller, G, Lee, JY, Papandrea, F & Ricketson, M 2016, Digital news report: Australia 2016, University of Canberra, News and Media Research Centre (UC), Canberra.
Wilson, P & Stewart, M 2008, Global Indigenous Media: Cultures, Poetics, and Politics, Duke University Press, Durham NC.
Wilson, P, Hearne, J, Córdova, A & Thorner, S 2015, Indigenous Media. Oxford Bibliographies. Available from: http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199791286/obo-9780199791286-0229.xml
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
McCallum, K., Waller, L. (2017). Indigenous Media Studies in Australia: Traditions, Theories and Contemporary Practices. In: Budarick, J., Han, GS. (eds) Minorities and Media. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59631-4_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59631-4_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-59630-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-59631-4
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)