im currently writing a report on media and immigration. just thoought id put it here. hope its some use to somebody. i have only just started. only a draft
The main way that current affairs are broadcast, is through the media- Internet, newspaper, magazines and television. But with this broadcast of information come a certain bias. The media can make a certain issue sound as good or as bad as it wants by highlighting certain points and shadowing others. “Lies and deceit are powerful tools used by the mainstream media to control the ordinary people in Australia and indeed throughout the world (Pitt, Unknown Date).” In many issues brought up in media, it leaves you begging the question, “Where is the evidence?” (Pitt, unknown date). The recent issue of illegal immigrants, also called boat people, entering Australia has been vastly covered by the media, but is all the information we have heard been correct, or has it been manipulated to boost ratings? It is not profitable for a company, which is based around making money, to say what the general public don’t want to hear, it is more profitable to twist the truth and give the masses what they want.
The media uses many methods to give the public what they want to hear, This is how they do it- they give low priority to truths, or information they want to suppress, or not even cover some issues, change stories to give a different impression, exaggerate evils, base arguments over emotional debates, not logical debates, and tag people with names, and make them look bad by bringing out certain issues to embarrass them. The media thrives around ratings, because their aim is not to give the facts, but in the end to make the most profit. All the media in the end is based around advertising. The media has free speech, and therefore can say what they want. Even phone polls, or letters to the editor columns, which are supposably the public’s opinion, are not unbiased, the media will suppress any arguments which oppose them, and accept ones which are for them. “Freedom of speech in the media usually means freedom for the media to say whatever it likes.” (Pitt, Unknown Date).
The whole subject of media free speech is a one sided debate. The media can say what they like and we, the public believe it, because it’s all we know. We don’t have any other way of obtaining the information unless we search and find it ourselves, this is the hard route, and so we believe the blessed television. (SIMPSONS) In the subject of boat people, all we hear is the media’s opinion, that these people have no right to belong in our countries. And when these poor people protest they are given an even worse name. They have come to our country to try and get away from their hardships, and as soon as they are here we lock them up for months, away from their families. The media portrays these people as invaders of our land, which in some part they are, but not the extent seen. There are several myths that the media blast into our faces, which we then believe, because there is no opposition to what they are saying.
When we come home from work, school or play we sit down and turn on the news, to find out what has happened today. When the all seeing, all right says that there has been another batch of ‘illegal immigrants’ we just wish they would stop bugging us and go home. The media gives them the title of ‘illegal’, but in fact are they all illegal? “Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution."” (Untitled document). So therefore under this international agreement these people are not illegal at all. Illegal immigrants are not these boat people, but the people who overstay their visas, who are not from these boats but from western nations. There are over 5,000 illegal immigrants overstaying their visa from Britain alone. This misinformation, builds a public opinion on the boat people, that they are lawbreakers and should be punished, yet we don’t punish the real illegals, the socially accepted ones. The media dwells on the emotional side of the stone, not looking at the cold had facts (Untitled document).
Another ‘fact’ blurted out by the media is that Australia already has to many refugees. But is this true, or is it another trick used by the media to portray these people worse, to condemn them, to build up public anger against them. By saying this it makes many Australians mad that these people are ‘overcrowding’ our country. In 2001, Australia only let in 12,000 refugees, and this figure has remained static. According to Amnesty International 1 in every 115 people on earth are refugees, and a new refugee is created every 21 seconds. By looking at these figures, it is obvious that we are not, over crowding out country. “97% of applicants from Iraq and 93% of applicants from Afghanistan seeking asylum without valid visas in Australia in 1999 were recognised as genuine refugees” (untitled document)
Australia does not has a large population, just over 19 million, and this ratio does not show over crowding. But instead shows that we can afford to let more refugee’s in. so before we label these people as overcrowders, we should look at the facts.
Boat people are not found on a regular basis, but when they are, a huge fuss is created, and they get labelled as ‘invaders to our country’. That if we don’t stop them soon, we will be swamped with them. This again, is a myth conjured up by the media to create a bad public image of the boat people. In 2000 only 4147 people reached Australia to seek asylum. As apposed to the 300 000 refugees arrived in Europe, and the million Afghan refugees Iran and Pakistan each hosted. This is made out to be a major problem in Australia, where it is not. Because every time a boat comes in it is such well publicised we think it is happening continually, but there are time that we don’t hear about it, this is because it is not happening.
It is a common misconception, broadcast by the media and alike, that if we let these immigrants through our doors they will take up our benefits. In fact the intake of migrants will boost our economy, by stimulating economic growth. In America it has been shown that the intake of unauthorised entrants boost the economy by $800 million US. Media has created a monster like figure from these people, much like the propaganda created in the First World War, making the Germans look like horrible beasts. The media has created all these common misconceptions, which the public believe, because there is no alternative.
The media creates the Australian public opinion on boat people and convinces the public to believe them. an excellent example of this is the tamper crisis, the media’s involvement with this case turned even the governments standings. At the time this incident happened, an election was at foot, Howard vs. Beasley. Howard campaigned hard about the children overboard incident, and therefore won the publics vote, this was because the Australian people were misled through a web of lies and deception. The polls were even through the
“Australia has been one of the most successful and tolerant migrant nations. Yet, ironically, immigration itself has never had widespread support (Henderson, G, 1990, p75)”
Edmund Rice Centre, 2001, Untitled Document, [Online], Edmund Rice Centre, Available from: <
http://www.erc.org.au/issues/text/se01.htm> [22nd April 2003]
Henderson, Gerard, 1990, Australia’s immigration debate: A most Unusual unity ticket in Australia and Immigration: Able to Grow?, ed. Easson, Michael, Pluto Press Australia Limited, NSW.
Pitt, Tony, (Unknown Date), Lies and Deceit of Mainstream Media in Australia, [Online], Tony Pitt, Available from: <
http://www.satcom.net.au/freedom/media.html> [10th April 2003]
