Media Discourse and the “Truths” of Gender, Culture and Violence

Abstract

Indigenous Family Violence (IFV) became the subject of a highly politicised and mediatised debate during 2006 – 2007, culminating in the Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act. This thesis investigates how the “truths” of IFV constructed in mainstream media positioned a legislation (which breached anti-discrimination laws) as a legitimate political action. Four critical discourse analysis tests were conducted on 48 newspaper articles to examine the impacts of media “truths” on mainstream “social knowledge”. Despite some counter-discourse, the majority of articles constructed family violence as an Indigenous-specific issue, arguing it was “accepted” and “tolerated” in Indigenous culture and communities. The critical perspectives of Indigenous individuals were (largely) de-legitimised or silenced within the articles, reducing the debate to discursive contestation between non-Indigenous (white) perspectives. This thesis reveals that a more egalitarian and inclusive society will be achievable if the perspectives of minority subjects can be equally incorporated, rather than silenced, within media debates.