‘Stopping the boats’ to save lives? Humanitarian concern as a slow moral panic

ABSTRACT

In this article, the headlines and photographs of three major Australian newspapers on refugee arrivals are reviewed, asking whether they contribute to Cohen’s notion of ‘moral panic’ and Hage’s concept of a ‘paranoid nationalism’. It will examine two identifiable orientations on how articles are framed: ‘mainly concerned about’ and ‘mainly concerned for’ asylum seekers. The hypotheses are that Newscorp’s The Daily Telegraph and The Australian would show a different orientation than The Sydney Morning Herald and that neither would move beyond the ‘threat’ and ‘national burden’ rhetoric but all neglect a ‘mainly respect for’ the contribution asylum seekers have and can make to the nation, the third frame of analysis. What was surprising in this case study was the unexpected slow moral panic that was reflected through all media corporations in their reporting of the issue. This research contributes to advancing our knowledge regarding the interaction of political framing, community fears, the print media and how these link to the marginalization of people seeking asylum. In particular, understanding the discursive mechanisms and depictions by which the media engage with the global issue of forced migration and asylum is particularly relevant at a time of continued international crisis in many countries of the world.

KEYWORDS:

• Asylum seekers
• critical discourse analysis
• framing
• moral panic
• paranoid nationalism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

David Eades has completed a Doctor of Cultural Research at the Institute of Culture and Society at Western Sydney University. He completed his Master of Applied Linguistics degree in 2004 at Macquarie University majoring in Language Program Management. He has a background in education and has coordinated various programs for migrants. He has a keen interest in understanding the lives of asylum seekers in an Australian context.

ORCID

David Eades http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4505-1517