![Sample our Communication Studies journals, sign in here to start your access, 2013 & 2014 volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5927/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Information-Science2.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
This article provides a socio-cognitive discourse analysis of Australian news media’s use of certain metaphoric concepts to represent maritime asylum seekers (MASs) and discuss how such metaphorical constructions function to shape shared knowledge and legitimise certain immigration policies. The article argues that Australian news media feature a range of figurative language that discursively and consistently depicts MAS as an ‘uncontrollable danger’. Two major metaphoric themes are identified: MAS as water or water catastrophe (all italics in this document are my own italics for emphasis, unless otherwise stated), and Australia as an invaded home. These metaphorical constructions appear to have emerged at the expense of earlier concerns regarding assimilation and difference and the metaphorical use of the queue, suggesting a recent shift in the immigration discourse in Australia. We conclude that both the water catastrophe and the home metaphors cognitively concretise and socially amplify the link between boat arrivals and social menace, thereby giving credence to discourses of responsibility and border control. This reproduction of a new discourse contributes to legitimising restrictive government policies and creating further possibilities for anti-immigration measures.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. All italics in this document are my own italics for emphasis, unless otherwise stated.
2. Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was replaced by Julia Gillard in 2010 and re-elected by his party in 2013. In Australia, the prime minister is elected by the caucus after the party has assumed control of the government.
3. The Age distributes 100,339 copies Monday to Friday whilst The Daily Telegraph issues 256,834 copies for the same period (Audited Media Association of Australia, Citation2015).
4. It should be remembered that in the current digital environment the selected news outlets account for only a part of the available sources from which people get news. The findings of this study therefore should be treated as a reasonable overview, not as an absolute representation of Australian news discourse in relation to maritime asylum seekers.
5. For full details of our coding and analysis procedure, see Nguyen and McCallum 2015, Proceedings of the 2015 Australian and New Zealand Communication Association Conference, 8–10 July, Queenstown, NZ.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Li Nguyen
Li Nguyen was a researcher of communication, cultures, and media studies at the University of Canberra. Her main area of interest is the study of discourse and language in relation to social power and social policy issues. She is a member of the American Linguistics Society.
Kerry McCallum is Associate Professor of Communication and Media in the News and Media Research Centre at the University of Canberra. Her research focuses on political communication, media, and policymaking practice in Australian Indigenous affairs and related social policy.