Essay Sample on Race Reporting

Introduction

Race reporting is one of the most contentious issues within. Australia is a country whose national comprises of people from different nationalities. The Australian press council is a reputable institution that is charged with the handling cases related to the issue of race and colour in the media industry (Saldanha & Adams, 2013). The controversy that tags along racial reporting are determined by the context and the tone upon which such tone have been uttered. Notably, Australia is still grappling with the issue of racing, and there is a need with racism being engrained in the politics of the country. This paper discussed the issue why consideration of the point of setting guidelines for race reporting is often divisive Australia.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

In Australia, there are people from diverse races despite the common perception that majority are English speaking. There are Mandarin, French and Arabic speakers in the country who tend to suffer more discrimination in the country. The Mandarin-speaking groups tend to face the highest forms of violence compared to the English speaking groups. Such calls for journalists to also take up an initiative to prevent the spread of racial strife within the Australian society. Therefore, the staff vetted to work within the media houses have to be evaluated and affirmed to have the capability of being neutral on the topic issues that are about the races.

Australia is a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Therefore, the country has an obligation of ensuring that race reporting is objective and there are no racial tensions that are fuelled by the reports from the media. The Race Discrimination Act in Australia, enacted in 1975 is the legislation that sets the guideline on how the vice could be rooted out from the Australian society (Anderson & Trembath, 2011). The act intends to protect the immigrants, minorities and the refugees from any form of discrimination that they e could face in the nation. A vital guideline that has been issued by the Australian press council is that the reporting of any racial topic should be done where is in the public interest (Smith, Vromen, & Cook, 2012). For example, in the reporting of a wanted suspect, there is need to refer to the ethical and physical description of a person, where such description could facilitate the arrest of such entity but not to demean any given race.

In Australia, many minorities groups are existent. The use of slang language regarding the minority groups that are not acceptable to the minorities. The publication of such information has to be done in quotes to depict that the newspaper does not endorse the use of such language (Young, 2010). However, the use of slang language is acceptable in the article. Such is a source of significant controversy that is witnessed within the Australian media. The opinion article is often reviewed and approved by the editorial team. Therefore, the publication of such content affirms that the media house has an endorsement of such material, thus, promoting racial bile within the society. Another issue that tends to rise from race reporting is the realisation of media freedom and objective reporting and the need to root out racial vilification in the society. Racial reporting guidelines have the intention of rooting out psychological harm that some victims may go through (Guinness, 2018). Racist words also have the capability of sprouting violence, thus, leading to harm being caused to the members of the public.

Racial reporting is not only limited to the elimination of harmful vices from the media that could eliminate ethnic strife. However, there is a need to ensure that the races also find equal airtime and are integrated into the programs aired in the press. As such, integration of the aboriginals in the guidelines routine programs of the media is one notable issue that arises from the guidelines set. Some media houses may not get the expertise that they need from the minority groups, thus, limiting their capability to adhere to the guidelines set. Integration of all the races in the staffing would enable them to quickly come up with the programs that integrate all the races.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the racial relations in Australia is a work in progress taking into consideration the challenge faced by the guidelines on racial reporting within the country. There are a given set of racial stereotypes that tend to bring in negative light ethnic relations within the state, thus, the basis for more activism to be conducted regarding the topic issue. For example, the integration of the English, Arabic, and French-speaking people in the media houses would facilitate the integration of various cultures in programs aired by the media houses and their write-ups. Such would also serve to demystify the racial slangs that tend to exacerbate ethnic strife within the country. However, the guidelines are instrumental in weeding out racial stereotypes such as youth of African descent being associated with crime. Additionally, the integration of critical stakeholders would also help in the harmonisation of the guidelines.

References

Anderson, F., & Trembath, R. (2011). Witnesses to war: The history of Australian conflict reporting. Carlton, Vic: Melbourne University Publishing.

Guinness, R. (2018). Overlander: One man's epic race to cross Australia. Cammeray, N.S.W. : Simon & Schuster.

Saldanha, A., & Adams, J. M. (2013). Deleuze and race. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Smith, R., Vromen, A., & Cook, I. (2012). Contemporary politics in Australia: Theories, practices and issues. Port Melbourne, Vic: Cambridge University Press.

Young, S. (2010). How Australia decides: Election reporting and the media. Cambridge University Press.