Racism in the News: A Critical Discourse Analysis of News Reporting in Two Australian Newspapers

TLDR

The study probes how racism is ideologically constructed in newspaper reporting. The authors analyze Vietnamese gang reports from the Sydney Morning Herald and The Daily Telegraph using a two‑stage Critical Discourse Analysis framework. They find that the newspapers systematically other and stereotype Vietnamese migrants, creating an asymmetrical power dynamic that reinforces their marginalization.

Abstract

The aim of this study is to probe for ideological construction of racism imbricated within the structure of newspaper reporting. The study focuses on news reports relating to a Vietnamese gang in Australia whose violent and drug-dealing activities have received publicity in two Sydney-based newspapers: The Sydney Morning Herald and The Daily Telegraph. The analysis of these reports adheres to the analytic paradigm of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and is undertaken in two stages. The first, a general characterization of the newspaper discourse, reveals evidence of a systematic `othering' and stereotyping of the ethnic community by the `white' majority. This is followed by a comparative analysis of two reports, which surfaces evidence of a racist ideology manifest in an asymmetrical power discourse between the (ethnic) law-breakers and the (white) law-enforcers. The study concludes with a discussion to explain the evidence of `Racism in the News', which both reflects and reinforces the marginalization of recent Vietnamese migrants into Australia.