Reporting Superdiversity. The Mass Media and Immigration in New Zealand

Abstract

Abstract The mass media have long been seen as an important mechanism in constructing and brokering relations between host and immigrant minorities. Their role has typically been portrayed as endorsing, if not, initiating racist imagery. New Zealand significantly altered its recruitment of immigrants in terms of source countries in 1986–87. The resulting superdiversity presents new challenges for the mainstream media. In the early phase of this recently enhanced cultural diversity, the mass media (here represented by the print media) contributed to a publically articulated racialisation. However, the growing engagement (embeddedness) of the media workers in the reality of this enhanced diversity was subsequently reflected in more nuanced and sympathetic reporting after 2000, thereby confounding classic approaches which stress the misrepresentation and underrepresentation of immigrants by the mass media. There remain important exceptions to this shift towards a broadly sympathetic representation of immigrants by the media; there is evidence of ongoing racist 'Othering' in news reporting and by particular journalists. This paper argues that there is evidence of a recent and partial transformation in the nature of media discourses concerning immigrants and immigration in New Zealand. Keywords: Mass MediaNew ZealandRacialisationRepresentation of Immigrants Acknowledgements We would like to thank Charles Mabbett, Carina Meares and Bronwyn Watson for their comments on an earlier draft, along with the helpful suggestions of two referees as they reviewed this paper. Notes 1. Pakeha is used here to refer to members of the majority group who are of European descent but whose cultural values and practices reflect their New Zealand location. The use of the label is seen by some as evidence of postcolonial politics (see Spoonley "Constructing Ourselves") and as part of complex contemporary cultural politics (see CitationBell). 2. This research on the media coverage of Pacific peoples examined 65 news items from three newspapers with consistency checked by an intercoder reliability measure. 3. Palagi is the Samoan equivalent to Pakeha, hence New Zealand Europeans. 4. New Zealand First emerged in the early 1990s after Winston Peters was ejected from a Cabinet position with the then ruling (conservative) National Party. New Zealand First adopted an explicit anti-immigration position in its first General Election in 1996, and has done so since. 5. This refers only to post-war events. There is a history of anti-Asian politics in the late 1800s and early 1900s that was the subject of a formal apology by the then Prime Minister of New Zealand, Rt. Hon. Helen Clark. There is also an irony in that public surveys of New Zealanders readily acknowledge that Asian peoples are most likely to be discriminated against in contemporary New Zealand (CitationRace Relations Commissioner). 6. New Zealand First, another conservative party represented in parliament until 2008, had this position to itself until the Maori Party began to query the benefits of immigration after it was elected to parliament in 2006. Additional informationNotes on contributorsPaul Spoonley Paul Spoonley is Professor of Sociology and Research Director for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Massey University, New Zealand. He has recently written a biography of one of the country's most noted Maori academics (Mata Toa. The Life and Times of Ranginui Walker, Penguin, 2009), has co-edited a book on immigration (New Zealand and International Migration, 2009) and is the co-editor for a new series on global issues concerning immigration to be published by Queen's School of Policy Studies/Metropolis. He leads the Integration of Immigrants Programme (2007–12) Andrew Butcher Andrew Butcher is Director, Policy and Research at the Asia New Zealand Foundation and is responsible for the Foundation's research and diplomacy programmes. He holds a PhD from Massey University, New Zealand