“The most brutal immigration regime in the developed world”: International Media Responses to Australia’s Asylum-Seeker Policy

Abstract

Despite intense media coverage of Australia’s asylum- seeker policy, there is minimal attention to structures and processes that influence international media perspectives. This article explores international media responses to Australia’s policy using a mixed-method approach. Our research focused on twenty-five articles from international media outlets surrounding the 2014 “riots” at Manus Island Regional Processing Centre. Three major themes (political relationships, domestic policy and practice, and treatment of asylum-seekers) highlight some key trends in international media representations of this event as an example. We discuss the implications of such findings for the production, representation, and reception of international media stories.