Reading the News: Pitcairn Island at the Beginning of the 21st Century

Abstract

In the first five years of the 21st century, Pitcairn Island received more attention in the news media than at any other time in its history. This essay examines the representation of Pitcairn and its community in contemporary Australian, New Zealand and British newspapers. In particular, it analyses the reporting of the trials and convictions of seven men before the Supreme Court in late 2004 for sex offences against women and girls over a thirty year period. The aim of this paper is to measure the force of linguistic and textual norms to manage our thinking about place. It identifies and interrogates dominant patterns in descriptions of Pitcairn Island in the news in order to consider the vexed question of the relationship between the reality of islands and their representation.