Social journalism is an emerging field of practice that seeks to reframe journalism as an action-... more Social journalism is an emerging field of practice that seeks to reframe journalism as an action-oriented service built on relationships and collaborations, rather than as primarily content or a product. It offers opportunities for innovation that re-centre the public interest roles of journalism at a time when public interest journalism is in crisis. This article outlines a 10-point model for social journalism, drawing on case studies in health journalism connected to the online platform Croakey.org. These case studies show how using decolonising and participatory action frameworks can transform journalism research and practice, with potential benefits for the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. They also illustrate a dynamic process of knowledge exchange between journalism research and practice. Elements of the proposed model for social journalism practice include: standpoint; transdisciplinary practice; connectivity; relationships; responsive listening; reflexivity; immersion; transparency and trust; creativity and innovation; and an ethic of service and outcomes. It is a model in which transformative health journalism facilitates and enables transformation in spheres beyond journalism. This article also considers the constraints and challenges facing social journalism initiatives and practitioners, and makes recommendations for policy.
This article explores the role of institutional listening in deliberative democracy, focusing par... more This article explores the role of institutional listening in deliberative democracy, focusing particularly on its contribution to the transmission process between the public sphere and formal institutions. We critique existing accounts of transmission for prioritizing voice over listening and for remaining constrained by an ‘aggregative logic’ of the flow of ideas and voices in a democracy. We argue that formal institutions have a crucial role to play in ensuring transmission operates according to a more deliberative logic. To substantiate this argument, we focus on two recent examples of institutional listening in two different democracies: Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and the United States’ Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. These cases show that institutional listening can take different forms; it can be purposefully designed or incidental, and it can contribute to the re...
In 1991, the Hawke government initiated a 10-year program of reconciliation between indigenous an... more In 1991, the Hawke government initiated a 10-year program of reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. The march by some 150,000 people across Sydney Harbour Bridge in May 2000 was widely seen by the Australian media as symbolic of community support for the reconciliation process. Two years later, however, reconciliation had all but disappeared from the public debate and many of its aims remained unmet. How did the Australian media’s framing of reconciliation intersect with public displays of support, political processes and opinion polling on this issue? In order to answer this question, this paper explores how Australians understood reconciliation in their social discussions and how this local talk intersected with public discourse portrayed through the media. Extending the work of public opinion theorist Susan Herbst (1998, 2001), this paper argues that there is a need for greater understanding by academics, commentators and public opinion researchers of w...
New research funded by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) and undertaken by... more New research funded by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) and undertaken by the University of Canberra’s News and Media Research Centre, titled 'Conversations about alcohol and pregnancy', has found that women receive and actively interpret contradictory information about the risks of drinking alcohol while pregnant from a number of sources. The project examined media reporting of alcohol consumption and its risks during pregnancy and how Canberra women understand the issue and manage and apply different types of information about it, including media reporting, expert advice and public health guidelines. The research highlights women’s situated knowledge as a vital part of the public conversation about alcohol and pregnancy. Five key frames were identified from the analysis of 110 media items. These frames were: ‘contested evidence and advice’, ‘FASD crisis’, ‘blame risk-taking mothers’, ‘women’s rights’, and ‘community responsibility’. The dominant fra...
Information and communications technologies (ICT) have been increasingly integrated into the deli... more Information and communications technologies (ICT) have been increasingly integrated into the delivery of many public and commercial services including banking, health, education and social security assistance. They have also become an important medium for social interaction and can help reduce the sense of isolation of people in remote communities. Adequate access to ICT infrastructure, a prerequisite to the delivery of services, has therefore attracted much attention in public policy-making.
This paper critically analyses the'uneasy conversation'(Curthoys, 2000) between multicu... more This paper critically analyses the'uneasy conversation'(Curthoys, 2000) between multicultural and Indigenous discourses as it is re-flected in news reporting. We explore how journalists negotiated their responsibilities to report a story of local inter-cultural tension ...
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are mobilizing a range of media forms to reveal, res... more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are mobilizing a range of media forms to reveal, resist and shift what we term the truancy trap a simplistic, pervasive and powerful discourse of deficit about school attendance in remote Indigenous communities that is perpetuated by mainstream media and Australian government policy. In this article, we draw upon Engoori®, an Indigenous educational intervention and research method, which provides a framework for moving institutions, organizations, communities and individuals out of deficit and into strength-based approaches. The Engoori process is activated here to surface and challenge the deficit assumptions that set the truancy trap, and as a lens for conceptualizing Indigenous media discussion, innovation and action on school attendance. The qualitative media analysis presented here reveals how a diversity of Indigenous media has been used in different ways to build a culture of inclusivity, belonging and connection; give Indigenous p...
Social journalism is an emerging field of practice that seeks to reframe journalism as an action-... more Social journalism is an emerging field of practice that seeks to reframe journalism as an action-oriented service built on relationships and collaborations, rather than as primarily content or a product. It offers opportunities for innovation that re-centre the public interest roles of journalism at a time when public interest journalism is in crisis. This article outlines a 10-point model for social journalism, drawing on case studies in health journalism connected to the online platform Croakey.org. These case studies show how using decolonising and participatory action frameworks can transform journalism research and practice, with potential benefits for the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. They also illustrate a dynamic process of knowledge exchange between journalism research and practice. Elements of the proposed model for social journalism practice include: standpoint; transdisciplinary practice; connectivity; relationships; responsive listening; reflexivity; immersion; transparency and trust; creativity and innovation; and an ethic of service and outcomes. It is a model in which transformative health journalism facilitates and enables transformation in spheres beyond journalism. This article also considers the constraints and challenges facing social journalism initiatives and practitioners, and makes recommendations for policy.
This article explores the role of institutional listening in deliberative democracy, focusing par... more This article explores the role of institutional listening in deliberative democracy, focusing particularly on its contribution to the transmission process between the public sphere and formal institutions. We critique existing accounts of transmission for prioritizing voice over listening and for remaining constrained by an ‘aggregative logic’ of the flow of ideas and voices in a democracy. We argue that formal institutions have a crucial role to play in ensuring transmission operates according to a more deliberative logic. To substantiate this argument, we focus on two recent examples of institutional listening in two different democracies: Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and the United States’ Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. These cases show that institutional listening can take different forms; it can be purposefully designed or incidental, and it can contribute to the re...
In 1991, the Hawke government initiated a 10-year program of reconciliation between indigenous an... more In 1991, the Hawke government initiated a 10-year program of reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. The march by some 150,000 people across Sydney Harbour Bridge in May 2000 was widely seen by the Australian media as symbolic of community support for the reconciliation process. Two years later, however, reconciliation had all but disappeared from the public debate and many of its aims remained unmet. How did the Australian media’s framing of reconciliation intersect with public displays of support, political processes and opinion polling on this issue? In order to answer this question, this paper explores how Australians understood reconciliation in their social discussions and how this local talk intersected with public discourse portrayed through the media. Extending the work of public opinion theorist Susan Herbst (1998, 2001), this paper argues that there is a need for greater understanding by academics, commentators and public opinion researchers of w...
New research funded by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) and undertaken by... more New research funded by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) and undertaken by the University of Canberra’s News and Media Research Centre, titled 'Conversations about alcohol and pregnancy', has found that women receive and actively interpret contradictory information about the risks of drinking alcohol while pregnant from a number of sources. The project examined media reporting of alcohol consumption and its risks during pregnancy and how Canberra women understand the issue and manage and apply different types of information about it, including media reporting, expert advice and public health guidelines. The research highlights women’s situated knowledge as a vital part of the public conversation about alcohol and pregnancy. Five key frames were identified from the analysis of 110 media items. These frames were: ‘contested evidence and advice’, ‘FASD crisis’, ‘blame risk-taking mothers’, ‘women’s rights’, and ‘community responsibility’. The dominant fra...
Information and communications technologies (ICT) have been increasingly integrated into the deli... more Information and communications technologies (ICT) have been increasingly integrated into the delivery of many public and commercial services including banking, health, education and social security assistance. They have also become an important medium for social interaction and can help reduce the sense of isolation of people in remote communities. Adequate access to ICT infrastructure, a prerequisite to the delivery of services, has therefore attracted much attention in public policy-making.
This paper critically analyses the'uneasy conversation'(Curthoys, 2000) between multicu... more This paper critically analyses the'uneasy conversation'(Curthoys, 2000) between multicultural and Indigenous discourses as it is re-flected in news reporting. We explore how journalists negotiated their responsibilities to report a story of local inter-cultural tension ...
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are mobilizing a range of media forms to reveal, res... more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are mobilizing a range of media forms to reveal, resist and shift what we term the truancy trap a simplistic, pervasive and powerful discourse of deficit about school attendance in remote Indigenous communities that is perpetuated by mainstream media and Australian government policy. In this article, we draw upon Engoori®, an Indigenous educational intervention and research method, which provides a framework for moving institutions, organizations, communities and individuals out of deficit and into strength-based approaches. The Engoori process is activated here to surface and challenge the deficit assumptions that set the truancy trap, and as a lens for conceptualizing Indigenous media discussion, innovation and action on school attendance. The qualitative media analysis presented here reveals how a diversity of Indigenous media has been used in different ways to build a culture of inclusivity, belonging and connection; give Indigenous p...
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