The media play a crucial role in shaping public perception and informing international audiences about indigenous communities and the problems they face. However, Indigenous community representatives and advocacy groups in the Northern Territory are not satisfied with band-aid solutions offered for decades-old problems of local communities and the oversimplified media coverage of the complex underlying issues in Alice Springs.
Much is happening in Alice Springs, and it is all over mainstream news. However, this time the news coverage is not about the hospital staff crisis, the longest dry spells and climate change or corporate damage to a sacred Aboriginal site, but for its infamous alcohol problem and the return of alcohol bans, a reminder of the controversial Howard government Intervention which lasted for 15 years.
A quick Factiva news database search reveals that the last time Alice Springs was this extensively and frequently covered in mainstream media was in 2007 – the year the Intervention was imposed – and the year after. However, 15 years later, not much seems to have changed in the way the Intervention and alcohol-related issues were covered in the media, continuing to be the kind of journalism that focuses more on the effects of a problem than its underlying causes.
The alcohol-related crime surge in Alice Springs and other remote communities in the Northern Territory is a complex issue that has needed attention for many years. While the NT and Federal governments are taking small steps to address the problem, news media could play its role by delivering more comprehensive coverage, where journalists also investigate and report on the systemic failures of past and present governments, which have left one of the most concerning and challenging issues of alcohol-related crime untreated and lingering underneath 15 years of ‘helicopter parenting’. In recent times, much of this heavy lifting has been left to the ABC.
Approaching media coverage of indigenous communities and their problems with sensitivity, accuracy, and cultural competency – which has not been done in the current coverage - can make significant differences to how these local issues are perceived and understood by the broader audience – both in Australia and internationally. This requires the use of diverse voices, consulting with indigenous communities and experts, and avoiding the perpetuation of stereotypes and misinformation, such as the publicity given to unsubstantiated claims from one local ‘cosmetic nurse’ about child sexual abuse in the Territory and its prevalence in some local communities. She had claimed that for most kids in Alice Springs, rape was part of routine home life, which was later confirmed as ‘hearsay’ by other news outlets, including the ABC.
More media attention to the generational disenfranchisement of Aboriginal communities and structural violence could protect Australia and its Indigenous communities from what is evidently growing into a national political crisis.
Ayesha Jehangir, CMT Postdoctoral Fellow