What Do We Mean by ‘Representation’? Towards a Systematic Corpus-Assisted Critical Discourse Analysis of First Nations People(s) in Australian Print News

Given the enduring influence of news media on public awareness and opinion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people(s) and related issues, systematic analysis of how these communities are represented in news media remains socially significant. However, what analysts mean when they use the term ‘representation’ shows considerable variation across the literature, from the amount of coverage relevant stories are afforded, to the inclusion of First Nations sources, to the narratives that a given version of events constructs. Moreover, while language is central to the discursive construction of these matters, few linguistic studies of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander media representations exist. To begin to address these gaps, this study first maps the forms of representation identified in previous research, before analysing three of the four types (visibility, naming strategies and portrayal) via a corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis of news articles about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people(s) and issues. It finds that, by and large, how First Nations people(s) are represented is inconsistent—while in some areas, representation broadly aligns with expectations expressed by First Nations communities (i.e. for increased coverage, respectful terms of reference and strengths-based discourses), problematic practices persist. Importantly, however, the analysis also illuminates a range of journalistic practices that can be implemented to improve representation in areas currently lacking.