The power to control how culture is represented is one of the most significant attributes ofmodern media, and can influence the way that people view specific groups and theirbehaviour towards them. This power is sometimes used to demonise minority groups andleads to a myriad of complex issues extending over time. The following paper will exploreexamples of how representation has been used to shape and influence public perception byexamining Asylum Seekers and Refugees. These particular groups have been negativelyrepresented in Australian media extensively since the introduction of mandatory detention forAsylum Seekers in 1992 (Gosden 2006).Definitions of ‘Refugee' and 'Asylum Seeker' areoften tangled in media discourse and there are significant differences in Government policy(Gale 2004). To simplify, an asylum seeker is acknowledged as a person seeking refugeestatus while a refugee under the UN definition is recognised as being a person who has beenidentified as a refugee following a prior application process (Gale 2004).The government’spersistent use of mainstream media in constructing these ideologies has helped shapenegative public perception and has resulted in a range of negative health impacts on thesevulnerable people (Anderson 2018).Culture can be defined as learned and shared patterns or models for living within differentsocieties (Damon 1987). How culture is interpreted depends on the context and how theculture is shared and represented through key institutions of family, church, education andmedia (Swinburne Online 2020). Cultural theorist Stuart Hall defines representation as a kindof language, where interpretation of meaning changes from person to person (Hall 1997).Interpretation is completely dependent upon the historical or cultural context from when orwhere it is being presented or seen (Hall 1997). Mainstream media decides how to representideas about society, ethics, ideas of right and wrong, as well as representations of race,gender, religion, sexual orientation, class and ethnicity (Swinburne Online 2020). In the caseof those seeking asylum and eventual refugee status in Australia, politicians have pushed theirideologies and influenced mainstream media in in order to shape public idea and attitudes andappeal to a majority (Gale 2004, p. 322). The media has been used as a tool to demoniseAsylum seekers and Refugees by building an ‘Us vs Them’ mentality within the Australianpublic (Gale 2004, p. 329). This will be investigated by examining the tone and languageused in media during periods where significant attention was first placed on these groups.
