ACIAC Seminar - The Role of Australian News Media in The Coverage of International Affairs: A Case Study of “China’s Influence”

About the news media’s coverage of “Chinese influence”, former PM Turnbull said “a lot more negativity presented than is actually the case”, and the Chinese embassy said that reports “made up out of thin air and filled with cold war mentality and ideological bias”. Does such criticism mean that the relevant reports do have problems? In response to criticism, the media stressed that their reports “serves public interest”. Is this statement true? When the media reports on domestic affairs, the bias of the media and their relation with political power are monitored by parties, the public and other media. But when the media intervene in international affairs, especially when nationalism becomes the dominant discourse, how does the media position itself? This seminar explores the role of Australian media in international affairs reporting through a case study on Australian media's coverage of "China's influence". The study finds that Australian media's reports on "China's influence" are consistent with the government's stance, and interact closely with foreign policy. However, compared with the government, the attitude of the media is more radical. Under the cognitive framework of binary opposition, the media positioned its role as the defender of national interest, but this role is established through the construction of a different and dangerous "other". This seminar further argues that the media discourse not only influences the current foreign policy and international relations, but also affects the long-term public perception.