Melbourne’s ‘African gang crisis’: A content analysis comparing two Melbourne media outlets

Abstract: In this paper I argue that in a mediatized Australia, where media are increasingly constructing society and culture as a whole, racializing frames used by Melbourne newspapers The Age and Herald Sun during a two-month period in 2018 contribute to the continued ‘othering’ of the ‘highly visible’ Sudanese-Australian and Sudanese refugee communities, and the erosion of the policy, and lived reality, of multiculturalism in Australia. Building upon the existing extensive body of research about the representation of refugee groups in Australian media, I use media framing theory to inform my analysis. In order to understand what media frames the Melbourne print media constructed around the ‘African gang crisis’ in 2018 I chose to conduct a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of the types of sources used, and the quotes referenced, within the news articles. The analysis shows that ‘the media’ cannot be treated as one homogenous ‘sense-making’ group, as latent patterns of dominating source types as used by each newspaper point to specific ‘newsroom frames’ for each outlet. These ‘newsroom frames’ should be taken into account when exploring the media frames and, specifically, the role of racializing frames, in understanding the ‘othering’ of black Sudanese people in Australia in relation to the country’s ‘white majority’. Only with this understanding can we begin to dismantle the lingering impact of the country’s ‘White Australia Policy’ past and make multiculturalism the solid foundation of Australia’s future.