John Budarick | University of Adelaide (original) (raw)

Papers by John Budarick

Palgrave studies in the history of the media, 2021

Media International Australia, May 16, 2023

This article examines the role of migrant media and communication in the long- and short-term set... more This article examines the role of migrant media and communication in the long- and short-term settlement experiences of migrants through interviews with community leaders from seven migrant communities in South Australia. Bringing together literature on ethnic media and migrant settlement, multiple, interacting and overlapping forms of communication are incorporated into the analysis. These including traditional ethnic media, digital media and face-to-face communication. It is argued that the role of communication is best understood when migrants are taken as active ‘achievers and consumers’ who still face challenges to settlement. The results show the importance of migrant-controlled communication in providing a granular and tailored approach in which migrants are able to shape and determine the communication forms that best serve their needs. However, the paper also demonstrates the impact internal differences have on experiences of communication.

Journalism Studies, Feb 6, 2023

Journal of Sociology, Dec 1, 2008

The role of niche media in discursively constructing and deconstructing powerful ideas is often u... more The role of niche media in discursively constructing and deconstructing powerful ideas is often underestimated. Using the 2004 `Redfern riots' as a case study, this article investigates how ideological elements of the riots were framed by the Koori Mail, a fortnightly niche Indigenous publication, compared to the more mainstream Sydney Morning Herald and Daily Telegraph. The research is conducted through a frame analysis of 155 media texts from these three newspapers. In comparing the niche and mainstream media, the contribution of the niche media to the contested nature of debate within the mediated public sphere is evident. By keeping the riots within a socio-political frame, the Koori Mail actively reframed dominant ideological constructions of racial identity and were able to construct a more nuanced and politicized critique of the riots than that offered by the two mainstream papers.

Journalism

Although a contested term in journalism research, the need for a critique of objectivity is incre... more Although a contested term in journalism research, the need for a critique of objectivity is increased by responses to the current “crisis of journalism,” which have united around the rediscovery of sacred journalistic ideals such as truth, facts, and autonomy. In particular, objectivity must be critiqued for its role in the persistence of racism in liberal democratic journalism, a persistence that runs across different funding models and organizational structures. Objectivity, as a contested and flexible political concept, has proven incapable of addressing systemic racism. I argue that objectivity needs to be understood as an inherently political concept, which is as much proscriptive as descriptive in the way it shapes the field of journalism and the profession’s relationship to political and social life. Rather than return to the safe ground of autonomy, truth and facts, professional, liberal journalism must recognize its foundations within racially unequal political and social s...

The debate in audience studies between what are often termed "active audience theory" o... more The debate in audience studies between what are often termed "active audience theory" or "interpretive audience studies" and "critical audience studies" generally reflects broader debates around structure and agency. At the centre of the discussion then are questions about the audience's power to actively read texts and make their own meanings from them and the structural and textual limits imposed upon this process. These various arguments vary between celebrations of textual polysemy and pessimistic prognoses of structural determination. The debate is often a convoluted one, carried out on shifting grounds with complex and intertwining concepts. Depending on which literature is read, the same authors are portrayed as active audience proponents or critical media researchers.

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Minorities and Media, 2017

Making Publics, Making Places, 2016

Ethnic Media and Democracy, 2019

Choice Reviews Online, 2013

Acknowledgments vi Introduction 1 1 Paths to Professionalism 19 2 The Dilemmas of Professional Au... more Acknowledgments vi Introduction 1 1 Paths to Professionalism 19 2 The Dilemmas of Professional Autonomy 43 3 The Ambiguities of Professional Journalism 73 4 Questioning Professional Journalism 94 5 The Professional Logic of Journalism 121 6 Professionalism and Media Patrimonialism 149 7 The Globalization of Professional Cultures 174 8 Post-Professional Journalism? 202 Conclusion: Reinventing Professionalism 222 References 234 Index 263

Ethnic Media and Democracy, 2019

In this chapter I outline the central themes of the book. This book is about the relationship bet... more In this chapter I outline the central themes of the book. This book is about the relationship between media and democratic theory when viewed from the periphery. Its central themes are not new to scholarship. However, in looking at these themes from the perspective of ethnic media, rather than through a concern with more powerful established media industries, the book proposes a different way of approaching some of the fundamental questions facing journalism, media and democracy in ethnically diverse societies today. Democracy, and the media’s role in it, are undergoing a period of fundamental change (Keane, 2013; Mouffe, 2000b, 2005). Processes of diversification through migration, globalisation, technological transformations and new claims to identity, have made problematic any neat relationship between the public and the media (Karppinen, 2013a). For some, such pluralisms present a challenge to the consensus politics of the democratic world. For others, a crisis of liberal democr...

Ethnic Media and Democracy, 2019

I discuss deliberative democracy, and in particular the public sphere, as theoretical tools to ch... more I discuss deliberative democracy, and in particular the public sphere, as theoretical tools to challenge the market logic of neoliberalism. The chapter will focus on the work of Jurgen Habermas, and his argument for political legitimacy through the transcendence of difference in a discursive space free from power and coercion (Habermas, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1989). The public sphere, arguably the most prominent democratic theory within media studies (Karppinen, Rethinking Media Pluralism, Fordham University Press, New York, 2013), reimagines relationships between citizens and representative politics beyond mere representation. Habermas’ work has been employed in ethnic media research, but often in a way that reflects the development of public sphere theory over the years since its original construction. Placing emphasis on the plurality of public spheres present in complex modern societies, scholars have highlighted ethnic medi...

Ethnic media are an under utilised resource in the provision of settlement information to migrant... more Ethnic media are an under utilised resource in the provision of settlement information to migrants and refugees. Drawing on seven interviews from a pilot study conducted in South Australia, this paper investigates the role of ethnic media in providing targeted communication and detailed settlement information to its audiences and demonstrates the importance of such media in fostering a relationship between settlement service provision and migrant communities. The findings of this research suggest that ethnic media and communications networks can indeed play an important role in positive migrant settlement. In engaging with ethnic media, settlement service providers should consider a tailored and granular approach, with print, broadcast and digital all playing a role depending on the specific needs of the community. Research on migrant and refugee settlement has been shaped by a concern with employment, education, housing and health as measures of successful settlement. This has been deemed achievable through the facilitating mechanisms of social connections and ties, different forms of social, cultural and human capital, and general feelings of well-being and safety (Ager & Strang, 2008; Fozdar & Banki, 2017). Mediated communication can also be an important facilitator and enabler of migrant settlement, one which has thus far garnered little scholarly attention (Lindgren, 2015; Veronis & Ahmed, 2015; Hebbani & Van Vuuren, 2015; Li, 2015). Specifically, this article focuses on migrant-controlled media and communications and its role in migrant settlement. These are media such as ethnic newspapers, radio and television, as well as migrant and ethnic community initiated and controlled websites and social media networks. These communication platforms may be formally organised through an external and overarching organisation (e.g. ethnic community broadcasting) or controlled by members of the ethnic communities in an informal way (e.g. social media networks). This paper is based on data from in-depth interviews with seven migrant community leaders, focusing specifically on the role of media and communication in the settlement experiences of interviewees and their perceptions of the experiences of the members of their communities (Lindgren, 2015; Murray, 2015; Veronis & Ahmed, 2015). Although it is a small sample, the participation of recognised community leaders is important in light of their significant roles in advocating for their communities and acting as a bridge between said communities and government and public institutions (Elliott & Yusuf, 2014). The findings, along with existing research, suggest that ethnic media and related communication networks can play an important role in facilitating migrant settlement and therefore contribute to the overall well-being of migrant and refugee populations. The precise nature of this role depends on several factors. These include, but are not restricted to: the experience and time of migration; the demographic nature of the group in terms of age, gender and class; the related nature of their particular settlement needs; and their access, or lack thereof, to different communications technologies which in turn facilitate specific one-to-one and one-to-many communication practices (Veronis & Ahmed, 2015). Research on the role of ethnic media in the lives of migrants, ethnic minorities and culturally and linguistically diverse groups (CALD), is both implicitly and overtly shaped by the political culture of the time, as are the preferred labels given to the settlement process. Earlier research which emphasised strong integration and assimilation (Park, 1922) has given way to a softer approach, focusing on integration as an exchange of fluid cultural practices between home and host cultures (Zhou & Cai, 2002). Here ethnic media tend to be seen as a resource, one used in conjunction with other resources, including mainstream and global media, in a migrant-controlled settlement process (Gillespie, 2006; Viswanath & Arora, 2000). This shift in academic research towards an appreciation of the role of migrants and their descendants in managing their own integration is echoed in political changes to the management of ethnic diversity. Multiculturalism, as both overt policy and as implied political culture, has played an important role in shaping ethnic media around the world. In Australia, a political concern with the maintenance of ethnic minority languages, traditions and cultures emerged in the 1970s with the introduction of a policy of multiculturalism and the official establishment of the country's leading multicultural broadcaster, the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). It was also during this time that community radio appeared, giving ethnic minorities a platform on which to produce their own programs that had previously been restricted to the commercial media sector (Griffin-Foley, 2006). Approaches to the settlement process have also undergone changes. Increasing calls for an understanding of the subjective experiences of settlement (Colic-Peisker, 2009) reflect dissatisfaction with a bureaucratic, top-down approach

In this article I use Chantal Mouffe’s theory of agonistic pluralism as a framework through which... more In this article I use Chantal Mouffe’s theory of agonistic pluralism as a framework through which to analyze the actual and potential role of ethnic media as facilitators of counterhegemonic discourses in Australia and other liberal democracies. The pluralist approach provides a powerful way to circumvent the integration-fragmentation divide that often inhibits both political and academic understandings of ethnic media. It articulates a political culture that can sustain and respond to counterhegemonic movements and has at its center the transformation of differing political identities from enemies into adversaries. Two areas of the current media landscape are analyzed: policy and professionalism. It is argued that both are far from simple in the way they shape ethnic media’s counterhegemonic potential, and in its current form each presents an adaptable and flexible hegemonic position that must be exposed to further the democratic potential of ethnic media.

I revisit some of the persistent issues facing the relationship between democratic theory and eth... more I revisit some of the persistent issues facing the relationship between democratic theory and ethnic media. I engage with some key questions facing ethnic media today. These include its constantly shifting relationship with multiculturalism. Pertinent here are questions over pluralisation, and in particular the extent to which ethnic media are able to reflect diverse positions within ethnic communities. Although I cannot pay sufficient attention to the wide literature on multiculturalism in this chapter, I do engage with debates on the role of culture in restricting or facilitating individual autonomy. I present some tentative answers to the question of how we might best understand and reconcile ethnic media’s role in multiculturalism within democratic states.

Palgrave studies in the history of the media, 2021

Media International Australia, May 16, 2023

Journalism Studies, Feb 6, 2023

Journal of Sociology, Dec 1, 2008

Journalism

sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav

Minorities and Media, 2017

Making Publics, Making Places, 2016

Ethnic Media and Democracy, 2019

Choice Reviews Online, 2013

Ethnic Media and Democracy, 2019

This book examines the relationships between ethnic and Indigenous minorities and the media in Au... more This book examines the relationships between ethnic and Indigenous minorities and the media in Australia. The book places the voices of minorities at its centre, moving beyond a study of only representation and engaging with minority media producers, industries and audiences. Drawing on a diverse range of studies – from the Indigenous media environment to grassroots production by young refugees – the chapters within engage with the full range of media experiences and practices of marginalized Australians. Importantly, the book expands beyond the victimization of Indigenous and ethnic minorities at the hands of mainstream media, and also analyses the empowerment of communities who use media to respond to, challenge and negotiate social inequalities.