A seemingly trivial story published on news.com.au about a Chinese Olympic diver not smiling turned into a minor media incident, compelling this media researcher to make sense of why this happened. Story and reactions One of the highlights of the Tokyo Olympic Games during the lockdown was the 14-year-old girl Chinese diver Quan Hongchan’s flawless … more
The way various segments of the Australian media report on China’s COVID-19 experience reflects these media’s own fears and anxieties and their political, ideological, and cultural positions. More credible media outlets in Australia have mostly framed China’s efforts in political and ideological terms. In comparison, the tabloid media have resorted to conspiratorial, racist, and Sino-phobic … more
Last year, on an episode of The Minefield, I discussed a tendency towards “internal othering” in Australia’s public discourse, with particular reference to Chinese communities in Australia. In my conversation with Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens, I posed these questions: “At what point can we say that this person of Chinese heritage has been here … more
