Michael Meadows – författare

This book examines race relations in Australia through various media representations over the past 200 years. The early colonial press perpetuated the image of aboriginal people as framed by early explorers, and stereotypes and assumptions still prevail. Print and television news accounts of several key events in recent Australian history are compared and reveal how indigenous sources are excluded from stories about their affairs. Journalists wield extraordinary power in shaping the images of cultures and people, so indigenous people, like those in North America, have turned away from mainstream media and have acquired their own means of cultural production through radio, television, and multimedia. This study concludes with suggestions for addressing media practices to reconcile indigenous and non-indigenous people.This study will appeal to students and scholars studying mass media, particularly journalism and public relations, Australian history, and sociology.

The audience-producer boundary has collapsed in indigenous and ethnic community broadcasting, and this is the first comprehensive study globally to chart the rise of its new relationship. Based on studies of radio and television audiences in Australia, the authors argue that community radio and television worldwide represents an essential service for indigenous and ethnic audiences, empowering them at various levels, fostering ‘active citizenry’ and enhancing the processes of democracy. The authors, former journalists, spent months on the road, travelling tens of thousands of kilometers from urban centres to the most remote regions of the Central Desert to ask why they engage with and adapt local broadcast media. They draw on two decades of primary research material taken from face-to-face interviews and focus-group discussions with audiences. Consequently, Developing Dialogues offers international researchers a new social, cultural and historical perspective on the emergence of the unique Australian community broadcasting sector within the context of other global trends. It will appeal to scholars of media and cultural studies, as well as to industry practitioners and policy makers.

The first part discusses contemporary research problems and issues related to scientific methodology and achievements of selected geographical sub-disciplines, including urban geography, agricultural geography, transport geography, and political geography, among others.