Media Representation In Australia

Media Studies:
How does the media representation of the Q&A outrage help shape the views of the Australian public on this topic?
Zaky Mallah appeared on Q & A asking a question about ‘terrorism’ after being acquitted for alleged ‘terrorist acts’. In reaction to this, Prime Minister Tony Abbott, issued a boycott of the program Q & A by he and his liberal frontbencher colleagues. This also resulted in Tony Abbott forcing Q and A into the ‘News’ category next year and also referred to the ABC as a “lefty lynch mob.”
This investigation will look at how different media sources can represent this issue in different ways. This topic had many differing opinions. It is also interesting as Q and A is also a media source so it is media reporting on the

media.
The reporting for this issue is mainly biased.

The majority of media outlets against the ABC are owned by Rupert Murdoch. His competitor is ABC. Some outlets used this as an opportunity to hate on the ABC. However the reports by ABC are also biased as they are trying to cover and naturally defend themselves so they will not get into more trouble. There are a few articles that had little to no bias, however these reports mainly retold the Q and A episode and did not comment on it.
Three sources will be discussed in this investigation. The first article is , ‘ABC ‘on the side of Australia’, managing director Mark Scott says, amid criticism over Q & A broadcast’, an article about ABC stating they are not against Australia because of the broadcast. The second source will be a newspaper article produced by The Courier Mail with the headline, ‘Q&A furore: It’s your ABC of Jihad”. The third source will be an opinion piece by the website, The Conversation, titled, ‘Boycotting Q&A, boycotting

democracy”.
P1
ABC News published this on June 26th 2015. This was posted four days after the event. This is important as this is when the ABC decided to fight back against the claims that they support terrorism and do not support Australia.
This article is written and accompanied by a video of managing director of ABC, Mark Scott, sharing a statement stating that there was an “error of judgement” by the ABC for letting Zaky Mallah on the Q & A program.

The journalist is on the side of the ABC. They state that Q&A has different guest with different opinions each week and that this time was no different.
The reporter does try to stay unbiased; however, they do only discuss details of the ways ABC is trying to fix the issue created.
P2
The next article to look at is a piece by The Courier Mail called, ‘It’s your ABC of Jihad’. The title is eye-catching and inappropriate. The person who wrote this went for the cheap attack.

This piece is criticizing the ABC.
It was published June 23rd. This was the day after the event was televised. Courier Mail wanted to be one of the first to report on this matter.
This is a written article; it is accompanied by photos of the terrorist group, ISIS, with the jihadi flag replaced with the ABC logo. Courier Mail were going for shock value.

The readers of this article would see the ABC as terrorist sympathizers. The picture that was on the front page on this newspaper and that accompanied the article really stood out and made people stop to look at it. The photo alone with the written piece is enough to make fence sitters of this topic believe ABC had done a terrible deed to Australia.
The journalist for this piece of writing is trying to push the idea that the ABC is a terrible media outlet and company. If you are undecided on this topic, this article would push you to dislike ABC

P3
This article was published two weeks after the program aired. This journalist has taken their time and digested everything that had been said about this event and talked about how the government reacted. They had time to process their thoughts and thoroughly analyse the situation. This article is an opinion piece. It is not a formal report; however it still discusses the events that took place during and after Q & A. The fact that it is an opinion piece helps the reader to form their own opinion.
The journalist who wrote this article does not take the current liberal government seriously.

He writes in a condescending tone towards the countries leaders. The writer of this article portrays the issue as Tony Abbot and the liberal front benchers overreacting. They are trying to portray the liberals as an overdramatic government. The tone of the article is sarcastic attitude towards the liberal government.
P4
There was little to no international view of this issue due to it being a localised event.
If a member of the public had not seen Zaky’s question on the program, they would have relied on what they had read. If someone had read the first article that would be in support of the ABC and understand that not everyone agrees with their views. If someone had read the second piece they would attack the ABC and believe they are supporting terrorism.
This issue was important to Tony Abbott and the liberal front benchers as there has always be unease between them and the ABC, specifically Q & A. The viewers of Q & A that were watching were waiting for the government to have their say as soon as it happened.
The audience parliament support percentages were ALP 34%, Coalition 36%, Greens 13%, Other 1%, and Unspecified

15%.
The underlying theme of each article was showing whether or not they are for ABC or for liberal. Many media outlets did not hide their hate for ABC or support for liberals. This was seen in particular in Fairfax Media representation. Fairfax is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who is a known Tony Abbott supporter.
If a member of the public only read article that supporter the take down of the ABC they would believe the ABC had done a terrible thing by having Zaky on the show and that they support terrorism.
Conclusion
Through this investigation it can be seen that bias is in all media pieces on this subject. This bias then affects and influences how the public audience feels about the situation at hand