Journal Description
Media International Australia (MIA) is an international peer-reviewed journal founded in 1976 and dedicated to publishing cutting-edge scholarly research exploring media and communications in all their forms. MIA is inclusive, interdisciplinary, and international in its orientation; it welcomes diverse voices, and new conceptual and methodological approaches. A particular strength of MIA is its feature topics, guest-edited by leading scholars and bringing coherence to the publication of a collection of articles presenting vital research on significant new themes in media and communication. Each issue of the journal consists of a feature topic and a selection of individual articles, as well as book reviews.
The journal is affiliated with the Australian and New Zealand Communications Association Inc (ANZCA). MIA supports Online First publication to make work available as soon as possible and is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Journal Feed
- by Mona ChatskinMedia International Australia, Ahead of Print. This article underscores the transformative impact of victim–survivor voices in reshaping public discourse on child sexual abuse (CSA). The research project took as the backbone for analysis the Malka Leifer case that spanned 15 years and is linked to the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse's report of Case Study 22, which examined responses in ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools to child sexual abuse. Adopting a mixed methods research approach, this study combines qualitative media analysis of 102 news articles and 8 in-depth focus groups to investigate the impact of media outlets […]
- by Muhammad Asim ImranMedia International Australia, Ahead of Print. This article presents a discursive analysis of crisis communication strategies employed by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson during the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Utilising critical discourse analysis, the study examined official communications from March 2020 to January 2022. While Johnson's communication style encompassed empathy, assertiveness, and a focus on vaccination efforts, enhancing specificity, transparency, addressing potential inequalities, as well as prioritising community building, could have heightened the impact of his messages during the COVID-19 pandemic. By examining Boris Johnson's speeches as a case study, the research adds depth to the discourse […]
- Media International Australia, Ahead of Print.
- by Briony LuttrellMedia International Australia, Ahead of Print. Our Flag Means Death (OFMD) premiered to critical acclaim and unprecedented audience engagement. It can be argued that it is a romantic queer reading of historical facts. In this article, we reflect on the social function of storytelling and audience labour within the context of queer screen representations. We theorise queer reading as a practice of learning to recognise, identify and create patterns of semiotic resources. This practice is a reaction to a history of being erased or relegated to subtext. We argue queer reading is a particular form of audience labour, in that […]
- by Timothy GrahamMedia International Australia, Ahead of Print. This study investigates post-truth messaging and participatory disinformation on Twitter, focusing on the activities of Craig Kelly, a former Australian member of parliament and a key figure previously accused of spreading health misinformation in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic. We draw on Harsin's conceptualisation of post truth communication to analyse 4317 tweets and 5.2 million interactions with Kelly's account and his network of followers over a six-month period. Our novel empirical approach, combining coordination network analysis with a forensic qualitative approach, explores the participatory nature of online interaction, where fringe actors mobilise around Kelly's […]
- by Jim MacnamaraMedia International Australia, Ahead of Print. The ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has changed society are the source of widespread discussion. But references to a ‘new normal’ are mostly confined to hybrid working and a possible four-day working week. Should future-scoping remain so narrow, a major opportunity for fundamental rethinking will be lost. This commentary seeks to take up and expand the argument of a 2021 article on the effects of COVID-19 by exploring the wider social implications and the opportunity presented by this existential crisis. Specifically, this critical analysis explores whether COVID-19 and its impacts have created a […]
- by Nansong ZhouMedia International Australia, Ahead of Print. In the 1990s, in China, arcade and console games were called “spiritual opium.” Why were video games labeled spiritual drugs, specifically opium, as opposed to other types of drugs? How did the mainstream media gradually depict video games as spiritual opium? The term “spiritual opium” carries profound historical and political connotations and is skillfully employed by media entities to disparage video games, fostering adverse perceptions among the populace. This scholarly inquiry delves into the cultural history of arcade and console games during this era. Historical and cultural methods were used to meticulously trace the […]
- by Amelia JohnsMedia International Australia, Ahead of Print. In this paper, we ask how effective Meta's content moderation strategy was on its flagship platform, Facebook, during the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyse the performance of 18 Australian right-wing/anti-vaccination pages, posts and commenting sections collected between January 2019 and July 2021, and use engagement metrics and time series analysis to analyse the data, mapping key policy announcements against page performance. We combine this with content analysis of comments parsed from two public pages that overperformed in the time period. The results show that Meta's content moderation systems were partially effective, with previously high-performing pages […]
- by Damien John O’MearaMedia International Australia, Ahead of Print. Over the past few decades, there has been significant industry and scholarly interest in diversity, equity, and inclusion in television. Alongside this, attention has been paid to the politics of queer representation in screen and media contexts. Providing much-needed data on these issues, this article catalogues the representation of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and nonbinary characters in Australian scripted television since 2000. We highlight the inclusion of more queer characters onscreen and situate this in the context of two significant decades of change in the Australian television industry and the broader socio-political context. In […]
- by Aneta PodkalickaMedia International Australia, Ahead of Print. Proliferating media content is key to public understanding and discussions about the environment and climate change. While scholarly interest in mediated environmental communication has been ample and multi-directional, the questions around media's impacts remain pressing and largely under-theorised. This paper uses an example of popular environmental media in Australia – i.e. media aimed at attracting wide audiences – to discuss how impact is perceived and pursued in the distinctive Australian context, and what can be inferred from this study about environmental media and its impact more generally. Drawing on 28 interviews with media-makers and […]
- by Jane B SingerMedia International Australia, Ahead of Print.
- by Kristy HessMedia International Australia, Ahead of Print. Digital adaptation is often considered the panacea to the local journalism crisis in Australia. As a result, this digital first agenda has perpetuated ‘death and doom’ narratives about some traditional strategies and practices, especially in regards to the future of printed local newspapers. This paper draws on interviews and focus groups with local news owners, journalists, editors, advertising staff and managers who work for small independently owned titles in rural and regional Australia to suggest there are three key myths which are deeply interwoven and impact perceptions of local news media realities: that print […]
- by Deborah WiseMedia International Australia, Ahead of Print.
- by Sebastian F. K. SvegaardMedia International Australia, Ahead of Print.
- by Angela RossMedia International Australia, Ahead of Print. There is increasing evidence fewer people are willing to discuss and debate issues of common concern on social media with their feeds becoming more conflict-laden and toxic. A more nuanced understanding is needed of the motivations and deterrents for individual participation, in different contexts. This article provides a unique perspective from regional Australia by considering the conditions under which a group of social media users in Launceston, Tasmania were more likely to participate in discussion on Facebook and the factors that encouraged participants to present a constructed version of themselves. In doing so, this […]
- by Niels ten OeverMedia International Australia, Ahead of Print. This article argues that the production and maintenance of “infrastructural insecurity” is an inherent part of the process of the standardization of telecommunication networks. Infrastructural insecurity is the outcome of intentional practices during the production, standardization, and maintenance of communication infrastructures that leave end-users vulnerable to attacks that benefit particular actors. We ground this analysis in the qualitative and quantitative exploration of the responses to the disclosure of three fundamental security vulnerabilities in telecommunications networks. To research the shaping of communication and infrastructure architectures in the face of insecurities, we develop a novel approach […]
- by Rob CoverMedia International Australia, Ahead of Print. Public figures are subject to higher rates of online abuse than other users in part because many digital platforms have significantly higher thresholds for intervening in cases of public figure abuse. Internationally, this higher rate of abuse has led to substantial impacts on public figures’ wellbeing and withdrawal from public life. This article presents findings from a study of platform policies to understand how platforms and policy stakeholders define public figures. Key findings included (a) public figures are ill-defined in platform policies, (b) policies often collapse distinctions between traditional public figures such as politicians […]
- by Daniella EksteinMedia International Australia, Ahead of Print. Objective: Coverage and public communication about suicide represent a major public health concern given the potential for identification and imitation. Yet when celebrities survive a suicidal crisis, it presents an opportunity to model adaptive coping. Tennis star Jelena Dokic's June 2022 Instagram post recounting her experience overcoming suicidal thoughts represents a unique natural experiment to characterize media coverage of a celebrity survival event. Methods: We searched Google News and the entire University of Toronto library catalogue for articles about Dokic's post. We divided articles according to world region of publication: (a) Australia & New […]
- by Xinyang ZhaoMedia International Australia, Ahead of Print. This paper investigates the role of digital technologies in transforming China's self-image. It focuses on the use of extended reality (XR) in ceremonial events and art exhibitions. The paper offers two case studies. The first study, Beijing 8-Minute Show (2018), a multimedia performance at the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games, set the scene for what was called the Science and Technology Winter Olympics in 2022. The second study, Blueprints (2020), was a multimedia exhibition in the UK by the artist Cao Fei, which drew attention to a future of increased alienation, […]
- by Ayesha JehangirMedia International Australia, Ahead of Print.