Academic literature on the topic 'Torres Strait Islanders Mass media'

AbstractDespite the enormous potential of social media for health promotion, there is an inadequate evidence base for how they can be used effectively to influence behaviour. In Australia, research suggests social media use is higher among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people than the general Australian population; however, health promoters need a better understanding of who uses technologies, how and why. This qualitative study investigates what types of health content are being shared among Aboriginal and Torres Strait people through social media networks, as well as how people engage with, and are influenced by, health-related information in their offline life. We present six social media user typologies together with an overview of health content that generated significant interaction. Content ranged from typical health-related issues such as mental health, diet, alcohol, smoking and exercise, through to a range of broader social determinants of health. Social media-based health promotion approaches that build on the social capital generated by supportive online environments may be more likely to generate greater traction than confronting and emotion-inducing approaches used in mass media campaigns for some health topics.

Background Digital health offers a fresh avenue to address health disparities experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Despite the scant evidence about how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders access and use health technology, the Australian government has prioritised research that uses technology to enable people to manage their health and promote better health outcomes. Older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are cultural leaders in their communities, enabling them to provide valuable insights about the safety and efficacy of health care messaging. However, no research has engaged older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, women as partners in digital health research. Objective This paper provides a protocol for co-designed translational research that privileges older Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander women’s cultural expertise to design and test a framework for accessible, culturally safe and feasible digital health technologies. Methods This mixed-methods research project will use the collective impact approach, a user-centred, co-design methodology and yarning circles, a recognised Indigenous research methodology. A series of yarning circles with three different communities will elucidate enablers and barriers to access health information; co-create a framework clarifying what works and does not work for digital health promotion in their communities; and test the framework by co-creating three digital health information programs. Conclusions Privileging the cultural expertise of older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women will provide a novel perspective and vital guidance that end users and developers can trust and rely upon to create and evaluate culturally safe and efficacious digital health promotion programs.

This article explores a unique Networking the Nation Remote Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund $8 million funding application made by the Torres Strait Islanders Media Association Inc (TISMA). The purpose is to install and operate state-of-the-art telecommunication infrastructure on each inhabited Torres Strait Island to enhance the services and operations of the 27 Commonwealth and state government agencies operating in this region and to better meet the education, employment, training, socio-economic, cultural and linguistic needs of the region's inhabitants and to increase production, promotion and revenue-generation of their local cultural industries.

http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2016v69n2p139Drawing on the fields of postcolonial studies and media theory, this article analyzes Frances Calvert’s 1990 documentary, Talking Broken, which, inter alia, looks at the role of space, place and media amongst Australia’s ‘other’ Indigenous minority, Torres Strait Islanders. The article explores the historical and geographical complexity of the space-place-media relation (particularly in terms of the centre-periphery relations between the Torres Strait and the Australian mainland), and considers the extent to which Calvert – after the Australian bicentenary of 1988 – is able to absorb and playfully challenge such formulations. More broadly, it considers the extent to which contemporary Indigenous media might go further and enact a shift from absorbing and challenging such formulations to taking control of media institutions themselves.

Purpose People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at greater risk of developing chronic health and risky lifestyle problems. This is exaggerated further for people living in rural settings and from cultural backgrounds traditionally underserved by healthcare services. The purpose of this paper is to describe an evaluation of health and behavioural lifestyle outcomes of people diagnosed with ASD in a student-led clinic in rural/regional Australia. Design/methodology/approach Routine clinical outcomes and lifestyle measures were routinely collected at a primary acre student-led Clinic in rural/regional Australia. Participants were all attending the clinic who provided consent for their routine date to be reported. Participants ranged in age from new born to 100 years and were representative of the local community. Findings The results indicate there is an increased risk for people with ASD developing chronic conditions compared to those without a diagnosis. This also resulted in higher body mass index and blood sugar levels linked to diabetes and hypertension. Mental health problems were common in people diagnosed with ASD especially anxiety disorders. Smoking was problematic for people with ASD but mainly in non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Alcohol use was not an increase risk in ASD. Originality/value Little is reported on the health and lifestyle experiences of people with ASD in rural/regional settings, especially from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. This paper gives an initial insight to the presentation of chronic conditions and harmful lifestyle choices. Possible insights into adapting or modifying care for people with ASD in rural/regional Australia are given.

Abstract Background We explored the nasal microbiota in Indigenous Australian children in relation to ear and nasal health. Methods In total, 103 Indigenous Australian children aged 2–7 years (mean 4.7 years) were recruited from 2 Queensland communities. Children’s ears, nose, and throats were examined and upper respiratory tract (URT) swabs collected. Clinical histories were obtained from parents/medical records. URT microbiota were characterized using culturomics with Matrix assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) identification. Real-time PCR was used to quantify otopathogen (Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Moraxella catarrhalis) loads and detect respiratory viruses. Data were analyzed using beta diversity measures, regression modeling, and a correlation network analysis. Results Children with historical/current otitis media (OM) or URT infection (URTI) had higher nasal otopathogen detection and loads and rhinovirus detection compared with healthy children (all P < .04). Children with purulent rhinorrhea had higher nasal otopathogen detection and loads and rhinovirus detection (P < .04) compared with healthy children. High otopathogen loads were correlated in children with historical/current OM or URTI, whereas Corynebacterium pseudodiphtheriticum and Dolosigranulum pigrum were correlated in healthy children. Conclusions Corynebacterium pseudodiphtheriticum and D. pigrum are associated with URT and ear health. The importance of the main otopathogens in URT disease/OM was confirmed, and their role relates to co-colonization and high otopathogens loads.

While stylistics has successfully integrated the study of language use in film and television, relatively little research has tried to systematically classify the functions of television or film dialogue – i.e. to taxonomise its range of potential stylistic functions such as characterisation or the creation of consistency. Most stylistic research has also focussed on traditional US (Hollywood) or European narrative mass media, rather than culturally-diverse or Indigenous-authored film and television. This article aims to make a contribution to both of these under-examined fields by offering a case study of the stylistic functions of Australian Aboriginal English lexis in three successful Indigenous-authored television series. The three series ( Redfern Now, Cleverman and Mystery Road) are all important for the television canon and were broadcast in Australia as well as exported internationally. Using an existing corpus with dialogue from these series as repository, this article illustrates the different functions of Australian Aboriginal English lexis in its surrounding text by critically examining multiple dialogue extracts from the three narratives. Quotations from Indigenous screen creatives are interwoven with the analysis where relevant. We argue that such lexis fulfils many functions beyond characterisation and demonstrate the significance of communicating culture and identity in Indigenous-authored drama. The study has implications both for the stylistic analysis of the multiple functions of television/film dialogue and for the study of narratives that feature significant creative involvement by marginalised, subjugated, colonised, or otherwise historically excluded communities – including but not limited to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait islander people(s) in Australia.

In February, whilst the Australian Federal Senate were debating dull three-letter acronyms such as VSU and GST, the Australian Prime Minister John Howard was attending to important issues such as producing a preamble for a nonexistent revised Australian Constitution. This seemingly harmless activity sparked enormous debate in the media regarding the linguistic representation of Australia and the Australian people. Language was the issue and everyone, it seems, fancied themselves as linguists. Howard's preamble became situated within an ideological debate concerning an equitable representation of people in Australia. The response to Howard's preamble has been varied, but generally quite negative, suggesting that it does not embody the views of all Australians or even recognise many aspects of a notion of 'Australian'. Consequently, newspaper editorials have been crammed with protests regarding the representation and exclusion of various groups, and the general white male Christian bias of this text. One of the more interesting comments came from Fr. Frank Brennan who expressed his disgruntlement at the grammatically and consequently ideologically passive representation of indigenous Australians. John Howard's preamble treats only Aborigines passively -- as objects, not subjects. ... Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders appear without ever making it into the subject of any sentence of the preamble. Brennan's comments refer to the fourth sentence of Howard's preamble. Since time immemorial, [our land] has been inhabited [by Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders] Indeed this reference to indigenous Australians is the only acknowledgement in the preamble of this group's presence in Australia. It is the passive version of the active sentence "since time immemorial Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders have inhabited our land". Considering that active sentences are more commonly used than passive constructions, the fact that Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders are referred to passively seems quite significant. Passivisation moves the agent of a sentence, which is usually found in the subject position, to an end of sentence by-phrase adjunct, replacing the agent with the patient in the subject position. This shift in focus causes agency to become unclear. The agent's increased distance from the verb removes the agent from the action, suppressing the direct involvement of the agent with the activity referred to by the verb. In the fourth sentence of Howard's preamble, the agency of "Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders" is obscured by the passive construction. This noun is distanced from the verb, not allowing the act of habitation to be directly ascribed to this entity. Instead, "our land" is given focus and importance by occupying the subject position. This choice of the passive reflects, to some extent, John Howard's and the Liberals' policies regarding the indigenous population of Australia. The political agency of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders has always appeared minimal in issues that affect this group of Australians such as the Liberals' Wik legislation. The apparently insignificant act of distancing the linguistic manifestation of this entity from the action denoted by the verb "habitation" perhaps perpetuates this politically suppressed agency and disempowerment. Yet Brennan makes the mistake of claiming that it is only Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders who have their focus as a political entity removed through their passivisation. Of interest in this text are the first two sentences in the preamble, which are also passives. ... [The Commonwealth of Australia] is constituted by [the equal sovereignty of all its citizens] [The Australian nation] is woven together of [people from many ancestries and arrivals] In these two sentences, the agents, "equal sovereignty of all its citizens" and "people from many ancestries and arrivals" are similarly concealed by layers of grammatical structure. The phrases referring to the Australian nation and Commonwealth are given dominion over the entities signifying Australians as individuals. The nation and Commonwealth are actually the result of the activity of "constituting" and "weaving", performed collectively by the Australian people, yet the grammatical positioning of these entities in the by-phrase adjunct distances them from the verb and therefore action, reducing the potency of their agency. The result is a failure to acknowledge the political and social role of individual Australians in the creation and composition of the Australian nation. Thus, ignoring group crossover, these two entities, Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders and the citizens of Australia are dealt with in a similar manner by Howard, as passive entities. Though the passive treatment of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders is perhaps unsurprising considering past and present Liberal party policy, the comparable grammatical manipulation of the latter sentences is not as predictable. Liberal philosophy revolves around the individual, with this singularity of thought generally influencing party politics and policy making. The emphasis in these two sentences is not on the Australian people, but the Australian nation which occupies the subject position in both sentences. Then what was Howard intending? Perhaps Howard's desire was not to support the politically passive nature of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders through a corresponding sentence construction. The lack of correlation between the latter two sentences and Liberal party policy would support this argument. However, another suggestion might lie in Howard's intended use for the preamble. Howard wrote this constitutional preamble considering its potential as a verbal document, habitually spoken not by one person, but by collectives in, for example, schools. This context coupled with the placement of "the Commonwealth of Australia" and "the Australian nation" in the subject position with the agency of the individual Australians grammatically suppressed, perhaps fosters a sense of nationalism. As members of a group ritually chant this text, no doubt concentrating on the Australian flag, they subdue thoughts of individuality and agency, focusing on the importance of nation and oneness. This collective voice is emphasised in the plural nouns used in the final line of the preamble, "in this spirit, we, the people of Australia, commit ourselves to the Constitution". Perhaps then, the passive choice of the latter sentences, like the first example, is politically significant after all, reflecting Howard's desire for a mild form of nationalism. If this is the case then, though protests concerning the usual suspects of race, gender and creed are legitimate, the more subtle political motivations behind such a potentially significant text should be examined more closely. Citation reference for this article MLA style: Felicity Meakins. "The Subject of Howard's Desire: Passive Sentences and Political Intention." M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2.5 (1999). [your date of access] <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9907/howard.php>. Chicago style: Felicity Meakins, "The Subject of Howard's Desire: Passive Sentences and Political Intention," M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2, no. 5 (1999), <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9907/howard.php> ([your date of access]). APA style: Felicity Meakins. (1999) The subject of Howard's desire: passive sentences and political intention. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2(5). <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9907/howard.php> ([your date of access]).

Abstract Background Indigenous populations globally are known to have lower revascularisation rates following acute coronary events and higher mortality partly due to inequitable access to specialised care like cardiac catheterisation. Whether these disparities persist when access is readily available is unclear. Purpose We compared the rates of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), cardiac surgery, 30-day and long-term all-cause mortality in Indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders) and non-Indigenous Australians in Far North Queensland (FNQ) – a region with a large Indigenous population and 24/7 cardiac catheterisation facilities. Method All public patients in FNQ having their first inpatient angiogram from November 2012 to October 2019 were identified. The primary study outcomes were rates of PCI or cardiac surgery and all-cause mortality at 30 days and long term. Secondary study outcomes were significant left ventricular dysfunction (ejection fraction &lt;50%) and valvular disease (moderate to severe) in the echocardiogram subset. Other differences in baseline characteristics, including age, gender, body mass index, postcode and indication for angiography were accounted for using logistic and cox regression analysis. Results We identified 4489 patients (mean age, 61.7±13.0 years, 64.9% male, median follow-up 1045 days). 1042 (23.2%) self-identified as Indigenous. Indigenous patients were younger (53.7±11.6 vs 64.1±12.5 years, p&lt;0.001), more likely female (45.5% vs 32.0%, p&lt;0.001) and had small differences in angiography indications, ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) 19.1% vs 18.1%, non-STEMI 45.7% vs 41.8%, angina 26.3% vs 28.0%, cardiac arrest 3.1% vs 3.7% and other 5.8% vs 8.4%, p=0.02. Rates of PCI or surgery 35.6% vs 38.5%, p=0.17, 30-day mortality 1.9% vs 2.7%, p=0.17 and long-term mortality 11.0% vs 11.5%, p=0.71 were similar in unadjusted data. 2959 patients (mean age, 62.1±13.0 years, 23.1% Indigenous, 64.9% male) were included in the echocardiogram subgroup. In unadjusted data Indigenous patients had similar rates of ventricular dysfunction 33.3% vs 31.3%, p=0.33 and valvular disease 19.4% vs 19.3%, p=0.93. After adjustment for other baseline characteristics, Indigenous patients had higher rates of PCI or cardiac surgery, OR 1.39 (95% CI, 1.18–1.64, p&lt;0.001), ventricular dysfunction, OR 1.31 (95% CI, 1.07–1.60), p=0.01 and valvular disease, OR 1.93 (95% CI, 1.50–2.48), p&lt;0.001. 30-day mortality was similar but Indigenous patients had higher adjusted long-term hazard of mortality, HR 1.80 (95% CI, 1.42–2.27), p&lt;0.001. Conclusion When cardiac catheterisation was readily available Indigenous patients had higher rates of PCI and cardiac surgery and similar 30-day mortality to non-Indigenous patients. Equitable access to healthcare improves outcomes but the nearly double long-term mortality of Indigenous patients shows more is required to help close the gap for disadvantaged populations. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: None

Australian research confirms that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience high levels of social inequality, racism and injustice. Evidence of discrimination and inequality is most obvious within the criminal justice system where they are seriously over-represented. The Australian news media plays a large part in reinforcing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inequality, stereotypes and racist ideology within specific situations such as the Northern Territory Emergency Response and the Redfern riots. This study widens the scope from how the media reports a single criminal justice event to how the media reports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s interaction with the criminal justice system. The study relies on Norman Fairclough’s (2003) theory of critical discourse analysis to analyse critically 25 Australian online news media articles featuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Specifically, the study applies Fairclough’s (2003) three assumptive categories (existential, propositional and value). It identifies discourse reinforcing dominance and inequality within those media articles and reveals two major findings. The first significant finding is the unwillingness of any article to challenge or question the power structures that reinforce or lead to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inequality. The second major finding involves three ideologies within the text communicating racism and inequality: neo-colonial, neo-liberal assimilation and paternalistic ideologies. The concern is that although the twenty-five news media articles appear neutral, the critical analysis reveals racist ideologies being communicated and an unwillingness to challenge the power structures that create these. This position suggests that racism is not just a problem of a bygone era—it is a contemporary issue continuing at a deeper level nestled in the underlying assumptions and ideologies found within news media discourse. These findings would bring awareness to the media’s discursive practices and generate further discussion and research to address the discursive structures responsible for perpetuating the systemic harm to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The extractives industry (mining, oil, and gas) engages in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to reinforce its organizational legitimacy and enhance its public image. One such approach to CSR that is popular in the industry is through funding sport initiatives aimed at Indigenous peoples (often termed Sport for Development; SFD). On the surface, such funding may seem commendable and innocuous; however, questions have been raised about the ways in which such funding may obfuscate the harmful impacts that the extractives industry has had and continues to have on Indigenous peoples and their traditional territories. Through the adoption of a postcolonial theoretical perspective and in conjunction with netnographic methods and discourse analysis, this project involved a consideration of how extractives companies portray their funding of sport programs in Indigenous communities on social media. Given the research focus on Indigenous communities in the countries known as Canada and Australia, between country differences were also examined. Three discourses related to the extractives industry’s funding of SFD in Indigenous communities in Canada and Australia were developed. These discourses included the following: 1) Extractives companies are proud “partners” of Indigenous communities; 2) Extractives companies are committed to helping Indigenous communities in Canada and Australia; and 3) Canadian extractives companies are future focused and past-blind, while Australian extractives companies are advocates for reconciliation. Overall, extractives companies in Canada and Australia were found to use social media to portray themselves as responsible and committed partners of Indigenous communities, while obscuring the ongoing histories of colonialism through discourses of empowerment and development through sport. Suggestions are made regarding ongoing interrogation of the ways in which the extractives industry perpetuates colonialism.