Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-gq7q9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-20T14:43:30.607Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Setting a conservative policy agenda: The Victorian print media, young people in care and chroming

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2016

Philip Mendes
Philip Mendes*
Affiliation:
Philip Mendes Department of Social Work Monash University, Caulfield Campus PO Box 197,Caulfield East, Vic 3145 Email: Philip.Mendes@med.monash.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The tabloid print media has played a crucial role in recent Australian social policy debates, particularly those pertaining to drug use and child and adolescent welfare. Much of the media's contribution has been around promoting simplistic and often conservative solutions to complex social problems.

This article examines the recent media-inspired furore over so-called ‘safe-sniffing’ practices in a Victorian welfare agency. It is acknowledged that other forms of media such as talk back radio may have had influential roles, as might other factors also. Particular attention, however, is drawn here to the Herald Sun's role in this affair, and to similarities with its intervention in earlier policy debates. Some comparisons are also drawn with the coverage of the affair by the Age and the Australian.

It is argued that the Herald Sun's specific campaign on chroming reflects a broader conservative agenda to undermine progressive social policy interventions including harm minimisation. This agenda may have significant implications for the Victorian community welfare sector given the tendency of politicians – whether in government or opposition – to bow to the demands of the tabloid media.

Type
Research Article
Information
Children Australia , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , 2002 , pp. 10 - 14
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Age, 23 January 2002.Google Scholar
Age, 24 January 2002.Google Scholar
Age, 28 January 2002.Google Scholar
Age, 31 January 2002.Google Scholar
Age, 23 Jan.-6 Feb. 2002.Google Scholar
Australian, 25 January 2002.Google Scholar
Australian, 23 Jan.-28 Jan. 2002Google Scholar
Argy, F. (1998) Australia at the Crossroads, Sydney: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Beckett, K. & Sasson, T. (1998) “The Media and the Construction of the Drug Crisis in America’, in Jensen, E. & Gerber, J. (eds.), The New War on Drugs, Cincinatti: Anderson Publishing Co, 25–43.Google Scholar
Beresford, P., Green, D., Lister, R. & Woodard, K. (1999) Poverty First Hand, London: Child Poverty Action Group.Google Scholar
Cohen, S. (1980) Folk devils and moral panics: The creation of mods and rockers, Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Department of Human Services (2001) Achieving Service Quality Improvement: Best Practice Initiatives in Placement and Support Services 2000-2001, Melbourne: DHS.Google Scholar
Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee (DCPC) (2002) Inquiry into the Inhalation of Volatile Substances, Melbourne: Victorian Parliament.Google Scholar
Elliott, A. & Chapman, S. (2000) ‘Heroin hell their own making: construction of heroin users in the Australian press 1992-97’, Drug and Alcohol Review, 19(2) 191–201.Google Scholar
Franklin, B. & Parton, N. (2001) ‘Press-ganged. Media Reporting of Social Work and Child Abuse’, in May, M., Page, R. and Brunsdon, E. (eds.), Understanding Social Problems, Oxford: Blackwell, 233–247.Google Scholar
Goddard, C. & Saunders, B. (2001) Child Abuse and the media, National Child Protection Clearinghouse Issues Paper, Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.Google Scholar
Gray, P. (2002) Herald Sun, 29 Jan, p. 19 Google Scholar
Herald Sun, 22 January 2002.Google Scholar
Herald Sun, 24 January 2002.Google Scholar
Herald Sun, 29 January 2002.Google Scholar
Herald Sun, 31 January 2002.Google Scholar
Herald Sun, 6 February 2002.Google Scholar
Herald Sun, 7 February 2002.Google Scholar
Herald Sun, 8 February 2002.Google Scholar
Herald Sun, 22 Jan.-8 Feb. 2002Google Scholar
Hoare, D. (2001) ‘Timely injection of balance’, The Australian Media, 31 May.Google Scholar
Kirk, J. & de Wolf, S. (2002) ‘Press Release’, 24 January, Melbourne: Berry Street Victoria.Google Scholar
Lawrence, G., Bammer, G. & Chapman, S. (2000) ‘Sending the wrong signal: Analysis of print media coverage of the ACT heroin prescription trial proposal’, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 24(3), 254–264.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Limbrick, S. (2001) Managing Client Substance Misuse, Melbourne: Berry Street Victoria.Google Scholar
Mendes, P. (1996) ‘The historical and political context of mandatory reporting and its impact on child protection practice in Victoria, Australian Social Work, 49(4), 25–32.Google Scholar
Mendes, P. (1997) ‘Child protection and child abuse in Victoria: What is going wrong?’, in Proceedings of the Cutting Edge Conference, Melbourne: Child & Family Welfare Association of Australia, 178–194.Google Scholar
Mendes, P. (2000) ‘Social Conservatism vs Social Justice: The Portrayal of Child Abuse in the Press in Victoria, Australia’, Child Abuse Review, 9(1), 49–61.3.0.CO;2-8>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mendes, P. (2001a) ‘Blaming the messenger: The media, social workers and child abuse’, Australian Social Work, 54(2), 27–36.Google Scholar
Mendes, P. (2001b) ‘Social Conservatism vs Harm Minimisation: John Howard on Illicit Drugs’, Journal of Economic and Social Policy, 6(1), 18–34.Google Scholar
Morrell, S. (2002) Herald Sun, 6 Feb.Google Scholar
Morton, J., Clark, R. & Pead, J. (1999) When care is not enough, Melbourne: Department of Human Services.Google Scholar
Penington, D. (2000) ‘Illicit Drugs - the Difficulties in Achieving Rational Public Policy’, La Trobe University Politics Society Annual Lecture, 11 September.Google Scholar
Putais, P. (2001) ‘Popular discourses and images of poverty and welfare’, in Fincher, R. & Saunders, P. (eds.), Creating Unequal Futures?, Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, 70–101.Google Scholar
Rose, J. & Midford, R. (1994) ‘Media reporting of glue sniffing: Traps for the naive expert’, Pro-Ed, 10(1), 23–24.Google Scholar
Stronach, B. (2002a) ‘Australian Drug Foundation rejects knee-jerk reactions to solvent abuse issue’, Australian Drug Foundation (www.adf.org.au).Google Scholar
Stronach, B. (2002b) ‘Social responsibility is a tough ask’, Australian Drug Foundation (www.adf.org.au).Google Scholar
Swain, M. (1999) The New South Wales Drug Summit: Issues and Outcomes, Sydney: NSW Parliamentary Library Research Service.Google Scholar
Windschuttle, K. (1988) The Media, Melbourne: Penguin Books.Google Scholar