Discussion
Discuss about the Cultural Safety in Healthcare for Journal of Pragmatics.
Australian media broadcast and present health issues on regular basis and media is being considered as the powerful tool to influence culturally relevant healthcare among Australian population. In this essay, power of Australian media in broadcasting socially, politically, culturally and economically relevant healthcare issues is being discussed. It is also being demonstrated influence and impact of Australian media on healthcare practices and services. Two media items, one from each positive and negative aspect is being crucially analysed.
Australain media has major role in presenting and broadcasting social, health and political issues. Australian public can get information about the health-related Government policies and activities through media. In Australian media, professionals from diverse fields work together. Hence, Australian media considered as an institution. Due to this institutional framework of Australian media, data and information presented in the media is being presented after doing appropriate research and investigation. Currently, social media being used extensively for increasing awareness of health issues. Hence, other forms of media like print, broadcasting and radio are being underutilised in the recent years (Usher et a; 2014).
In Australia, media is being categorised into public service, community and commercial media. Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) represents public service media and it broadcast information related to socio-cultural aspects of people. Community media also addresses, socio-cultural aspects; however, in community media large proportion of supporting staff is necessary for collecting the field data and presenting the data. In commercial media, more importance is being given to the democratic principles. In commercial media also, social involvement is more and market tends are being reflected in the information presented in the commercial media. All these three media together can present correct social, health and political issues in Australia. In such scenario, it is not possible to avoid a single media and to give importance to another type of media. Type of media can be selected based on the significance of the issues being addressed. Attitudes, values, beliefs and behaviours of the Australian people can be effectively addressed through Australian media hence it can be considered as the powerful tool (Gordon et al., 2016).
Media houses should consider public needs, requirements and interests of public. At the same time it should also consider profitability while broadcasting news. Success of media depends on the ability of the media houses to design and broadcast news which are acceptable to all classes of people. Weak symbolic power and strong symbolic power are the influential factors responsible for the acceptability of the news item (Espinel et al., 2013). Enforcement of editorial boards for the selection of news items are mainly responsible for weak symbolic power and presentation of social issues are mainly responsible for strong symbolic power. Strong symbolic power is mainly responsible for the acceptability of media item among common people (Bastian, 2011). Structural power can be helpful in regulating allocation of resources, decisions and data (Miller et al., 2014). Legal aspects of media information are important. These legal aspects related to media information can be protected by hierarchical structural power. Manipulation of data and engagement in broadcasting can play significant role in improving power of the media house. This power can be improved by hiding efforts to manipulate data (Leask et al., 2010). Editorial board can use manipulative power to add or eliminate information. Intellectual capability and skills of the journalist and media house depends on the ability to fame and present information which can be understood by the common people. Manipulation in the information, framing the information and presenting the narratives can be helpful in improving interest in the media article and media house (Blom and Hansen, 2015).
Media Item 1
Framing and presentation of the news items depend on the media templates. Predictability and acceptability of the media items can be improved by using standardised and validated media templates. Use of standardised and validated templates can be helpful in avoiding deviation of presenting correct facts and figures. It can also be helpful in focusing on specific issues (Richards et al., 2015).
Power and influence of the media item are the main deciding factors for improving capability of the media item. Power can be helpful in improving influence of the media item and influence can be helpful in effective execution of the actions to improve power. Culture can influence media item design and presentation. Public relations of the media can be helpful in augmenting media coverage to present issues in more effective manner. In case of commercial media, political and economic aspects are firmly related to neo-liberalist constructs (Lipworth et al., 2012; O’Mara, 2013). Social importance of illness can be effectively improved through media. Perceptions of public about health can be influenced by media. Media can be helpful in raising social health issues and health promotion can be effectively achieved through media. Smart phone through social media proved effective in changing health perceptions, attitudes, values and behaviours of people (Usher, 2012).
It is evident that presenting health issues and providing health related information is a fruitful approach for the media house. It can be helpful in improving public awareness about health issues; hence, health promotion can be achieved. In the recent past, there is augmented prevalence of chronic and communicable disorders. For such disorders, public awareness and health promotion is an important aspect. It can be effectively achieved through media. Australian population comprises of culturally diverse people. Hence, it is necessary for the Australian media to broadcast culturally relevant and acceptable health information. Information presented in the media should disseminate specific stereotype and also it should not encourage racism and stigma. This type of working culture of the media can be helpful in promoting health in culturally and socioeconomically diverse population in Australia (Jordens et al., 2013). Recent developments in the health issues can be presented to the Australian people and world-wide view of the health promotion can be broadcasted to the Australian people (Jordens et al., 2013)
Olivia Willis is working in ABC since 2014. She is being affiliated to Science and Health unit since 2016. It indicates she is having relevant experience in writing health articles.
Negative aspect of news item: In this news article, problem related to child mental health was mentioned; however solutions to solve this problem was not addressed in this article.
Positive aspect of news item: Child mental health is a neglected issue and this issue was effectively addressed in this article. Mental health of children can impact lifelong child growth and development. Hence, it can impact future generations of society (Kvalsvig et al., 2014).
This news article is written to address children, parents, mental health professionals, school professionals and children related social workers. This article was aimed to augment awareness of child mental health. It is need of hour to address this issue because child mental health is always an ignored issue and interventions to address this issue were not standardised. Headline of this news article give an idea of the complete picture of the article because in headline most of the aspects of article like mental health issue and its probable solution were mentioned in this article. Accurate headline of the article can improve its acceptability and increase number of readers. This media article was written in the clear and concise manner and facts mentioned in this article were supported by numbers. These numbers were given in this media item after doing appropriate and sufficient research.
Content of this article reflects this article was written by incorporating people from different departments of media house. Hence, this media house can be considered as an institution. This media article addressed child mental health issue which is a social issue; hence it represents strong symbolic power. Matter provided in this article can be considered as correct because it is based on the scientific literature (Tunnecliff et al., 2015). This media article can be considered as believable and acceptable because facts and figures mentioned in this article are supported by scientific literature. Moreover, this information was provided by the experts and experienced professionals in the relevant field. Evidence provided in this article can be considered as valid due to knowledge and proficiency of the authors of the mentioned literature (Lockhart et al., 2011).
Argument provided in this article was mentioned in the detailed manner because it was supported by relevant data provided by experts and patients. Argument was presented in sequential manner in this article. All the aspects were mentioned in sequence like mental health issue, risk factors and problems related to mental health issue and finally probable solutions for the mental health issue. News article can be understood in better manner by arranging the content in the sequential manner. Such types of articles are acceptable for all classes of people and it can also be helpful in improving productivity and efficiency of media agency (Jones et al., 2015). In-depth details were mentioned about the mental health issue in this article. Thoughts of the experts like Professor Sawyer and Professor Patrick McGorry related to this issue were mentioned in this article. Authors also mentioned data related to varied hospitals from the different geographical regions. It reflects detailed and in-depth explanation of the content related to mental health issue. This type of article can be helpful in improving awareness of the issue among all classes of people in the society. Presentation of this article can be considered as logical presentation because this content is presented afterwards appropriate research with focus on specific points supported by evidence and linked to statements of the experts. Authors mentioned opinions of the experts in the relevant field in this media article. Author mentioned this article as credible because relevant data was supported by evidence and opinions of experts in the field. Both the provided data and information were appropriate to the mental health issue. This media article could be considered as the balanced article because in this article both problem and probable solution of the article were mentioned. Authors mentioned solution to the problem in the form of investment. Moreover, probable source of investment also mentioned in this article.
Evidence mentioned in this article was supported by valid source; hence, there was no evidence bias in this article. It is evident that probability of biasness is more in subjective data in comparison to the objective data. In this article objective data in the form of numbers was mentioned. Hence, there was no biasness in the mentioned data. Content mentioned in this article was relevant to the concepts of the HEA230 like strong symbolic power and validity of the content (Germov and Freij, 2014).
Positive impact of this media item comprises of augmentation in the alertness of child mental health. It can be beneficial in implementing appropriate intervention for children with mental illness (Willis, 2018).
Melissa Stoneham is Deputy Director, Public Health Advocacy Institute WA, Curtin University. She worked extensively in the field of Aboriginal health. Since, this information could be considered as valid information because this information was provided by expert in the field of Aboriginal people health. Information provided in this article was targeted to the aboriginal people, Government agencies, social and health workers. Purpose of this media article was to provide detailed information about the role of Australian media in addressing aboriginal people’s health issues.
Positive aspect: In this media article positive aspects related to aboriginal people like education, sport and employment were mentioned.
Negative aspect: Most of the section of this media article mentioned about the negative proclivity of media about aboriginal people’s health.
Headline of this media article can be considered as attention grabber because at the start of the headline itself word like bad news was mentioned. Even though, headline of this article was attention grabber, such articles would not be read by people of all the classes. Information mentioned in this article was clear and concise. Mentioned information comprised of facts and figures; hence, it made this article clearer. This information could be considered as correct because it was widely accepted that aboriginal people were with several health issues and unhealthy habits (Vass et al., 2011). From the provided content, it was clear that this information was not supported by evidence neither from the research articles nor from the opinion of experts. Evidence can be considered as valid if it would be supported by research publications and opinion of experts in the field. This article was written without proper research. Argument was made in the detailed manner. Author mentioned both the positive and negative aspects of the aboriginal people’s health. Argument can be effectively presented by mentioning both the positive and negative aspects of an issue in the same article.
Believability and readability of the article can be improved by the concise presentation of in-depth data supported by opinion of the expertise in the field. This information could not be considered as the in-depth information because this information was not provided in the form of facts and figures. Credibility of this article was low because in this article opinions of the experts were not incorporated and data from the research articles were not mentioned. Content of this article was presented in the logical manner because in the initial phase negative aspect of media about aboriginal people and in later part positive aspect of media about aboriginal people were mentioned. This logical representation of the content made this article understandable by all the classes of the people. Negative view of the media about the aboriginal people were mentioned; also, probable solutions to improve these negative views were also mentioned in this article (McCallum, 2011). Information provided in this article cannot be considered as credible and valid because this information was not supported by research articles or opinion of the experts in the field. Content of the media article can be presented in the balanced form by providing both positive and negative aspects of the issue. Both positive and negative insight of media about the aboriginal people were mentioned in this article. Hence, it can be considered as the balanced article. Main objective of this media article was to demonstrate negative view of the media about aboriginal people’s health. Content mentioned in this article was not relevant to the concepts of the HEA230 (Rolph et al., 2015).
Negative impact of news article is negative perception of media about the health issues of Aboriginal people.
Conclusion:
Australian media holds power to broadcast facts and figures about the culture and health issues and media is being doing it in sustained manner. Editorial board has significant role in augmenting acceptability of the news item and presented news remain in line with the values, beliefs and culture of the society. Media can effectively bring health promotion among all classes of people. Australian media presents both positive and negative aspects of health issues. Negative news item can distract society from the culturally appropriate care and positive news can disseminate culturally safe care.
References:
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