The Power of Media in Australian Society
Question:
Discuss about the Contributions of Media in Australia’s Healthcare System.
Media has, for a very long time, become part and parcel of the Australian society. Australians, just like any other people, have been relying on the use of print, broadcast, and electronic media in many ways. Apart from the provision of the highly-glorified entertainment, media has been used as a platform for updating the people on current affairs, and teaching people regarding different issues in life. With these roles in mind, it is no doubt that media has been used as an important tool in the healthcare sector. The healthcare stakeholders have been relying on the media to disseminate important information to the target audience. the purpose of this paper is to present a critical analysis of the role of media in the Australia’s healthcare system. It evaluates the roles, and powers of the media as well as its contributions towards the delivery and promotion of culturally-safe care in the country.
Australia is one of the countries in which media has been regarded as a very powerful tool. The powers of the media have been evidenced in the way it has become an influential tool in the society. Currently, Australians are accessed to a wide range of media platforms. A research conducted by the Australian Human Rights Commission established that the Australians are consuming the print media, broadcast media, and electronic media depending on the population demographic, tastes, affordability, and preferences.
|
Older |
Total |
18 – 24 A |
25 – 34 B |
35 – 44 C |
45 – 54 D |
55 – 64 E |
65+ F |
Business |
|
Watch free-to-air TV |
92% |
83% |
90% |
92% |
97% |
95% |
97% |
90% |
|
Listen to the radio |
74% |
62% |
74% |
79% |
79% |
73% |
70% |
80% |
|
Read newspapers (either paper or online) |
67% |
49% |
61% |
67% |
72% |
77% |
77% |
78% |
|
Use social media including Twitter or Facebook |
66% |
91% |
81% |
70% |
57% |
53% |
39% |
59% |
|
Watch movies, including renting, downloaded or going to the cinema |
56% |
78% |
66% |
54% |
54% |
42% |
36% |
51% |
|
Read magazines |
36% |
41% |
35% |
32% |
34% |
42% |
36% |
37% |
|
Watch Pay TV |
30% |
26% |
27% |
33% |
35% |
27% |
31% |
40% |
|
Watch TV online |
26% |
43% |
35% |
27% |
20% |
16% |
10% |
29% |
Table I: Media consumption in Australia
Source: Australian Human Rights Commission
The first role of the media is that it is used to create awareness to the public. A large number of Australians uses the radio, television, newspapers, magazines, and online news platforms to acquire the information that they need to use on day to day basis. Nearly all the media outlets have a news division which is used to collect information and disseminate it to the public. The role of information is discharged both by the private and government-owned media outlets. It is because of its information role that media has been regarded as a very powerful tool in the country (Austin, DeScisciolo & Samuelsen, 2016). Many Australians have a strong belief that the news provided by the media should be trusted. In fact, once information has been published by the media, the public does not bother to verify and confirm if it is accurate or not (Runnels, Packer & Labonté, 2016). This kind of belief will continue to make media to be so powerful in the country.
The other important contribution of media in the society is that it is used as a tool for educating the public. A large number of Australians use media platforms because it gives them an opportunity to learn a lot of knowledge. New knowledge can be learnt from any media bet it broadcast, electronic or print. This happens because each media outlet has programs which are aimed at educating the public regarding different issues. For example, there are media certain programs which teach the public on issues to do with health, education, agriculture, culture, peace, just to mention, but a few. Actually, the informative role of the media has made it to be a very powerful tool in the country (Hill, et al., 2012). All Australians have come to believe that media is an influential resource that should be trusted. There are a few people who question the teaching programs disseminated by the media outlets because most of them are provided by professionals and celebrities who command huge following across the country.
Media Consumption in Australia
Finally, the other way through which the media has been exerting its influence in the society is through the delivery of entertainment services. Research has revealed that the choice made by people regarding a media type is greatly influenced by the source of entertainment it provides (Leeder, 2014). It is for this reason that entertainment-rich media are consumed by certain segment of the market. For example, the youth who prefer music like to listen to online radio and televisions, YouTube, and other social media platforms. However, the adult and elderly populations still enjoy open-air radio and television channels because it provides them with the right kind of entertainment that they need (Russell, 2013). Nonetheless, media has managed to rely on entertainment to command a huge influence and following in the society. However, despite these great contributions, media has been, on several occasions, accused of negatively influencing the society and making people to develop undesired behaviors.
The media has been using its powers and influence to make its positive contributions in the healthcare sector. Media has been relied upon as an important tool in the sector because it has been positively utilized by the stakeholders to benefit healthcare in different ways. The media has particularly made great contributions towards the provision of culturally-safe care to all the people in the country (Newall & Scuffham, 2013).
The first way through which the media has promoted the delivery of culturally-safe care is that it has been educating people on the composition of the Australian society. The media has been sensitizing people that Australia is a large country that is made up of people from diverse cultural backgrounds. When people are informed, they can be empowered to make important decisions which can be relied upon to benefit the entire community. It is important for the general public as well as individual professionals to be informed so as to enable to make right decisions regarding what to do. This is important both to the individual Australians and the healthcare providers (Almutairi, McCarthy & Gardner, 2014). For example, if the healthcare practitioners are informed about the cultural challenges of the indigenous groups, they will definitely do a good job to the Torres Strait Islander people and the Aboriginals who require well-organized culturally-safe care lore than any other group in the country. This kind of teaching can mostly benefit the non-indigenous healthcare practitioners who are involved in the delivery of healthcare services to the Torres Strait Islander people and the Aboriginals (Truong, Paradies & Priest, 2014). The needs of these conservative people can only be satisfied by the indigenous practitioners or culturally-competent non-indigenous healthcare providers.
Media can be used to help in health promotion campaigns which are aimed at advancing the delivery of culturally-safe care in the country. One of the best ways of encouraging a behavior change in the society is to engage in a health educational campaign. The current society has numerous health challenges that need to be addressed. People should be properly educated so as to provide them with all the information that they need to make accurate and informed decisions (Grant, Parry & Guerin, 2013). This is what media can enable the government to achieve. When there is a need to introduce culturally-safe care in the country, it is the mass media platforms such as radio, television, newspapers, fliers, brochures, magazines, films, and electronic media platforms that should be used (Fredericks, et al., 2015). The advantage of such media platforms is that they can enable the information to get access to a mass population. This is how the government and other healthcare stakeholders have managed to improve the delivery of culturally-safe care to the public. The mass media has adequately played its role of informing the public to support the delivery of culturally-safe care.
Media’s Role in Creating Awareness and Education
Despite its significant contributions, the media has been faulted for failing to effectively discharge its role of encouraging the provision of culturally-safe care in the country (Maarse, 2014). The wrong usage of the media has made it challenging to achieve health equality and equity because certain media outlets still engage in negative reporting. Over the years, certain media outlets have been deviating from their role only to engage in practices in unethical activities like stereotyping, racism, and ethnicity (Donato & Segal, 2013). These practices have been thwarting the efforts of delivering culturally-safe care to the indigenous communities which still need a lot of attention as far as the issue of health equality and equity is concerned.
As already highlighted, media is a very powerful and influential tool in the society. If properly used, it can positively transform the healthcare sector. Otherwise, it can be disastrous because it can make the country to fail to deliver quality services to the public. Here, an investigation is done on two articles which were published by the Australian to positively and negatively influence the delivery of culturally-safe care in the country (Arthurson, Darcy & Rogers, 2014).
‘Our national shame: Closing the gap for Indigenous Australians is more important than ever’ is a news article which was written by Jackie, Huggins and Gooda Mick and published by the Sidney Morning Herald on March 17 2016. In this article, the author presents a story of Lynore Geia, a Registered Nurse who has been serving at Close the Gap initiative in Palm Island, North Queensland. According to Ms. Geia, the Torres Strait Islander people and the Aboriginals are in the right path of achieving health equality (Sheikh-Mohammed, et al., 2014). The efforts made by the strategy have yielded fruits because they have resulted into an improvement in living standards; increase in the rate of immunization; increased accessibility to healthcare services; increased life expectancy; decreased mortality rates; and reduction in smoking, physical inactivity, alcoholism, and other harmful behaviors (Doolan, et al., 2015). Despite highlighting institutional racism as a major challenge, the article does a commendable job in portraying the indigenous community as cooperative people who have been positively responding towards the delivery of culturally-safe care to them.
Bill Leak cartoon in the Australian an attack on Aboriginal people, Indigenous leader says’ is an article which was published on August 4, 2016 by the ABC Radio Melbourne. This article negatively portrays the indigenous communities because it discusses about a cartoon that was drawn by Leak Bill to stereotype the Aboriginals (White & Collyer, 2015). In the cartoon, Bill depicted an Aboriginal man carrying a beer can, appears to be drunk and does not remember the name of his son. By depicting the Aboriginal to be saying, ‘yeah, right to? What is his name?’ Bill is definitely depicting Aboriginals as good-for-nothing drunks who do are irresponsible and do not care about the welfare of their children (Filc & Davidovitch, 2016). This is an example of a poor reporting by the media. It shows how the media can be a disastrous tool in the provision of culturally-safe care in the country (Sehngelia, Pavlova & Groot, 2016). Such articles can make non-indigenous practitioners to develop negative attitudes towards the indigenous people and view them as irresponsible people who do not care about their health and do not deserve to be treated well.
Conclusion
Media is a very powerful tool which can be of great value if properly utilized in the healthcare sector. The electronic, broadcast, and print media have been instrumental in improving the quality of healthcare services in the society because it has helped in creating awareness and informing the people. The examples of the two news articles demonstrate how influencing media can be in health care. Therefore, in order to improve the delivery of culturally-safe care, the government should not only avail culturally-competent practitioners, but put in place a culturally-sensitive media which is capable of nurturing the delivery of culturally-safe care to all the people irrespective of their cultural diversities.
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