News media representations of people receiving income support and the production of stigma power: An empirical analysis of reporting on two Australian welfare payments
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online November, 2022
News media representations of people receiving income support and the production of stigma power: An empirical analysis of reporting on two Australian welfare payments
People receiving working-age income support payments are often stigmatised as morally and/or behaviourally deficient. We consider the role of the media, as a potential source of structural stigma, in perpetuating negative characterisations of people in receipt of either the Disability Support Pension (DSP) or unemployment benefits (Newstart) during a major period of welfare reform in Australia. Newspaper articles (N = 8290) that appeared in Australia’s five largest newspapers between 2001 and 2016, and referenced either payment were analysed. We found an increased use of fraud language associated with the DSP, which coincides with increased political and policy focus on this payment. We conclude that in a period of increasing political concern with welfare reform, media coverage of welfare recipients is a form of stigma power, acting discursively as symbolic violence.
ArcherV (2006) In Search of the Australian Dole Bludger: Constructing Discourses of Welfare, 1974–83. PhD thesis, Australian National University. unpublished.
2.
ArcherV (2009) Dole bludgers, tax payers and the New right: Constructing discourses of welfare in 1970s Australia. Australian Society for the Study of Labour History96: 177–190.
3.
ArthursonKDarcyMRogersD (2014) Televised territorial stigma: How social housing tenants experience the fictional media representation of estates in Australia. Environment and Planning46: 1334–1350.
4.
Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) (2020) News in Australia: Diversity and Localism. International Comparisons. Report. Australian Government.
5.
Australian Treasury (2002) Intergenerational Report 2002–2003. Canberra, Australia.
6.
Australian Treasury (2007) Intergenerational report 2007. Canberra, Australia.
7.
Australian Treasury (2015) Intergenerational Report: Australia in 2055. Canberra, Australia.
8.
BaillieR (2011) An examination of the public discourse on benefit claimants in the media. Journal of Poverty and Social Justice19: 67–70.
9.
BaumbergB (2016) The stigma of claiming benefits: A quantitative study. Journal of Social Policy45: 181–199.
10.
BaumbergBBellKGaffneyD (2012) Benefits Stigma in Britain. Project report. Elizabeth Finn Care.
BriantEWatsonNPhiloG (2011) Bad news for disabled people: How the newspapers are reporting disability. Strathclyde Centre for Disability Research and Glasgow Media Unit.
13.
BriantEWatsonNPhiloG (2013) Reporting disability in the age of austerity: The changing face of media representation of disability and disabled people in the United Kingdom and the creation of new ‘folk devils’. Disability and Society28: 874–889.
14.
ChunnEGaviganAM (2004) Welfare law, welfare fraud, and the moral regulation of the ‘never deserving’ poor. Social and Legal Studies13(2): 219–243.
15.
CorriganPWWatsonAC (2002) Understanding the impact of stigma on people with mental illness.. World Psychiatry 1(1): 16–20.1(1): 16–20.
16.
CorriganPWWatsonACGraciaG, et al. (2005) Newspaper stories as measures of structural stigma. Psychiatric Services56: 551–556.
17.
CouldryN (2005) The individual point of view: Learning from Bourdieu’s ‘The weight of the world’. Cultural Studies5(3): 354–372.
18.
Department of Social Services (2013) Income support customers: A statistical overview 2013. Statistical Paper No. 12.
EngelsB (2006) Old problem new label: Reconstructing the problem of welfare dependency in Australian social policy discourse. Just Policy41: 5–15.
22.
EngelsBMartinS (2017) The welfare state and neoliberalism in Australia: An historical overview. In: SerrK (ed) Thinking About Poverty. Annandale: The Federation Press, chapter 3, 43–57.
23.
FaircloughN (1995) Media Discourse. London: Edward Arnold.
24.
FenechMWilkinsDP (2019) The representation of the national quality framework in the Australian print media: Silences and slants in the mediatisation of early childhood education policy. Journal of Education Policy36(6): 748–770.
25.
GoffmanE (1963) Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. New York: Simon & Schuster.
26.
GoodallZCookK (2021) The forms and functions of child support stigma. Social Currents 8(2):145–162. doi:10.1177/2329496520968211
HowardC (2012) The contradictions of individualised activation policy: Explaining the rise and demise of one to one service in Australia. Critical Social Policy32(4): 655–676.
31.
ImmervollHScarpettaS (2012) Activation and employment support policies in OECD countries: An overview of current approaches. IZA Journal of Labor Policy1(9): 1–20.
JensenTTylerI (2015) ‘Benefits broods’: The cultural and political crafting of anti-welfare commonsense. Critical Social Policy35: 470–491.
34.
KurzbanRLearyMR (2001) Evolutionary origins of stigmatization: The functions of social exclusion. Psychological Bulletin: 127(2): 187–208.
35.
LarsenCADejgaardTE (2013) The institutional logic of images of the poor and welfare recipients: A comparative study of British, Swedish and Danish newspapers. Journal of European Social Policy23(3): 287–299.
36.
LinkBGPhelanJ (2014) Stigma power. Social Science and Medicine103: 24–32.
37.
MarstonG (2008) A war on the poor: Constructing welfare and work in the twenty-first century. Critical Discourse Studies5: 359–370.
38.
MartinS (2009) Neoliberalism and the Underclass Thesis: Social Divisions in the Era of Welfare Reform. Saarbrucken: VDM Verlag.
39.
McClureP (2000) Participation Support for a more Equitable Society. Final Report of the Reference Group on Welfare Reform, Department of Family and Community Services.
40.
McClureP (2015) A New System for Better Employment and Social Outcomes. Report of the Reference Group on Welfare Reform to the Minister for Social Services.
41.
McEnhillLByrneV (2014) 'Beat the cheat': Portrayals of disability benefit claimants in print media. Journal of Poverty and Social Justice22: 99–110.
MurphyJMurraySChalmersJ, et al. (2011) Half a Citizen: Life on Welfare in Australia. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
44.
NewmanJ (1999a) The future of welfare in the 21st century. Speech to the National Press Club, 29 September, Canberra.
45.
NewmanJ (1999b) The Challenge of Welfare Dependency in the 21st Century. Discussion Paper. Department of Family and Community Services: Canberra.
46.
NoamEM (2016) Who Owns the World’s Media? Media Concentration and Ownership Around the World. New York: Oxford University Press.
47.
NolanD (2003) The constitution of unemployment: Journalism as a technology of citizenship. Southern Review: Communication, Politics and Culture36: 64.
48.
Parliament of Australia (2014) Social Services and Other Legislations Amendment.
49.
Parliamentary Budget Office (2018) Disability Support Pension: Historical and Projected Trends.
50.
Productivity Commission (2011) Disability Care and Support, Appendix K. The Disability Support Pension. Report 54. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
51.
Provalis Research (2015) Wordstat for Stata. 7.1 ed.
52.
Public Interest Journalism Initiative (PIJI) (2019) The Nature of the Editorial Deficit. Report, PIJI, Australia.
53.
PutnisP (2001) Popular discourses and images of poverty and welfare in the news media. In: FincherRSaundersP (eds) Creating Unequal Futures? Rethinking Poverty, Inequality and Disadvantage. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin. Ch3: 70–101.
54.
RawolleS (2010) Understanding the mediatisation of educational policy as practice. Critical Studies in Education51(1): 21–39.
55.
ReevesADe VriesR (2016) Does media coverage influence public attitudes towards welfare recipients? The impact of the 2011 English riots. The British Journal of Sociology67: 281–306.
56.
RobinsonG (2010) Media, Marketing and the Dole Cruisers – A Welfare Discourse Case Study. Master of Arts thesis, University of Wollogong, NSW. Unpublished.
Roy Morgan Research (2017) Consumer views and behaviors on digital platforms. Report prepared for Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Melbourne Australia.
59.
Roy Morgan (2018) Consumer views and behaviors on digital platforms. Report prepared for Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Melbourne Australia.
SageD (2012) Fair conditions and fair consequences? Exploring New labour, welfare contractualism and social attitudes. Social Policy and Society11: 359–373.
62.
SaundersP (2002) Mutual obligation, participation and popularity: Social security reform in Australia. Journal of Social Policy31: 21–38.
63.
SchofieldTPButterworthP (2015) Patterns of welfare attitudes in the Australian population. PLoS ONE10: e0142792.
64.
SchofieldTPButterworthP (2018) Community attitudes toward people receiving unemployment benefits: Does volunteering change perceptions?Basic and Applied Social Psychology40(5): 279–292.
65.
SchofieldTPHaslamNButterworthP (2019) The persistence of welfare stigma: Does the passing of time and subsequent employment moderate the negative perceptions associated with unemployment benefit receipt?Journal of Applied Social Psychology49(9): 563–574.
66.
ShepherdT (2014) Towards Responsible Government: The Report of the National Commission of Audit. Canberra: Commonwealth Treasury.
67.
SimonsMDicksonGAlembakisR (2019) The Nature of Editorial Deficit. Report. Public Interest Journalism Initiative.
68.
SimonsMTiffenRHendrieD, et al. (2017) Understanding the civic impact of journalism: A realistic perspective. Journalism Studies18(11): 1400–1414.
69.
Taylor-GoobyP (2012) A left trilemma: Progressive public policy in an age of austerity. Policy network., London
70.
ThomsonP (2002) Schooling the Rustbelt Kids: Making the Difference in Changing Times. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
71.
ThomsonP (2004) Introduction. Journal of Education Policy19(3): 251–253.
72.
TiffenR (2015) From punctuated equilibrium to threatened species: The evolution of Australian newspaper ownership and circulation. Australian Journalism Review37(1): 63–80.
