By Diana Haywood-Rankine and Stuart Munckton
ADELAIDE — South Australia's only daily newspaper, the Rupert Murdoch-owned Advertiser, ran a page-one story on January 15 headed, "Weapons of street war. Vietnamese gangs 'vicious and violent'".
The Advertiser interpreted a police "intelligence" report as revealing "potential for a Vietnamese gang war". The evidence included "an attack on an 20-year-old Australian male by a Vietnamese male at a nightclub" and "a Chinese man ... confronted at his home by two males of Asian appearance armed with knives".
The Advertiser played up police reports of a possible confrontation between "Vietnamese gangs" on New Year's Eve, which did not occur. Police have since stated that there is no threat to public safety but they will "continue to monitor the gangs' activities".
At no stage did the Advertiser say why the ethnic background of those alleged by police to have been involved in these gangs was of any importance.
This is not the only example of the Advertiser's racism. Last year, the Arabunna people established a protest camp outside Government House to demand that the state governor meet them to discuss their charge of genocide against Western Mining Corporation, which is mining uranium on their land.
The Advertiser accused protesters of defecating and urinating in public spaces. It reported that the protesters broke trees for their fire, left used syringes and other rubbish lying around, harassed passers-by and were drinking. These claims were dismissed as false by those involved, but the reporting helped turn public opinion against the camp. Police, on government orders, broke up the camp and arrested protesters.
Newspapers like the Advertiser scapegoat non-Anglo migrants and Aborigines for social problems like crime. The wealthy who own the media attempt to distract attention from the real cause of these problems — government and corporate policies which put profits before meeting people's needs.