How Television Moved a Nation: Media, Change and Indigenous Rights
This article by Waller and McCallum (2018) critically examines the role television played in Australia’s referendum in 1967. The referendum is believed to have given rights to Torres Islander people and the Aboriginal. The article goes further to highlight the five stories that moved the nation, including Australia’s shame, Civil rights and government connections, admirable activists, a fair go, and consensus. The authors of this article argue that Television significantly contributed to shaping the broader culture, and most importantly, it created a channel for communication. The medium for communicating that the Television provided allowed Indigenous activists and everyday people to speak to the masses throughout Australia and First Nations for the first time. According to the article, Television did so much to craft the referendum’s narrative as it promoted shifts from the exclusion of indigenous people and sought to have them recognized and respected.
The article considers mass media’s role in shaping the broader culture and how television news stories and other related issues contributed to the ten-year campaign. As depicted in the article, Australia’s colonial history and the consequent confederation in 1901 intentionally discriminated against or rather debarred native people. The authors argue that the campaign that sought to have the constitution reformed started as an introductory level movement during the Assimilation Policy period. The article contends that in the Assimilation policy period, incorporating the native people into the conventional civilization and white Australians was a desirable idea. It goes further to say that this took place when televisions could be perceived as both a channel that enabled White Australia to see itself showcased in a changing world with political processes all-inclusive.
The article argues that Television was established in 1956, and 80 percent of households owned a TV set by 1964. By 1971, this rose to 90 percent. The indigenous people’s campaign was one of the most crucial movements in the decade of social revolutions across the globe. The events of the process played out in the streets and televisions in the living rooms across Australia, Canada, South Africa, the United States, and New Zealand.
The power of Television to have the constitution amended resulted from coming together of the forces of technology, government, social and political forces in Australia and across the globe. Television played a significant role by providing a platform that makes the agenda of the activists visible. Televisions made it possible for the streets’ events by activists visible to everyone in their living rooms. The campaign was not only for those who took part in the roads’ events, even those who sat in their living rooms became part of it. They were able to clearly understand what the campaign was all about and the activist’s agenda. As such, Television made even people in their living rooms become part of the movement. The film’s visual and dramatic effect, demand for news, and national coverage made Television a powerful instrument for change. The authors continue to argue that Television’s potential in communicating the campaign’s agenda was harnessed by civil rights activists and politicians across the globe as it personalized their appeal, and it reached to the individual home.
The authors of this article argue that Television’s power was able to outweigh that of print media when it came to audience, information source alteration, and making perspectives available to the viewers. The article reports that Television became a powerful instrument in moving the nation as news and current affair showed protest movements in the international sphere. Also, the news programs highlighted the local stories that covered the pursuit of civil rights. This influenced several household names into becoming indigenous activists. According to the article, Television did not only report events but crafted visual narratives for audiences. Due to Television’s visual powers, it was easy for people seeking change to be understood by the audience. The use of theatrical words and gestures of the struggles could easily be seen and understood. Further, Television was able to spread the news and expose events in a manner that exerted pressure on the administration and specific communities.
The high level of narrative coherence depicted in the television news stories also played a crucial role in influencing the Australian people. The article reports that to achieve the high level of narrative coherence by television news, the television news directors began to not focus on the events necessarily but the social processes, trends, moods, and relationships. The article gives an example of Australian Television of the period. The authors argue that the cameras of major media houses of the period ventured into areas where the vast majority of the white Australians had never set foot, such as Aboriginal communities. In these areas, televisions told stories of disadvantage and discrimination. The images and commentary that were provided by the indigenous spokespeople were, in many cases, the only sources that the white Australians would be able to see and also hear from aboriginal communities through Television.
In summary, Television played a significant role in shaping the campaign that sought constitutional reform from 1956-1967. Also, it has a considerable contribution to the reaccreditation of the narrative of the settler nation. The article depicts that Television significantly contributed to the change in the relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous people. Also, it installed a straighter, close, and incorporated form of communication. Television made it clear that civic narratives are at the core of the community’s culture. It made it easy to deeply understand Australia’s equality and fairness belief that was tied together through televisions news stories. It is imperative to note that the television news stories led to the institutional support for constitutional reform. The visual narratives provided by Television made it easy for people to understand the activists’ agenda and the motive of the campaign.