We were all migrants once

This paper is concerned with the media portrayal of young Vietnamese people from the Inner Western suburbs of Melbourne and the impact that this media portrayal has had on them, their Vietnamese community, and the inner western suburbs community in general. The paper also examines why unbalanced portrayals have occurred in the media and suggests strategies for presenting an unbiased view of Vietnamese young people (VYP) from the Inner West.

From 1994 -1996 residents in the Inner Western suburbs of Melbourne (in particular Footscray) were bombarded with local newspaper reports of ‘youth violence’, ‘youth drug dealing’, ‘Asian gangs’ and ‘youth crime’. Most of these reports targeted Vietnamese young people as the culprits, tapping into two of the wider community’s underlying fears and prejudices: their suspicion of young people and their fear of difference.

Street kids, Asians, heroin, gambling, knives, gangs and crime became big news. Consequently, the larger Melbourne dailies, talkback, even ‘A Current Affair’ picked up on the drama and controversy. The frenzy of such reportage conveyed a sense of impending threat and utter crisis. It sparked a police crackdown; it had them declaring ‘war’ and it had local traders hiring security staff. We saw references to Los Angeles by local community members, followed by the Pennington Drug Advisory Council.

The effect of such sensationalist, simplistic reportage has been far reaching, devastating and divisive for VYP and the wider Vietnamese community, as well as the general community who live in the Inner West. Local young people were left stunned, particularly VYP. The representations they saw in the media were far from the reality they lived.

Context and Reality

The Inner Western Region includes the suburbs Flemington, Kensington, North Melbourne, Footscray, Ascot Vale, Sunshine, Braybrook and Maribyrnong. It is characterised by the diversity of it’s people. About 45% are from non-English speaking backgrounds.

If you take a trip aboard the Blackbird ferry along the Maribyrnong River you can see a landscape ranging from industrial to suburban: from Victorian buildings to contemporary ones, the Docklands, high-rise flats, Highpoint shopping complex, the Footscray Community Arts Centre, Melbourne’s Living Museum of the West, Flemington Race Course, Victoria University of Technology, parklands, playgrounds and sports fields. Barkly Street is a lively and cosmopolitan shopping strip with shops representing many different cultures.

The Inner West has always been attractive to migrants as a place to find work in the manufacturing industries and because of cheaper housing. They come from all over the world: Italy, Greece, Former Yugoslavia, Phillipines, India, Ethiopia, Turkey, Indonesia, China, El Salvador and Viet Nam to name just a few.

Vietnamese migration commenced in 1975 after the end of the Viet Nam war. Over 140,000 have migrated to Australia in the last 21 years. Of these 34% have settled in Victoria. Large groups have settled around Springvale, Richmond and Footscray.

Many of Australia’s VYP were born in United Nations refugee camps in South East Asia where people were detained from periods anywhere between 2 months and 10 years.

It’s important to note that like other groupings the Vietnamese community is not a homogenous one. They come from many walks of life and have a variety of beliefs, lifestyles, economic and social groupings. Within the community there are people of Chinese ethnicity and those of indigenous Vietnamese ethnicity and following from this the languages Vietnamese and/or Chinese (Cantonese) are spoken.

Other socio-cultural distinctions to be made include Rural compared with (c.f.) Urban, Coastal c.f. Inland, Professional c.f. Business c.f. Unskilled labour, Buddhist c.f. Catholic, Middle Class c.f. Working Class and North Vietnamese c.f. South Vietnamese.

The New Year festival and the Moon Festival are the biggest Vietnamese festivals. They are both celebrated in a big public fashion in Footscray. They last for two or three days and continue from morning till night. The non-Vietnamese communities are always welcome to join in the festivities by the Vietnamese community.

Extended Family

The role of the extended family (more than two generations under the same roof) in Vietnam is traditional and closely tied to the philosophy of Taoism and Confucianism. The family is priority number one in the system of traditional Vietnamese values and within these values its importance overrides the importance of the individual. In the Australian context the phenomenon of the "modified extended family" occurs where three generations don’t live under the same roof but in close proximity to each other.

Many Vietnamese living in the Inner West come from villages and small towns and so it is natural to want to re-create that village atmosphere in Melbourne. Like many other migrant groups, the proximity of services, businesses and shops selling goods and services that they are familiar with, is also an incentive to live close to these facilities.

The biggest issue facing VYP in the Inner West is unemployment, or if they are still at school, the prospect of future unemployment. Another big issue for them is that of cultural identity. Cultural identity issues arise from the young person’s experience of migration to and settlement in Australia and the subsequent influences of two cultures on their developing identity. Often these two cultures, the traditional Vietnamese and the Australian youth culture, come into conflict. The opposing pressures from their parents, their peer group and Australian systems and structures, create dilemmas for young people that affect all aspects of their lives.

In addition there are pressures upon the family unit as a result of the settlement process. Part of this process involves the imperative to secure economic success. The long hours and the amount of energy expended on achieving economic success is sometimes detrimental to family stability. This instability sometimes leads to family breakdown.

Other related issues such as pressure to achieve academically, pressure to send money to poor relatives in Vietnam, and access to suitable housing after family breakdown complicate VYP’s lives.

VYP who are born in Australia or have been living in Australia for a long time, particularly if they are educationally oriented, have a strong command of the English language. For the recently arrived, learning English is very difficult. The differences in English and Vietnamese pronunciation patterns may mean that they have a good grasp of vocabulary but difficulty with pronunciation and can mean that they are not easily understood.

Many young Vietnamese have experienced interrupted schooling either because schooling in the refugee camps was not available or inadequate, or because they came from rural communities where secondary schooling is difficult to access. When they arrive in an Australian secondary school they are placed at a level with other children of the same age. Thus a child who has completed grade five primary school in Vietnam, may be placed in year ten in Australia. The drop out rate amongst these young people is high and it inevitably has an effect on their employability.

Large numbers of VYP came to Australia as ‘unaccompanied’ or ‘detached’ minors, (migrating with no direct parent or close family), which can add another level of disadvantage as well as specific issues that effect this group including homelessness, isolation, poverty and depression.

Significant numbers of VYP have issues in relation to being children of torture and trauma survivors or having witnessed traumatic events (such as imprisonment, attack by pirates etc.) as young children in the refugee camps, on the boats or in Vietnam.

VYP often report experiencing different forms of racism in various aspects of their lives.

Mental health issues and issues relating to self esteem are prevalent amongst VYP who experience the range of issues outlined above.

Unfortunately the Inner West is renowned for its lack of appropriate and relevant recreational facilities for its young people. There has been much research leading to evidence for the strong correlation between availability of recreation resources and youth crime prevention, but little direct money has been earmarked for providing actual facilities and relevant programs.

As with other inner urban areas and young people in general, and as a consequence of the range of issues outlined above, some VYP do use and deal drugs. The issue of drug taking is indeed a serious concern, and as community workers we do not wish to diminish this concern. However, we are critical of perceptions held by sections of the community and particular interest groups and the strategies employed to address the issue.

Creating the Image

This section examines the representations of Vietnamese Australians, and in particular VYP, in the print media and outlines the process of creating and reinforcing negative images. These media portrayals convey messages of VYP as: violent drug-users, criminals, homeless, anti-social, rebellious, a social menace, rejecting family values and rejected by their communities.

We have selected specific articles from the plethora of articles published to highlight specific themes and techniques.

Technique One:

The use of statistics to create a sense of fear and criminality.

In the article, Viet Arrest Rate Biggest (Herald Sun 8/7/96), the author presents statistical information which suggests that amongst communities (English speaking and Non English speaking) the Vietnamese have the highest level of arrests. The newspaper obtained its information from a newly released Asian Squad report.

What is not explained is that "arrests" are different from conviction rates. Guilt has not been established. Yet the article does more than present statistics; it suggests a level of criminality and infers a high level of criminality on the Vietnamese community.

Of concern is the reliability of the statistical information and the numbers reported. A discrepancy exists between the number of arrests and the number of people. For example, 35 arrests were made. This is not an indicator of how many people were arrested. It could have been that one person was arrested 35 times, not 35 individuals! This was not clear in the report and certainly not made clear in the article.

Also of concern is the fact that the report was undertaken by the Asian squad. Their mandate is to investigate and react to allegations of crime amongst the various Asian communities. It would seem obvious that their data would reflect this specialist focus. It is therefore unreliable as comparative data. This raises serious questions about the role of the Asian Squad: are they responding to high levels of crime, or are they targeting the Vietnamese community?

The article aims to set up a seemingly objective set of ‘facts’ with the assumption that ‘figures don’t lie’.

However, in Police Hit Anti-Viet Hype (Dandenong local paper 7/96), the Asian squad admits that the figures and reported findings weren’t accurately conveyed by the newspapers (for reasons mentioned previously). This indicates that the journalist has distorted the ‘facts’.

Textual techniques used to create a negative image of a specific group in the community

In the article Police Force Predicts Rise In Asian Crime, (The Age, 10/8/92) it is important to note the number of times the word "Vietnamese" or "Asian" appears.

a) that the Vietnamese community are to be seen as criminals or potential criminals and a threat to the Australian social fabric.

b) that the term "Asian" and "Vietnamese" can be used interchangeably.

By specifying the ‘Vietnamese community’ the notion of criminality being inherent is reinforced.

Headlines that appeared in both local and daily newspapers focused on the West, suggesting that it was the most dangerous place in Melbourne. However if we look at articles Death In Suburbia and Hotspot For Heroin (Herald Sun, 30/11/95), it clearly shows that the problem is far more widespread, and that St Kilda remains the main Melbourne "hotspot".

Technique Three:

An example of the use of visual cues and symbols which play on community fears

The use of graphics and photographs provided a strong focus for the public, encompassing and stimulating their fears in symbolic form. The needle or syringe has been a commonly used symbol in reportage e.g. the War on Drugs series logo employed by the (Herald Sun 29/11-12/12/95), Children In Heroin ‘War’ (The Age 29/11/95), and miscellaneous photographs of needles and sharps container strewn on ground from the Brimbank Independent 16/1/96).

Technique Four:

Justification of the use of racist attitudes in reportage.

The last two paragraphs of the editorial An Unwelcome Import (Herald Sun 29/11/95) are particularly disturbing in that the writer justifies the use of racist language, i.e. the singling out of a specific ethnic group (Vietnamese), by diminishing one social responsibility in favour of another (i.e. social justice values to be relinquished in favour of family values i.e. protecting our children). The statement "so be it" is dramatic and conclusive.

The editor’s arguments are emotional in their appeal on behalf of "our children" and is also suggestive of a sinister deeper level of the drug sub-culture, which is the ethnic level and which perpetuates notions of the Vietnamese person and the Asian person as ‘the other’.

Technique Five:

Sensationalism

A voyeuristic and sensationalist style of reportage adds to the growing negative community perceptions of VYP. It also has an ‘advertising' effect, outlining exactly where to buy drugs, who from and how, the drug quality, and the cost.

Savage Streets (The Times 28/6/95), and Down And Out In Footsray (The Times 8/95) quoted below are good examples.

Award winning journalist, Claire Sutherland, went on a tour of Footscray. It was organised and conducted by the local Ethnic Police Unit. The kind of places she was taken to skewed her outlook. Here is a selection of quotes from her articles:

"A walk around the city with police from the ethnic squad brings to light a sad and sickening puzzle picture, things seem so obvious once they’ve been pointed out."

In Whose Interest?

Who are the interest groups that perpetuate this reportage?

Politicians - feed racism or resentments against migrants in times of high unemployment and economic uncertainty to shift the blame away from themselves (‘scapegoating’).

Newspaper owners - perpetuate and recycle these sensational stories in the belief that it sells more papers. They promote and maintain the interests of Australia’s dominant monocultural power brokers.

Editors - act on behalf of their management and owners and reflect similar concerns.

Journalists - favour and seek out ‘the scoop’ which has a tough line versus the balanced story which has lower status. This reflects the training they have received in schools of journalism as well as the fact that journalists are relatively powerless and dispensable in their workplace hierarchy.

Advertisers - have a similar agenda to owners, appealing to conservative, moneyed consumer concerns.

Police - i.e. Asian Squads, Ethnic squads, Drug Squads, Area Superintendents, make strategic use of the media in order to justify their existence and receive more funding.

Similarly Community Agencies - i.e. Drug , youth, welfare, recreation, ethno-specific etc., may have to buy into perceived community fears in order to get their funding and remain viable.

Crisis programs are more successful than prevention programs in gaining funding.

Asian Traders - Although a very small group within the Vietnamese community, they have set themselves up as spokespeople for the whole community. However they have their own specific interests which are commercial and not social. In protecting their own commercial interests when approached by the media, the Asian Trader representatives promote the narrow view of Vietnamese young people as criminals, with a ‘clean up the streets’ approach. They requested and materially assisted in the setting up of the Ethnic Police Unit. The people this unit mainly deals with is Vietnamese young people.

Vietnamese Young People

In all the newspapers searches undertaken for this paper (over 80) only one represented the voice of Vietnamese young people on this issue. The young soccer player, Vi Phan’s, comments are both poignant and funny: "People think we are bullies because of what they read in the newspapers. They think we are aVietnamese gang and carry knives. When we finished the game in Richmond we all sat together, about 15 of us, and talked about the game. You can see people afraid to sit near you. People say that's a gang.It's not a gang, it's a soccer team." (Sunshine Advocate 2/3/94)

Impact On Vietnamese Young People, The Vietnamese Community, And The General Community Living In The West

The impact of negative media reportage on these three groupings has been far reaching. It has added to existing division, isolation and defensiveness between them and the rest of the Melbourne community.

-The ‘bad name’ of the West leads to the residents of the West feeling devalued by the wider community. "We’re pretty frustrated with the projection in the popular media of Footscray being a bit of a victim of these sort of things and we want to look at ways of being in more control of our destiny as a community" -Bruce Mildenhall Footscray MP (The Times 26/7/95).

-The negative image of the Inner West has resulted in funding, resourcing, infrastructure and investment being reduced in the face of obvious and ;desperate need.

-The strategy of the Asian Traders to ‘clean up the streets’ has backfired. Rather than solving any of the perceived or actual problems the traders had with Vietnamese street-frequenting youth, the associated publicity has portrayed Footscray as a dangerous place and subsequently affected consumer trade and investment.

-These negative portrayals have lead to the Vietnamese community’s desire for invisibility and subsequent withdrawal from participation in public life.

"Unless people feel welcome in the mainstream society they will not participate in mainstream society" Hung Nguyen, Vietnamese community worker.

-VYP are sad, shocked and angry that they are not seen as individuals "Most of the people who pick up these newspapers they definitely feel really shocked and feel very angry too" Thai, Vietnamese young person.

-VYP are concerned about the impact such reportage will have on community perceptions of them and subsequent stereotyping and racism. They fear not being able to get jobs because of the negative reportage. "European people look in the paper and they believe all Asians are criminals ..... we are worried that when we finish school no onewill want to give us jobs" Mai, Vietnamese young person.

-Those young people who are indeed at risk are labelled as criminals and are not receiving appropriate and adequate support to overcome the range of social and health issues confronting them. A study investigating the needs of marginalised Vietnamese young men was conducted by the City of Maribyrnong and the Western Melbourne College of TAFE. The conclusions were reported to say that health issues were the main concern, and health information and access to services is a more effective strategy than a ‘criminal justice’ approach (The Mail, Nov 1995).

Thai Phat, Research and Development Officer with the Westgate Community Iniatives Group, believed "some ‘elite’ Vietnamese welfare organisatins are out of touch with the needs of (marginalised) young Vietnamese people", and believes that "drug users must be partners of community-based service providers rather than the objects of the services".

Strategies: Broadening Media Notions Of "The Dinkum Aussie"

MEDIA:

Journalists must realise that they have a responsibility with the effects of their reportage, particularly when advertising locations where drugs are bought, the streets where it’s sold, the best quality, its price and how to buy it. They must also look at and question their own prejudices and motivations and how these effect their story. Outlined below are some suggested strategies:

1. That courses and training targeting staff (editors, journalists and students of journalism) be introduced to encourage responsible, accurate and balanced reportage.

2. That affirmative employment policies regarding employment of people of diverse cultural backgrounds be introduced.

3. Ethics/standards committee to be strengthened.

4. Union and membership to take a more active role in refusing to buy into sensationalist and biased reportage.

5. When journalists write about Vietnamese young people they include their voice in the research.

ETHNIC COMMUNITIES:

1. There is a need to inform and encourage ethnic communities to utilise available complaints procedures against biased or racist reportage.

2. Ethnic communities should have greater input into relevant regulatory bodies e.g. advertising and media bodies.

3. Ethnic communities should develop their own policies and media liaison role for the peak body organisations.

4. Peak ethnic organisations to develop an auditing process and "recognition of excellence" award for fair and accurate reportage of issues involving ethnic minorities.

CONSUMERS (The Reader):

1. There is a need for more media education (in schools and community) which encourages critical thinking and analysis of the news;

2. Write letters to newspapers!

GOVERNMENT:

1.Strengthen the Racial Vilification Act to counter poor media portrayals of ethnic minorities.

2. Include the media as a target group in the Federal government’s proposed anti-racism program.

VIETNAMESE YOUNG PEOPLE:

1. In order to gain greater representation and participation in the media, young people need to speak out (become active, e.g. get involved in anti-racism programs, theatre, writing press releases etc.). In this way the complex range of their life experiences can be reported.

2. Community sector workers and teachers who work with young people to support and encourage this.

Conclusion

" Everyone is unique. There are good people and bad people, Western and Eastern .....not everyone is the same even within different cultures. It doesn’t matter what race they are, it depends on the people themselves". Lam, 15, Vietnamese young person.

We would like to acknowledge and thank:

The young people who participated in the video:

Kim, Lam Mai, Tyem, Tai, Hoang, Estapha, Hao and Manh

Those who have helped us in our research and video production:

Doan Ngo, Soo Lin Quek, Hung Nguyen, Abraham Hadgu, Naomi Ngo,

Jane Grant, Leanne Butson, Peter McKenzie and Joanna Camm.

Bibliography

Reports & Articles

Camm, J.,
Young People’s Perceptions of Safety and Security Issues within the Footscray Area (1994)

Community Development Branch - City of Maribyrnong
Footscray Drug and Safer Community Forum Proceedings
13th September (1995)

Ethnic Affairs Police Liaison Committee Footscray Area
Minutes of Meeting 5/12/90 re: Police and Ethnic Unit

Guerra, C.,
EYIN Working Party Notes- Police and Ethnic Minority Youth (1993)

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
Juvenile Justice and Young People of non-English Speaking Background - Discussion Paper (1994)

Nguyen N.V.,
Vietnamese Community In The Western Region - A Profile 1995
Inner Western Region Migrant Resource Centre

Nguyen, P.,
The Casino and Gambling Effects on The Indo-Chinese Community in South-Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne SICMAA Report (1996)

Phat, T.,
The Winners and the Losers of the "Drug Wars", Appendix 5, Vietnamese Access Report, Westgate Community Initiatives Group (1996)

Quek, S.L.,
Article in Hill, R. & Besant, J. (eds.) Reporting Law And Order: Youth, Crime and the Media NYRC Hobart (1997)

Western Region Youth Committee
Background Paper-Ethnic Youth Relations in the Western Suburbs (1994)

White, R.,
Racism, Policing and Ethnic Youth Gangs (Draft only) July 1995

White, R.,
Young People and The Criminal Economy Criminology Department, University of Melbourne (1994)

© Helen Rodd & Sylvie Leiber

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