HSC203: A Critical Analysis of Media Coverage on Indigenous Health

This essay critically analyzes three media articles concerning the mental health of Indigenous Australians, evaluating their positive, negative, and neutral qualities based on the framework provided by Stoneham, Goodman, and Daube (2014). The analysis focuses on the media's portrayal of Indigenous health issues, examining factors such as government health programs, cultural considerations, and the role of media representation. The essay reveals inconsistencies in the media's depiction of Indigenous mental health and highlights the ongoing challenges in addressing the health and wellbeing of Indigenous communities, concluding that government programs require more clarity and effectiveness. The essay uses Stoneham, Goodman, and Daube (2014) as a benchmark to evaluate how media articles present the conditions and mental health problems of Indigenous people in Australia.

Running Head: Mental health in Indigenous people
Health Issues on Indigenous People
Essay
System04104
5/22/2019

Mental health in Indigenous people
MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES IN INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
Introduction
The health and wellbeing of indigenous people still a major concern in Australia.
Every day there is news published in the newspaper about the health and poor conditions of
these people. Mental health issues are the major problem in Indigenous people (Hackett,
Feeny, & Tompa, 2016). The present work is also reviewing the three media articles and
analyse the content about the mental health issues in indigenous people. The present essay
provides an overview of the negative, positive, or neutral qualities of the article as per article
written by Stoneham, Goodman, and Daube (2014).
First Article
(Mental Health and Aboriginal People)
AIHW (2018). Mental Health and Aboriginal People [online]. Retrieve from:
https://anzmh.asn.au/2018/07/10/mental-health-aboriginal-people/
According to the First media news, the positive, negative, and neutral qualities as per
the Stoneham, Goodman, and Daube are as follow:
Positive: The third article shows the stats about the mental health of indigenous
people in Australia. It shows that indigenous people are normally suffering from depression
or dementia. It shows the real facts about the mental health conditions in indigenous people.
This article also shows the comparison about health issues between indigenous people and
normal Australians. This article shows the fact that more than 30% of people are suffering
from psychological distress in indigenous people in compare to 20% in all Australians. This
article shows that mental health condition is worsening every day in Australia in indigenous
people. The focus of this new article on government health programs and it includes that
Australian government and health programs need to consider long term view rather early start
and stop the programmes. The article also talks about the various risks and protective factors
associated with the Indigenous mental health conditions, which is not describe by the
Stoneham, Goodman, and Daube in their article (AIHW, 2018).

Mental health in Indigenous people
Negative: The negative thing about this article that it has not considered the practical
approach neither it discussed the culture or other factors such as employment, poverty, or role
of media in mental health conditions of indigenous people. The media article is almost
neglect the issues of media misrepresentation, which is especially mentioned in the
Stoneham, Goodman, and Daube (2014) article. However, it also avoids those cultural and
social factors such as racism, less opportunities for job, poor physical health conditions etc.
which plays a major role in indigenous mental health conditions. Although this media article
published on the website of Australian & New Zealand Health association (2018) but it is
very precise and unclear about the other factors behind poor mental health conditions of
indigenous and Torres Strait Islander’s people.
Neutral: This article mainly focuses on indigenous mental health problems and major
causes behind it. It also shows that how the failure of various government programs and
culture of indigenous people are major responsible causes behind poor mental health
conditions of indigenous people (Willox, Stephenson, Allen, Bourque, Drossos, Elgarøy, &
MacDonald, 2015). However, both article includes the major causes of mental health
problems and raise the voice against the poor mental health of indigenous people. However,
this article shows that the poor policies of government is a major cause behind the mental
health conditions of indigenous and Torres Strait Islander people.
Second Article
(Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adolescent and youth health and wellbeing 2018)
Australia and New Zealand Mental Health Association (2018). Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander adolescent and youth health and wellbeing 2018 [online]. Retrieve from:
https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/indigenous-australians/atsi-adolescent-youth-health-
wellbeing-2018/contents/summary
According to the second news, the positive, negative, and neutral qualities as per the
Stoneham, Goodman, and Daube are as follow:
Positive: The positive thing about this article news is that 76% of indigenous people
are happy while 24% are not happy. The second positive quality of this news is that total of
241,824 indigenous youth people in Australia who are 5% of Australian population. Among
them most of the young people are living in non-remote areas, thus they are not affected in

Mental health in Indigenous people
any mental health problems. These young people are not suffering from any dangerous
mental disorder and their health is really good as they are not living in remote areas and avail
all the facilities of government (Anderson, Robson, Connolly, Al-Yaman, Bjertness, King, &
Pesantes, 2016). Another main reason behind mental health problems is non-availability of
jobs for indigenous people. However, according to this, new article the number of employed
indigenous people between 20-24 old aged is rising and it is increased from 47% to 65% in
2016 in compare to 2006.
Negative: The number of personal stressor in the indigenous community is
increasing. Every two indigenous people out of six indigenous people is suffering from
personal stress which leads to mental health problems. Most of the people (almost 67%)
people face moderate level of mental health problems and it is rising every year (Degenhardt,
Stockings, Patton, Hall, & Lynskey, 2016). The numbers of people who are seriously affected
by the mental health problems are really large and these numbers are calculated among all the
people who face mental health problems. According to the Stoneham, Goodman, and Daube
(2014) drinking, child abuses, mental health related issues, and petrol sniffers are the
common issues in Indigenous people, but these all thing is not mentions in this article.
Neutral: The issues of media in representing the mental health and other health
related issues is almost similar. In this news article, the image of indigenous people is shown
in the improving conditions. Although it has been observed in the media article that it mainly
focuses on the government health programs and awareness among indigenous people about it.
However, the mental health related issues in this media article is not highlighted in detail but
it was only mentioned in the article and the major causes behind these mental health issues
like unemployment, poverty, traditional culture, living standards etc. (Kirmayer & Brass,
2016).
Third Article
(Improving Aboriginal health and well-being: a view from the north)
Australia and New Zealand Mental Health Association (2018). Improving Aboriginal health
and well-being: a view from the north [online]. Retrieve from:
https://anzmh.asn.au/2013/10/01/improving-aboriginal-health-and-well-being-a-view-from-
the-north/

Mental health in Indigenous people
According to the third media news, the positive, negative, and neutral qualities as per
the Stoneham, Goodman, and Daube are as follow:
Positive: The mass killing of individual people are stopped and the government take
initiatives to provide all the basic healthcare facilities to these indigenous and Torres people
(Willox, Stephenson, Allen, Bourque, Drossos, Elgarøy, & MacDonald, 2015). Another
positive quality of the article is that it shows that Australian government improve the
environmental conditions of indigenous people that helps to improve the mental health of
these rural people while Stoneham, Goodman, and Daube mentioned in his article that people
are living in poor environmental conditions. The another positive of the article that people
understand their health rights and take the advantage of Australian primary healthcare
facilities and registered their selves in various healthcare programs in Australia. The number
of people who are suffering from mental health problems is continuously decreasing (Malla,
Iyer, McGorry, Cannon, Coughlan, Singh, & Joober, 2016). However, the positive media
portrayal of the indigenous people and their mental health in recent days is also a major
positive change, which is negatively mentioned by the Stoneham, Goodman, and Daube in
their article (Australia and New Zealand Mental Health Association, 2018).
Negative: The negative side of the article is that large number of people registered
under the health program in Australia but very few people take the advantages of these
healthcare services. Although the Australian government is trying to persuade people to take
care about their health and continuously, check their mental and physical health in the
primary health care organisations. People will not take their mental health concerns seriously
(Nelson & Wilson, 2017). Another negative thing is that the dispossession of indigenous
people from their land and their ensuing damage of their property and social capital still is a
major concern for the mental health of indigenous people.
Neutral: The mentality and health concerns of indigenous people still are a major
concern for the Australian government, which is not changed. The major cause behind it that
the large number of people still not availing the healthcare services of the country and only
registered on different healthcare programs in Australia. Another neutral quality is the focus
of Australian government, which is not dramatically changed in recent years. The
government still takes the issue lightly and leave the people for suffering with large number
of mental health disorders and other mental problems.

Mental health in Indigenous people
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be said that the vies of different media article about the mental
health conditions of Indigenous is different. Even the stats and shows in different article is
not matched. However, after analysing three media articles and their positive, negative, and
neutral qualities as per the Stoneham, Goodman, and Daube (2014), it can be said that the
role of government mental and physical health programs in Australia towards the indigenous
people is still unclear and vague. However, the Stoneham, Goodman, and Daube (2014)
presents some clear ideas and opinion about the indigenous people’s health but the absence of
fact is also a major problem in the article. But the focus of these three articles was on
representing the worst conditions and mental health problems of Indigenous people in
Australia.

Mental health in Indigenous people
References
AIHW (2018). Mental Health and Aboriginal People [online]. Retrieve from:
https://anzmh.asn.au/2018/07/10/mental-health-aboriginal-people/
Anderson, I., Robson, B., Connolly, M., Al-Yaman, F., Bjertness, E., King, A., & Pesantes,
M. A. (2016). Indigenous and tribal peoples' health (The Lancet–Lowitja Institute
Global Collaboration): a population study. The Lancet, 388(10040), 131-157.
Australia and New Zealand Mental Health Association (2018). Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander adolescent and youth health and wellbeing 2018 [online]. Retrieve from:
https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/indigenous-australians/atsi-adolescent-youth-health-
wellbeing-2018/contents/summary
Australia and New Zealand Mental Health Association (2018). Improving Aboriginal health
and well-being: a view from the north [online]. Retrieve from:
https://anzmh.asn.au/2013/10/01/improving-aboriginal-health-and-well-being-a-view-
from-the-north/
Degenhardt, L., Stockings, E., Patton, G., Hall, W. D., & Lynskey, M. (2016). The increasing
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Kirmayer, L. J., & Brass, G. (2016). Addressing global health disparities among Indigenous
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Malla, A., Iyer, S., McGorry, P., Cannon, M., Coughlan, H., Singh, S., & Joober, R. (2016).
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Nelson, S. E., & Wilson, K. (2017). The mental health of Indigenous peoples in Canada: a
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Mental health in Indigenous people
Willox, A. C., Stephenson, E., Allen, J., Bourque, F., Drossos, A., Elgarøy, S., &
MacDonald, J. P. (2015). Examining relationships between climate change and mental
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