Examining trends in the representation of young people and alcohol in Australian newspapers over twenty years (2000–2019)

Pennay, Amy; Cook, Megan; MacLean, Sarah; Lubman, Dan I.; Dietze, Paul; Herring, Rachel; Caluzzi, Gabriel; Vashishtha, Rakhi; Livingston, Michael

doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103461

Cited by 2 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Additionally, editorials, such as that by Panahi, a right-wing opinion columnist, which arguably operate as indicators of the “opinion climate” (Törrönen, 2004, p. 62), were deployed three times in 2013 amid the federal election. During such periods, media attention on these policy topics was sustained (see also, Pennay et al, 2022). As such, the media attached a legal responsibility onto parents, which facilitated a narrative of blame where parents failed to adhere to the legal standards of care being established (e.g., Emerson, 2013, p. 14).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The data for this analysis comes from a larger study looking at media representations of young people’s (under 18 years) drinking in Australia over a 20-year period (published between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2019) from Australia’s 15 major national and state print-based newspapers (Pennay et al, 2022). In the original search, Factiva was used to identify articles using the search terms (alcohol or grog or booz ∗ ) AND (youth or young or adolescen ∗ or teen ∗ ) (following the broader study aims to investigate the portrayal of youth drinking over time).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Through this process we identified four representations of parents in Australian news media reporting on youth drinking, each of which framed parents as responsible, in some capacity, for young people and youth drinking. These representations fluctuated over time in response to policy foci and shifts, dissemination of new research findings, newsworthy incidents, and seasonality (see also Pennay et al, 2022), and we present these in turn below.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This includes general alcohol-related issues (Azar et al, 2014), women’s drinking (Day et al, 2004), the reinforcement of binary constructions of gender norms in reporting on alcohol (Bogren, 2011), alcohol-related violence (Lancaster et al, 2012), alcohol-related news stories (Nicholls, 2011), adolescents and alcohol (Pennay et al, 2022), and drinking during pregnancy (Cook et al, 2020). Two Australian analyses found an increase in newspaper articles that were disapproving of alcohol consumption between 2000 and 2011 (Azar et al, 2014; Pennay et al, 2022). Nicholls (2011) similarly highlighted an increase over time in public health perspectives and health framings of news stories on alcohol in the UK.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In looking to examine changes over time in the content and slant of news articles on young people and alcohol, particularly in the context of recent declining drinking trends, Pennay and colleagues (2022) found that reporting on policy or prevention initiatives which targeted parents was common, with parents also being a common source in media reporting on this topic. Building on this previous content analysis, the present study critically interrogates the representation of parents in Australian news media reporting on youth drinking.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“Sober Message to Parents”: Representations of Parents in Australian News Media on Youth Drinking

Cook

Caluzzi

Pennay

2022

Contemporary Drug Problems

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Traditional news media can both reflect and shape public perceptions, including expectations relating to alcohol and parenting. This paper examines representations of parents in Australian news media reporting on youth drinking to understand how parental standards related to alcohol are constructed and articulated. 150 news articles were sampled from a larger study of youth drinking, in which we identified four representations of parents—parents as to blame, good parents, parents as lost and parents as victims. These four representations of parents reflect dominant neoliberal ways of governing, which promote parental education, best practice standards and responsibility as solutions to concerns around youth drinking. We examine the way politicians, research findings and legal directives (most commonly secondary supply laws) were deployed to attribute parental responsibility and standards of care. While parents as “to blame” or as irresponsible was concretely established in the articles, good parents were far more elusive and strategically individualized in ways that abdicated responsibility from the state, industry and structural burdens. As such, while media representations were able to define and moralize bad parents and parenting practices when it came to youth drinking, what it meant to be a “good parent” was often an ambiguous ideal. We suggest these media representations contribute to intensive parenting standards by providing another platform in which parental behaviors can be publicly scrutinized and moralized.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%