Author Identifier

Jordan Hogan: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9412-6549

Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Thesis

Publisher

Edith Cowan University

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

School

School of Arts and Humanities

First Supervisor

Laura Glitsos

Second Supervisor

Catherine Archer

Third Supervisor

Kay Hearn

Abstract

Australia and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have a dynamic bilateral relationship that is defined by interdependency and mutual political scepticism. This thesis provides an analysis of Australian and Chinese news media perspectives on this relationship. Via an in-depth examination of opinion pieces from national press, I map the significant developments of a period of deteriorating relations between 2020 and 2022. My study captures the more prominent, parochial and vitriolic media coverage of the unravelling relationship, and investigates the motivations, developments, differences, and similarities in the online publications of Australia’s national daily newspaper The Australian, and China’s Global Times. I use Mikhail Bakhtin’s theoretical framework of dialogism and Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke’s Reflexive Thematic Analysis to examine the transformation of national discourses at a critical juncture in the Australia-China relationship.

The motivations and developments within these discourses were illustrated through contrasting, and at times resonating, perspectives on political and ideological contestations. Together, these narratives developed in a way that is symbolic of the nature of the Australia[1]China relationship, in the sense that it is a union defined by an enduring cyclical paradigm of mutual scepticism and interdependency. This thesis provides a comprehensive understanding of how Australia and China’s political and cultural perspectives are intertwined with news production, and offers a new depth of understanding the intricacies of a delicate yet interdependent relationship between two important regional partners. With this in mind, this research will be of particular significance to scholars focused on Australia-China relations across the fields of Media studies, Communications, and International Relations, and more broadly for policy makers and legislators that rely on in-depth critical analysis to make strategic decisions in this arena.

DOI

10.25958/z1hh-7h35

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