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Family, Courts and Media Discourses: The Contested Spaces of Time, and the Politics of the Protection of Children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 November 2012

Pamela D. Schulz
Pamela D. Schulz*
Affiliation:
University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
*
address for correspondence: Dr Pamela D. Schulz, School of Communication and International Studies and Language, University of South Australia, St Bernards Road, Magill, South Australia 5072, Australia Email: pamela.schulz@unisa.edu.sa
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Extract

This article, which is built on media discourse analysis, provides an insight into how public opinion on the work of courts has developed into a discourse of disapproval. The discourse of time is often used to evaluate the work of courts and tends to meet with disapproval when related to sentencing and when the Family Court fails to deliver equal parental access to children. The Family Court is also the subject of discourses of fear within the media, with stories often focusing on child abuse and horror stories of neglect designed to attract and recruit an audience to media outlets. In addition, the discourses facing the Family Court are now firmly tied to time as a major aspect of decision-making. Because of this contested view, child protection may be reduced to a secondary perspective. This paper recommends a change to discourses surrounding courts by all parties in order to facilitate better understanding.

Type
Opinion
Information
Children Australia , Volume 37 , Issue 4 , December 2012 , pp. 142 - 150
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2012

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