Fair representation in news makes multicultural Australians feel more at home: new research

Belonging can be defined as a settled feeling. It is about feeling attached to the community and society you live in. Not only does belonging make people feel at home, but it can also help people participate in society.

More than 5 million Australians use a language other than English at home, of which 15% have low English proficiency. Almost one-third (28%) are born overseas. How do we ensure they are part of the society?

A new report unveils research examining the impact of news representation on multilingual audiences’ sense of belonging to broader Australian society. The report employed a survey combining face-to-face, phone, and online methods to ask questions of five multilingual groups: Arabic, Cantonese, Italian, Mandarin, and Vietnamese speakers.

Participation in society by sense of belonging

The study found that multilingual Australians’ sense of belonging is closely related to their confidence in participating in society. Compared to those who say they don’t belong, people who feel “at home” in Australia are twice as likely to say they have a good understanding of political and social issues facing Australia. Furthermore, among those who feel at home in Australia, the majority agree they are well informed (71%) and think their cultural community can have a significant impact on society (71%). Where does this confidence to participate come from? We found that time spent in Australia and proficiency in English are both related to belonging. It seems to take more than 10 years for migrants to find a sense of belonging in Australia; 76% of those who have lived in Australia for more than 10 years feel at home in Australia compared to only 64% of those who arrived here less than five years ago. Having high confidence in English is also a factor. Sense of belonging by English proficiency and lenght of stay