Iraq's December 2005 election : reporting democratisation in the Australian and Middle Eastern print media

Throughout the coverage of Iraq since the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s and especially since September 11, the Western mainstream Media have eschewed key historical and contextual data about Iraq, thereby serving to reduce and homogenize the complexity of the issues surrounding the region and the conflicts therein. In so doing, the media has tended towards Orientalism (Said, 1978) by trivialising Iraq and its people and thereby reinforcing the hegemony of the West over the ‘backward, barbaric’ East. Building on earlier research (Isakhan, 2005a), this paper further examines the reductive and homogenising reporting of Iraq in the Western media by using both quantitative and qualitative assessment methods to compare and contrast the discursive practices used to construct the Iraqi election of December 15, 2005 in Australia’s leading daily newspapers with newspapers from the Middle East. In essence, it finds that while the Australian media propagates Orientalism through its one-eyed coverage, the Middle Eastern papers are more contemplative, focusing on the impact that this election could have throughout the region.

The early Australian press and the Middle Eastern 'other'

In recent years, and particularly since the events of September 11 2001 and the subsequent “War on Terror”, much scholarly attention has been paid to the Australian news media’s role in stereotyping, homogenising, victimising and demonising people of Middle Eastern descent or of the Islamic faith. However, contemporary Australian journalists have not so much invented the tropes and stereotypes that they have used to construct this negative image and limited discursive field, as they have invoked a rich tapestry of pre-existing notions about the non-Western world. This paper therefore seeks to investigate the relationship between Edward Said’s notion of Orientalism and the Australian press of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Beginning with its deplorable coverage of Australia’s Indigenous people and the paranoia surrounding the “Asian Invasion” this paper sheds new light on the coverage of Islam and the Middle East in the early Australian press and the emergence of the “Muslim Menace”. Finally, this chapter concludes by noting that such a racialist history raises a host of questions and challenges for the contemporary Australian news media.

Media discourse and Iraq's democratisation : reporting the 2005 constitution in the Australian and Middle Eastern print media

This paper analyses in detail the coverage of two milestones in Iraq's shift towards democracy: the drafting and approval of the constitution by Iraq s interim government (August 2005) and the ratification of this constitution via the Iraqi polls (October 2005). Aside from some rudimentary quantitative analysis, a critical discourse analysis method is utilised to compare and contrast the discursive practices used in three of Australia s leading daily newspapers (The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age) with three Middle Eastern English-language papers (The Daily Star, Anadolu Agency and the Jordan Times). The paper finds that the Australian print media continues the neo-Orientalist tradition of media coverage of Middle Eastern democracy, while the Middle Eastern press eschews these discourses in favour of a more open, varied debate on Iraq s constitution and the future of democracy across the region.

Sustaining regional environmental NGOs in Latin America and Eastern Europe : considering the experience of the FARN and the REC

Democratisation presents opportunities and threats to non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Greater openness associated with democratic regimes provides opportunities for participation and influence not previously available. At the same time, increasing state capacity may threaten the continued relevance of NGOs. The article examines the Environment and Natural Resources Foundation (FARN) of Argentina and the Regional Environmental Center (REC) of eastern Europe to assess environmental support organisations in post-authoritarian contexts. The aims of the article are to identify opportunities and threats to environmental support organisations and to examine the strategies they adopt to advance their interests and achieve their goals.

Implementation of diabetes prevention programs in rural areas : Montana and south-eastern Australia compared

Objective: To identify the key elements that enabled the Greater Green Triangle Diabetes Prevention Project (GGT DPP) and the Montana Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes Prevention (CDDP) programs successful establishment and implementation in rural areas, as well as identifying specific challenges or barriers for implementation in rural communities.
Methods: Focus groups were held with the facilitators who delivered the GGT DPP in Australia and the Montana CDDP programs in the USA. Interview questions covered the facilitators’ experiences with recruitment, establishing the program, the components and influence of rurality on the program, barriers and challenges to delivering the program, attributes of successful participants, and the influence of community resources and partnerships on the programs.
Results: Four main themes emerged from the focus groups: establishing and implementing the diabetes prevention program in the community; strategies for recruitment and retention of participants; what works in lifestyle intervention programs; and rural-centred issues.
Conclusions: The results from this study have assisted in determining the factors that contribute to developing, establishing and implementing successful diabetes prevention programs in two rural areas. Recommendations to increase the likelihood of success of programs in rural communities include: securing funding early for the program; establishing support from community leaders and developing positive relationships with health care providers; creating a professional team with passion for the program; encouraging participants to celebrate their small and big successes; and developing procedures for providing post-intervention support to help participants maintain their success.

Late Middle Permian (Guadalupian) fusuline fauna from the Gyanyima area of Burang County, Tibet, China and its paleobiogeographic implications

Numerous Permian limestone blocks exposed along the Yarlung-Zangbo Suture Zone have been named Tibetan facies exotic limestone blocks or Chitichun-type Permian deposits.The Gyanyima limestone block,one of those limestone blocks,is located in Burang County,southwestern Tibet.Fusulines are abundant in the Gyanyima limestone block especially for Middle Permian Xilanta Formation.The fusuline fauna comprises 10 genera,respectively Neoschwagerina, Yangchienia, Armenina, Verbeekina, Paraverbeekina, Kahlerina, Lantschichites, Codonofusiella,Chusenella, Nankinella.This fauna indicates a Midian age(Late Guadalupian or Lengwuan age of South China) in terms of the coexistence of Kahlerina, Lantschichites, Codonofusiella and Neoschwagerina.

Discovery of Ordovician-Devonian strata in the south of the Qiangtang area, Tibet

Low-grade metamorphic rocks are exposed extensively in the Qiangtang area, Tibet. There is a great dispute about the age of the strata because of no reliable fossil evidence and other chronological evidence. Cephalopods, crinoids, graptolites and tentaculites fossils are discovered at Tashi Hill north of Gangtang Co. Primary identification indicates that the cephalopod is Sinoceras,Michelinoceras, Wennanoceras, Archigeisonoceras etc. and the crinoid is Monograptus. The Sinoceras-Michelinoceras assemblage is the key fossil assemblage of Mid Ordovician Baotaan age, which reflects the Mid Ordovician aspects. There are several tens of meters of fossil-free clastic rocks below the Mid Ordovician cephalopod-bearing horizon, which are probably Ordovician sediments. The discovery of Ordovician-Devonian biotas and strata provide new important evidence for the stratigraphic division and correlation and the study of the tectonic evolution of the Qiangtang area.

Ordovician nautiloid fossils of Xainza region, Tibet

The Taerma bridge-Zhakang in the Xainza area is the second spot of Ordovician in northern Tibet based on the discovery of some reliable fossils. The strata contain a large amount of fossils of many taxa, which developed well enough to attain reliable support for era and distinctive boundary. It is the best spot for the fossil study of the Ordovician in the northern Tibet up to now and provides important clues to the classification and correlation of the Ordovician and to the paleogeography distribution as well as to the tectonic evolution of the northern Tibet. 29 species of Nautiloid fossils, which belong to 3 orders, 8 families and 15 genera, have been identified. Among them,3 genera and 9 species are new. Here only one new genus Eneoceras gen. nov. and six new species are described in detail as example. Other two new genera Taremaocera's and Variabioceras will be described in other papers.Genus Eneoceras gen.nov.Diagnosis:The new genus Eneoceras gen. nov. is characterized by the features as “Conch orthoconic, medium in size. The surface is decorated with annulus which array in a distance as the septa. Conch enlarging slowly. Compressed laterally. Circular in cross section. Siphuncle small, situated central from ventral in position. Spetal neck subcyrtochoanitic. Slightly expanded in connecting rings. Siphuncle appears as a string of beads with thin parietal deposits in it. Medium in spetal density. Thin epithecal and hypothecal deposits developed in cameras

The Carboniferous and Permian sequences in north and south of the Longmucuo-Shuanghu suture zone in Tibet

The location of the Palaeo-tethys suture in Tibet has been in great dispute for past two decades. The Longmucuo-Shuanghu suture has long been considered as the Palaeo-tethys in Tibet. Restudy of the Carboniferous and Permian sequences in the north and south of this suture reveal that: (1) the Carboniferous and Permian sequence of the North Qiangtang Block is characterized by containing compound corals and intact fusulinids zones from Moscovian Fusulinella, Fusulina to Changhsingian Palaeofusulina zones; (2) the Early Permian of the South Qiangtang Block is

Discovery of early paleozoic strata in south of Qiangtang, Northern Tibet and its significance

Due to the lack of fossil evidence, the age of Amugang Group, previously referring to the large area of metamorphic formations developed along the south of Longmucuo-Shuanghu suture in southern Qiangtang area, northern Tibet, has been under heated debate. Some geologists were convinced that the age of metamorphic formations was of Pre-Devonian according to the emergence of nonmetamorphic fossil-beating Devonian in Chasang area, north of the suture. Most geologists believed that its age was of Pre-Sinian. From 2003 to 2004, we collected a large amount of Nautiloid and Graptolite fossils in upper metamorphic formations of Mayigangri area and determined the age to be middle and Late Ordovician-Silurian. It is the first time to discover the Early Paleozoic strata based on reliable fossils, which not only provides evidence to its age ascription, classification of the strata and its correlation to adjacent areas but also offers data to lithofacies, palaeogeography and tectonic pattern of studied area.