COVID-19 stigma, Australia and slow violence: An analysis of 21 months of COVID news reporting

Abstract

Throughout the peak periods of Australia's COVID-19 pandemic experience of 2020–2021, some lower socioeconomic areas with high migrant populations in Sydney and Melbourne were subjected to strict lockdown enforcement that included heavy police surveillance not experienced in the more affluent areas of these cities. Analysis of four major newspapers' COVID-19 coverage from January 2020 to September 2021 reveals their reporting focussed on aspects of individual behaviour that inferred people from lower socioeconomic areas had a heightened risk of exposure to COVID-19. We argue this media portrayal of severe lockdowns and policing measures played a prominent role in exacerbating previously existing stigma as it compounded the stigma levelled at those communities. It further contributed to an “us and them” mentality that aligned with persistent structural inequality to compound existing stigma to develop a slow violence of COVID-19-related stigma. The lens of slow violence allows us to track incremental stigmatising processes, often imperceptible when viewed in isolation. Axiomatic violence adds a complementary perspective to slow violence, highlighting the role of crisis and disciplinary behaviours in embedding structural violence into the social norms of daily life.