Ethnic Print Media in Australia: Il Globo in the 1980s

This paper investigates the content of the editorial commentary in the Melbourne-based commercial Italian-language newspaper Il Globo from 1979 to 1989 and argues that throughout the period under examination it consistently maintained a proactive role for, and on behalf of, the Italo-Australian community. A longitudinal study on selected editorials written by then editor-in-chief Nino Randazzo shows that the newspaper lobbied relevant authorities and Australian governments alike on issues that mattered most to the Italian community, especially those related to domestic politics, migrant settlement and immigration. Using a content analysis methodology, the editorials were categorised into commonly emerging themes, highlighting the extent to which the newspaper commented on issues that affected the rapidly changing Italo-Australian community which experienced an important demographic shift from being predominantly Italian-born to increasingly Australian-born.