‘We need engineers, not Russian brides’: Cultural stereotypes in New Zealand print media and what the engineers have to say

ABSTRACTWhen members of ethnic groups migrate to New Zealand, they do not expect to encounter any preconceived perception of themselves in their new country. However, international research suggests that immigrants do not arrive into a cultural vacuum. Instead they frequently find themselves placed into specific categories or ‘boxes’ based on perceptions already existing in the receiving society. Mass media have been implicated in creating and recycling the unfavourable images and negative stereotypes of different minority groups. This research engages the critical discourse analysis framework to investigate whether particular media representations influence immigrants’ understanding of how they are seen by the host population. The first study analyses the media strategies in constructions of Russian immigrants in New Zealand press over the period from July 1995 till December 2007. The analysis demonstrates the prevalence of negative images and humiliating stereotypes resulting in an inferior and deviant ...