You are either with us or with us: Constructing Samoan national identity through inclusion at the Samoa Observer

Abstract

This study will concentrate on the weight of research, which suggests that the exclusion/inclusion of others is central to the formation of a national identity in news content. Drawing from this review, this research will then truncate the exclusion/inclusion metanarrative research into four posited micronarratives. News content from Samoa, New Zealand and Australia will then be examined according to these micronarratives and discussed in relation to previous research that has examined national identity and journalism. This study does not aim to create an indigenous epistemological framework for deconstructing identity. However, this research will conclude by advocating a closer inspection of widely held Western conceptions of identity construction through media representation.