Australian news media needs to be much more diverse if it's to represent the country's multilingual communities, new research has found.
The study, titled Sense of Belonging Among Multilingual Audiences in Australia, also found that proficiency and confidence in English was important for people to feel connected to the nation.
Professorial research fellow at the News and Media Research Centre at the University of Canberra Sora Park said Australia was a multicultural country where a third of people were born overseas, a country of many languages.
"It's very important for people from different cultural backgrounds to have news provided in a language that they're comfortable with," she said.
"It could be English or other languages. But it should cover the news about Australia and their local community, not about international affairs."
Professor Park conducted research with her team in collaboration with the broadcaster SBS.
The research suggests how the media could help diverse communities get involved in wider Australian society.
The research gives suggestions for new migrants.
Hire more diverse staff
Professor Park recommended news media companies hire more employees who have diverse cultural backgrounds because people tend to deal with what they are familiar with.
"If they diversify their news sources and journalists, it would make it much easier to diversify whom they interview, what languages they use, what affairs they cover," she said.
According to the research, people who feel their language or cultural community is represented in news tend to trust the news more than those who do not.
Representation and trustworthiness are the main factors that affect the sense of belonging.
Shengnan Yao, a research assistant at the research centre, found a lack of representation of culturally and linguistically diverse communities, despite there being some progress in recent years.
The 27-year-old PhD student said that it was hard for her to read local news when she first came here.
"When I first came here in 2017, I had to rely on the community news media which are produced or translated by community members," she said.
"Due to the capacity of the organisation, I think most of the news translations are done by AI. It's not very smooth to read. Also, the topic coverage is limited."
Be confident in English
Professor Park said that she saw many students who sometimes lacked confidence even though they had good English skills.
"I have lots of PhD students from overseas. It's not the proficiency that matters so much, but it's the confidence," she said.
"Although they understand English, speak English, and write English, they are not confident sometimes."
The research found that people who had proficient English felt more of a sense of belonging than those who didn't. However, it also found that confidence in English was every bit as important as proficiency.
Ms Yao said she lost confidence when she was exposed to areas she was not familiar with.
"I have been living here for six years. I am confident to talk to people, and make new friends," she said
"But, when I am in situations that require me to use professional terminologies, I lose confidence.
"For instance, when I see a doctor or get some legal advice about properties, it is hard for me to understand their terms.
"Even when I learn the topics that I am not familiar with in the university, I also lose my confidence."
Get to know Australian culture and history
Professor Park, who has a Korean background, also encouraged new migrants to learn Australian culture and history.
She has moved around from Korea to England, the US, and Australia since she was six. In her experience, she has found that knowing the culture and history is important to mingle with new people in a new country.
"I found cultural differences and I wouldn't know the history as well, which I am learning every day.
"They are the other barriers that migrants will experience. Knowing them will help them a lot to settle in Australia fast."
Ms Yao has also tried to know Australian culture and history to mingle with local people.
She said it was hard for her to understand jokes based on Australian culture or talk about popular topics.
"Culture comes from traditional values and history. I think it's important for newcomers to learn about Australian culture and history to be connected with Australian society," Ms Yao said.
She recommended newcomers to go to museums and cultural events and make local friends.
