Canadian Media Research Articles

The polarized “naturalizations” of the 2022 Freedom Convoy

During the month-long “Freedom Convoy” protest in Ottawa (Canada), protesters were ascribed many attributes (violent, extremist, hateful, disinformed) which they refuted. Protest organizers insisted the Freedom Convoy was peaceful, loving, and included “average Canadian citizens fighting for freedom”. This research is interested in the construction of this representational divide and its consequences. It analyzes the polarized social representations of the COVID-19 Freedom Convoy by using social representation theory, and more specifically, Negura and Plante’s model of “naturalization”. News articles (n = 516) from Canadian media and Freedom Convoy organizers’ Facebook posts (n = 611) were submitted to a rhetorical frame analysis. Results show how communications from organizers and the media both contributed to the naturalization of conflicting representations by (1) associating the movement with a desirable/undesirable identity, (2) neglecting nuanced perspectives, (3) instrumentalizing their representation to justify the legitimacy/illegitimacy of the protest, and (4) validating the representation by focusing on incidents that ratified the Freedom Convoy’s “goodness” or “badness”. We argue that this single protest became two opposed and morally charged “objects” impossible to reconcile, which prevented dialogue. Social implications of polarized naturalizations during epidemics are discussed.

The ‘Media Party’

Far-right media networks regularly engage in media criticism to undermine the legitimacy of mainstream news. These media critiques work to challenge the authority and power of mainstream news while establishing far-right media as journalistically superior. While constructive media criticism is necessary within any society, far-right news tends to frame mainstream media as an elitist and exclusionary institution that purposefully spreads misinformation to its users. In Canada, numerous far-right media sites have emerged over the past decade but have been relatively under-examined within the literature. In this context, my paper analyzes the types of critiques Canadian far-right media use to question the legitimacy of mainstream Canadian news. The study uses qualitative analysis to examine 65 articles published by two Canadian far-right media outlets, Rebel News and True North. Guided by previous literature surrounding far-right media critiques, I identify four commonly used critiques that the Canadian far-right media employ; the Media Party position, the Disinformation position, the Citizen/Taxpayer position, and the Expert position. Through my analysis, I argue that Canadian far-right media employs these specific strategies of criticism to present their discourse as authoritative over legacy media in Canada.

Media Discourse Regarding COVID-19 Vaccinations for Children Aged 5 to 11 Years in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States: Comparative Analysis Using the Narrative Policy Framework.

Media narratives can shape public opinion and actions, influencing the uptake of pediatric COVID-19 vaccines. The COVID-19 pandemic has occurred at a time where infodemics, misinformation, and disinformation are present, impacting the COVID-19 response. This study aims to investigate how narratives about pediatric COVID-19 vaccines in the media of 4 English-speaking countries: the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The Narrative Policy Framework was used to guide the comparative analyses of the major print and web-based news agencies' media regarding COVID-19 vaccines for children aged 5 to 11 years. Data were sought using systematic searching on Factiva (Dow Jones) of 4 key phases of pediatric vaccine approval and rollout. A total of 400 articles (n=287, 71.8% in the United States, n=40, 10% in Australia, n=60, 15% in Canada, and n=13, 3% in the United Kingdom) met the search criteria and were included. Using the Narrative Policy Framework, the following were identified in each article: hero, villain, survivor, and plot. The United States was the earliest country to vaccinate children, and other countries' media often lauded the United States for this. Australian and Canadian media narratives about vaccines for children aged 5 to 11 years were commonly about protecting susceptible people in society, whereas the US and the UK narratives focused more on the vaccine helping children return to school. All 4 countries focused on the vaccines for children aged 5 to 11 years as being key to "ending" the pandemic. Australian and Canadian narratives frequently compared vaccine rollouts across states or provinces and bemoaned local progress in vaccine delivery compared with other countries globally. Canadian and US narratives highlighted the "infodemic" about the COVID-19 pandemic and disinformation regarding child vaccines as impeding uptake. All 4 countries-the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada-used war imagery in reporting about COVID-19 vaccines for children. The advent of the Omicron variant demonstrated that populations were fatigued by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the media reporting increasingly blamed the unvaccinated. The UK media narrative was unique in describing vaccinating children as a distraction from adult COVID-19 vaccination efforts. The United States and Canada had narratives expressing anger about potential vaccine passports for children. In Australia, general practitioners were labelled as heroes. Finally, the Canadian narrative suggested altruistic forgoing of COVID-19 vaccine "boosters" as well as pediatric COVID-19 vaccines to benefit those in poorer nations. Public health emergencies require clear; compelling and accurate communication. The stories told during this pandemic are compelling because they contain the classic elements of a narrative; however, they can be reductive and inaccurate.

Beach day or deadly heatwave? Content analysis of media images from the 2021 Heat Dome in Canada

AbstractDuring extreme heat events (EHEs) the public often learns about health protective actions through the media. Visual news coverage can act as a powerful tool to help convey complex health protective actions to the public. Despite the importance of images in helping the public understand the risk, there has been no systematic analysis to assess what images have been used by media outlets in Canada during EHEs. This paper helps to fill that gap by analyzing how the Canadian media visually communicated the risks of extreme heat to the public during the unprecedented 2021 Heat Dome. A review of thousands of online news media articles published about the 2021 Heat Dome in Canada was conducted on five subscription news databases. Overall, 845 images were coded to identify denotative, connotative, and ideological content. Only 16% of these published images implied that heat was dangerous, of which only 40% depicted people, and 46% implied human suffering. Our findings demonstrate that the majority of images used in Canadian news coverage on the 2021 Heat Dome are incompatible with, and frequently contradict, evidence-based heat protective actions. Governments, public health agencies, and other stakeholders engaged in distributing heat preparedness messaging (e.g., journalists) should prioritize improving the images of extreme heat in news coverage to align with evidence-based public health messages. With rising global temperatures due to climate change and the associated increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme heat events, prioritizing these actions is critically important to offset the threat posed to public health.

Letters from Exile: Canadian Media, the Romanian Diaspora, and the Legionary Movement

This article traces the post-Second World War immigration of Romanians to Canada, and addresses themes of self-identification versus outside perception, national identity, and myth-making in the Romanian-Canadian community. It subsequently documents the scrutiny faced by the Romanian diaspora for supposed links to the interwar Romanian far-right Legionary Movement. Beginning in the 1950s, Romanian exiles in Canada forged their own community organizations, churches, and media, in which a unique synthesis of national identity and far-right politics was promoted, placing these new immigrants at the center of intracommunity and inter-ethnic conflict. Following the release of the Deschênes Report on war criminals living in Canada in 1986, as well as a series of unsolved terrorist attacks, Romanian-Canadians were subject to investigations by the mainstream Canadian media for potential involvement in far-right organizing. In the years since the collapse of state socialism in Eastern Europe, significant strands of the Romanian diaspora in Canada have continued to embrace historical figures of the Legionary Movement, synthesizing a diaspora identity flavored by anticommunism, radical right politics, and (ultra-) nationalism well into the post-communist period.

Reframing a community in crisis: an Intersectional discourse analysis of media responses to state of emergency declarations in Attawapiskat

ABSTRACT During the height of the Idle No More movement over the winter of 2012–2013, then Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence undertook a ceremonial fast, widely framed by the mainstream Canadian media as a hunger strike. This event responded to a housing related State of Emergency declaration in her community. During the cold Canadian winter, for six-weeks Chief Spence survived on medicinal fish broth and tea while catalyzing unprecedented social mobilization. Her actions sparked dialogue about the failures of the Canadian government and the general public to understand and uphold treaty relations. From an interpretive critical policy studies perspective, this paper presents an intersectional discourse analysis of mainstream coverage of her community and highlights themes of crisis, accountability and blame. In doing so, this paper seeks to interrupt these hegemonic frames with an account alternative counterstories grounded in community voices. Drawing upon interpretive policy analysis this paper argues that these predominant frames misrepresented Spence’s core request: a revitalized dialogue about treaty relations. Spence’s story and the voices of community-members speak back to and intervene upon the colonial status quo in Canada. This paper presents some insights and lessons learned for critical policy studies based on counterstories articulated in a community-engaged mixed media storytelling research project entitled Reimagining Attawapiskat.

Bad Blood: Serial Killers, True Crime, and the Racial Imaginary in Shadow of a Doubt

Concepts of racial identity and parentage played an important role in Canadian media coverage of the 1927 case of Earle Nelson, a well-publicized true crime story that was adapted into Hitchcock’s 1943 film Shadow of a Doubt. Nelson, known as the Dark Strangler, was identified as the killer of over twenty women in the United States before crossing the border into Canada, where he was captured, tried, and hanged. The evidence presented in Winnipeg in the Dark Strangler case centred on his physicality as a man perceived as mixed race. The narrative around Nelson, which was circulated several times in true crime magazines after his death, found its most famous outlet in the Hitchcock film based on the Dark Strangler case, Shadow of a Doubt. In Hitchcock’s film, the question of racial and familial identity raises its head in disquieting relationships between a mother and daughter and their serial killer relative. By examining the film through true crime paratexts, in this paper I explore how Shadow of a Doubt made taboos around illegitimacy and race visible for audiences of the 1940s.

Representing the Underrepresented

In recent years, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) has bolstered its diversity efforts, and in 2021 they announced a new equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) plan to be implemented through 2025, designed to better serve underrepresented groups in Canadian media. Throughout the past decade, CBC has made multiple efforts to increase EDI practices throughout its organization. However, scholarship has identified the limitations of previous policies in making a meaningful impact, and research documenting the underrepresentation of diverse groups in Canadian news media is almost non-existent. The objective of this study is to acquire a deeper understanding of how CBC News programming reflects Canada’s current cultural diversity by studying how diverse groups are represented in CBC News programming. To measure this, a two-week content analysis of written and televised CBC News was conducted, which explored and categorized emergent themes in the representation of diverse Canadians and the journalists who cover diverse stories. The data revealed CBC's extensive coverage of Indigenous communities and a commitment to empowering diverse journalists with the opportunity to tell such stories about the communities to which they belong. To further investigate the latter phenomenon, a discourse analysis of diverse stories written by self-identifying journalists was conducted. This section highlighted how self-identifying journalists incorporate personal experience to tell more impactful stories about the communities they identify with. Finally, this report illuminates potential oversights in CBC’s coverage of underrepresented groups in news media. This report encourages CBC to conduct an internal organizational review to evaluate how they can improve news coverage of underrepresented groups before the conclusion of their current EDI plan in 2026, suggesting the continued empowerment of self-identifying journalists and including more diverse perspectives into the newsfeed as potential solutions.

The portrayal of food marketing policy by Canadian news media

ABSTRACT Unhealthy food marketing influences children’s food preferences, intake and rates of obesity. Currently, there is no mandatory national food marketing policy that restricts food marketing to youth in Canada. Little is known about the effects news media may have on the policy process with regard to food marketing. This study aimed to investigate how the Canadian media portrays the issue of food marketing policy, what perspectives are being framed, and who is being quoted. An article search of Canadian news sources on the databases Eureka and Factiva was conducted for the period 1 November 2015 and 1 November 2021. Sixty-five unique news articles on food marketing regulation were identified and a content analysis of each was conducted. The majority of news articles on food marketing regulation framed the topic around health (e.g. obesity, poor dietary intake) and lack of regulation. Food marketing regulation was identified as a solution to the problem in nearly all articles analyzed and was presented positively in 64.6% of articles. Few harms of marketing regulation were identified, while the two main benefits observed were reduced child obesity rates and exposure to food marketing. This study emphasizes the agenda-setting role of news media that were supportive of promoting public health goals. The Canadian media positively promotes government regulation of unhealthy food marketing.

Polarizing figures of resistance during epidemics. A comparative frame analysis of the COVID-19 freedom convoy

ABSTRACT Using the 2022 Freedom Convoy in Canada as a case study, this article explores divisions between public understanding of resistance to health measures during epidemics and oppositional movements’ self-representations. It derives from a comparative analysis of five mainstream Canadian media (n = 516 publications) and of the Freedom Convoy’s Facebook page (n = 611 posts). The data were submitted to a rhetorical frame analysis and a thematic analysis, each factoring in a temporal dimension. Results show how this movement formed around a specific pandemic policy restrictions became increasingly understood from a binary logic concerning questions of identity. Protesters’ experience and analysis of COVID-19 mandates became peripheral in media and social media content, as the focus was instead placed on who was and was not acceptable in Canadian society. Results show that a dialogic relation between the frames used in Canadian mass media and in Facebook posts constructed increasingly dichotomous identities. The social implications of polarizing a political conflict around public health policies are discussed.

Science virale : comment la COVID-19 a changé la représentation médiatique de la science

Background: Media representations of science have changed little over the past few decades, despite numerous calls for their enrichment. Analysis: The shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has changed how the media represent science. This computational analysis of two large samples (news articles and Facebook posts) from French language news media in Canada describes and quantifies these changes. Conclusions and implications: Science has been more present in the media. It has generated more public interactions. It has become more associated with political regulation and more explicitly uncertain. Indeed, the authors measure a 20 to 25 percent shift on these variables.

Working under the 2021 Heat Dome: A Content Analysis of Occupational Impacts Mentioned in the Canadian Media.

Extreme heat events directly impact worker health and cause additional cascading and transitional workplace impacts. However, current investigations on these impacts often rely on specific datasets (e.g., compensation claims, hospitalizations). Thus, to continue to work towards preventing and mitigating the occupational risks posed by extreme heat events, this study aimed to explore the occupational impacts of the 2021 Heat Dome in Canada using a qualitative content analysis method on a news-based dataset. A systematized review of news articles published before, during, and after the 2021 Heat Dome was conducted on academic (n = 8) and news (n = 5) databases, along with targeted grey literature. Two researchers qualitatively coded the articles in NVivo for occupational impacts or references mentioned within the articles. Overall, 52 different occupations were identified as being impacted by the 2021 Heat Dome. Impacts were diverse and ranged from work cancellations or delays to work modifications and reports of heat-related illnesses. The 2021 Heat Dome impacted the health and safety of many occupational groups and provided new insights into the expanding impacts that extreme heat events can have on the Canadian workforce. With climate projections showing a growing trend of more hot days and intense heat waves in Canada, addressing these concerns should be a critical priority.

Douglas Mastriano Scandal

This case study looks at how a fraudulent PhD thesis from a Canadian university became entangled in US politics, attracting US and Canadian media attention. In 2013, Douglas Mastriano, a US Army colonel, was granted a History PhD from the University of New Brunswick (UNB) under unusual circumstances. A thesis committee member was removed without his consent, then informed by UNB that the thesis had been approved over his strong objections. UNB declared a 17-year-long embargo on public access to Mastriano’s thesis (it later admitted that its rules limit thesis embargoes to 4 years). In 2014, Mastriano published a book based on his thesis. Respected historians found multiple instances of academic fraud in it, including falsification of archival information. Scholars who requested access to Mastriano’s thesis were rebuffed by UNB. There matters might have rested. However, in November 2022 Douglas Mastriano ran for Governor of Pennsylvania. A Donald Trump supporter and participant in the Jan. 6, 2021 US Capitol invasion, he often cited his PhD from UNB during his campaign. Under media pressure, UNB released his thesis in October 2022. So far, 213 cases of serious academic fraud have been found in it. Before November 2022, UNB promised that “two independent investigators” would investigate Mastriano’s 2013 thesis and the 17-year-embargo on access to it. Subsequently, UNB has walked back that promise. Attendees will learn about the practical and ethical issues faced by a Canadian university when an old case of academic fraud unexpectedly becomes a source of controversy in the media.

Against the Frame: Local Media Coverage of Ontario’s Basic Income Pilot

Abstract The 2017–2018 basic income pilot in the Canadian province of Ontario attempted to alleviate poverty in a precarious economy. With three communities participating, we examine how the pilot was framed by local media, permitting a look at the narratives that were dominant in the participating communities. In essence, were recipients framed as “deserving?” How the media addresses this question can set the foundation for whether policymakers can proceed with basic income. Given that media coverage of poverty alleviation in the United States generally follows an episodic frame, which puts focus on individuals and their particular circumstances (i.e. lifestyle choices), while major Canadian media generally shows a mix of frames, results of a media content analysis at the local level shows basic-income pilot was covered mainly through thematic frames, which emphasizes systemic factors and more general social conditions, which support state action on basic income.

WU CHENG’EN’S NOVEL “JOURNEY TO THE WEST” AND ITS RESOURCES FOR ANIMATED ADAPTATIONS

This article explores the potential for producing animated movies based on the Chinese classic novel «Journey to the West». The author traces the evolution of the plot and characterizes the main features of the famous literary work, the adaptation of which was repeatedly used not only by Chinese, but also by Japanese, Korean and other animators. Over the years and centuries, the pilgrimage of the Tang monk and his companions to India in search of the sacred sutras has evolved from historical accounts to folklore tales, and eventually to plays, after which the journey has become the subject of several novels by different authors, with Wu Chen’en’s novel being the most renowned classic. And it is the very process of turning a real story and real people into a legend, a myth, geographical movement and physical travel into a metaphysical path, followed by characters whose image goes back to ancient archetypes that made the novel so popular during different centuries and in different countries. Furthermore, the article highlights the distinctive features of the novel that make it particularly suitable for adaptation through animation. Unlike written art, visual art can directly incorporate the images and forms of various folk art forms such as folk painting, sculpture, popular print, shadow theatre, Peking Opera, and traditional painting. Chinese animation based on the novel has successfully utilized these art forms. Additionally, one should consider the genre of the novel, which is rooted in the collective unconsciousness and rich in formal, plot, and thematic elements. As noted by Russian philologist and semiotician J. Lotman, animated cinema is the most appropriate means for adapting fantastic stories. At the same time, Wu Chen’en’s novel «Journey to the West» has the value of not only a national cultural heritage, but also a global one. The author notes the important idea of the Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan about the relevance in the information society of the Chinese way of thinking with its idea of a net world and a net person. Animated films based on the plots of «Journey to the West», can effectively broadcast the values of the Chinese worldview and mentality and thereby contribute to the mankind’s response to the challenges of the time.

Fran O’Rourke’s Joyce, Aristotle, and Aquinas

In my review, I highlight the Irish philosopher and singer Fran O’Rourke’s new massively learned and massively researched and admirably lucid 2022 book Joyce, Aristotle, and Aquinas. However, I discuss his account of Western philosophy in the larger conceptual framework of media ecology by drawing on the work of the Canadian Renaissance specialist and media ecology theorist Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980; Ph.D. in English, Cambridge University, 1943), the American Jesuit Renaissance specialist and media ecology theorist Walter J. Ong (1912-2003; Ph.D. in English, Harvard University, 1955), and the American-born Joyce specialist and media ecology theorist Eric McLuhan (1942-2018; Ph.D. in English, University of Dallas, 1982).

Contextualizing Marshall McLuhan

My thesis is that the Canadian Renaissance specialist and media ecology theorist and Catholic convert Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980; Ph.D. in English, Cambridge University, 1943) is an analogist. McLuhan himself developed the thesis that the Victorian Jesuit poet and Catholic convert Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) is an analogist in his 1944 article “The Analogical Mirrors,” using Hopkins’ poem “The Windover” to discuss the analogical mirrors. Because I claim that McLuhan is an analogist, I explore that broader context of analogical thought in Western cultural history. In addition, I suggest that McLuhan himself might also be characterized as a practical mystic which is how he himself characterizes G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936) in his 1934 article “G. K. Chesterton: A Practical Mystic.”

Discourses of Fear in Online News Media: Implications for Perceived Risk of Travel

This paper analyzes the role of Canadian online news media in framing travel during the pandemic. The article applies Altheide’s concept of the problem frame to reflect how news media contribute to the emergence of a highly rationalized problem that, in turn, generates a discourse of fear. While the impacts of COVID-19 on tourism have been extensively examined within tourism scholarship, less attention has been devoted to the impact of news media. Because travel and the pandemic are heavily intertwined, discourse analysis can help process media narratives, furthering our understanding of their role in influencing perceived risk of travel. A critical discourse analysis of over 100 online news articles was conducted using thematic analysis to uncover themes in Canadian media sources and to explore how the media have framed travel during the pandemic. The role of online news media in promoting fear was communicated through the themes of anxiety, antitrust, avoidance, and animosity. The role of the media in producing the problem frame in the context of travel was examined as well as its implications for perceived travel risk and tourism demand. The power dynamics between media, government, and the citizens it serves are also discussed.

Nursing Home Residents' Use of Radiography in New Brunswick: A Case for Mobile Radiography?

Identifying ways to eliminate unnecessary transfer of nursing home (NH) residents to hospitals provides an opportunity to improve outcomes and use scarce healthcare resources more efficiently. This study's goal was to better understand where NH residents access X-ray (XR) and computed tomography (CT) scans and to determine if there was a case for mobile radiography policies in New Brunswick. A retrospective analysis of all the visits to the emergency department (ED) and outpatient imaging departments in two hospitals in Saint John, New Brunswick, in 2020, that involved XR or CT investigations was conducted. There were 521 visits by 311 unique NH residents and 920 investigations (688 XR and 232 CT scans). Most investigations were ordered in the ED (696 of 920; 75.6%; confidence interval: 72.8-78.3%). Of the NH residents who visited the ED and received either an XR or a CT scan, 33.2% received only XR imaging and were discharged back to the NH after a mean ED stay of 5.15 hours. The pattern of NH residents' use of the ED for their imaging needs supports the creation of mobile XR policies to deliver more safe and efficient care in a Canadian medium population urban centre.

Italians and Media in Canada: An Historical Perspective

Italians and Media in Canada: An Historical Perspective