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Flashbulb memories (FBMs) refer to vivid and long-lasting autobiographical memories for the circumstances in which people learned of a shocking and consequential public event. A cross-national study across eleven countries aimed to investigate FBM formation following the first COVID-19 case news in each country and test the effect of pandemic-related variables on FBM. Participants had detailed memories of the date and others present when they heard the news, and had partially detailed memories of the place, activity, and news source. China had the highest FBM specificity. All countries considered the COVID-19 emergency as highly significant at both the individual and global level. The Classification and Regression Tree Analysis revealed that FBM specificity might be influenced by participants' age, subjective severity (assessment of COVID-19 impact in each country and relative to others), residing in an area with stringent COVID-19 protection measures, and expecting the pandemic effects. Hierarchical regression models demonstrated that age and subjective severity negatively predicted FBM specificity, whereas sex, pandemic impact expectedness, and rehearsal showed positive associations in the total sample. Subjective severity negatively affected FBM specificity in Turkey, whereas pandemic impact expectedness positively influenced FBM specificity in China and negatively in Denmark. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigated factors associated with parent awareness and socialization surrounding COVID-19-related racial disparities among White parents of children ages 1.5–8 living in Canada and the United States (N = 423, 88% mothers). Participants responded to an online survey about parenting during the pandemic between mid to late-April 2020. Participants reported on their level of awareness of COVID-19-related racial disparities as well as how often they discussed these with their children. Although 52% reported some level of awareness, only 34% reported any amount of discussion with their child about it. Regression models were used to further examine stress-related, socioeconomic, parenting, and news-watching associations with awareness and socialization. This study provides unique insight into which White parents are aware of racial inequities exposed by the pandemic and which are choosing to speak to their children about them. Current summary recommendations for White racial socialization and related research are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing overdose and drug toxicity crisis in North America has contributed momentum to the emergence of safer supply prescribing and programs in Canada as a means of providing an alternative to the highly volatile unregulated drug supply. The implementation and scale-up of safer supply have been met with a vocal reaction on the part of news media commentators, conservative politicians, recovery industry representatives, and some prominent addiction medicine physicians. This reaction has largely converged around several narratives, based on unsubstantiated claims and anecdotal evidence, alleging that safer supply programs are generating a "new opioid epidemic", reflecting an emerging alignment among key institutional and political actors. Employing situational analysis method, and drawing on the policy studies and social science scholarship on moral panics, this essay examines news media coverage from January to July 2023, bringing this into dialogue with other existing empirical sources on safer supply (e.g. Coroner's reports, program evaluations, debates among experts in medical journals). We employ eight previously established criteria delineating moral panics to critically appraise public dialogue regarding safer supply, diverted medication, and claims of increased youth initiation to drug use and youth overdose. In detailing the emergence of a moral panic regarding safer supply, we trace historic continuities with earlier drug scares in Canadian history mobilized as tools of racialized poverty governance, as well as previous backlashes towards healthcare interventions for people who use drugs (PWUD). The essay assesses the claims of moral entrepreneurs against the current landscape of opioid use, diversion, and overdose among youth, notes the key role played by medical expertise in this and previous moral panics, and identifies what the convergence of these narratives materialize for PWUD and healthcare access, as well as the broader policy responses such narratives activate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) is a neurosurgical intervention to reduce spasticity in children with cerebral palsy. Parents researching SDR for their child may be influenced by framing of SDR in news media articles they read. This study examined framing of SDR in English‐language news media. Methods: Content analysis of English‐language news media articles including the search term 'rhizotomy' in the Factiva database published July 2015 to July 2018 in online or print form in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, United States of America and the United Kingdom. Results: One hundred and eighty‐six articles were identified describing 91 different children (45 male), almost all with cerebral palsy, median age 4 years old. One hundred and twenty‐six articles were written prior to surgery; in many articles, SDR surgery involved travel overseas and/or fundraising. SDR was described universally in positive terms with little discussion of risks. Content of articles variably included the specialized nature of SDR, parental frustration with their local health system and their hope for positive outcomes. There was geographical variation in both numbers of articles and content. Conclusions: SDR is a common focus in cerebral palsy news media articles in some countries. Framing in these articles supports SDR as a beneficial and specialized procedure and may lead families to believe they need to work outside their local health systems. As news media are likely an important influence on families' attitudes to SDR, clinicians should be aware of this influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic violence is a widespread issue, with victims suffering emotional and physical harm and severe cases resulting in homicide. Media presentation of these extreme instances may affect public opinion and related policies. The current study considered the portrayal of domestic homicides in Canadian print news, using articles published in the Vancouver Sun between 2004 and 2015. A content analysis shows domestic homicides were portrayed as isolated incidents and perpetuated the notions of victim blaming and offender excusing, rather than as connected to a pattern of domestic violence. This portrayal may affect how domestic violence and homicides are perceived and addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Postsecondary institutions in the global north have rapidly internationalized, driven mainly by the proliferation of international students and responses to these changing demographics. This internationalization has captured attention across various platforms, including increased media focus directed toward these students and the primary and ancillary influences of their participation in PSIs and surrounding communities. The project explored in this paper examines this phenomenon by connecting internationalization of higher education research with insights from critical media studies and framing theory to investigate news media representations of international and refugee students' participation in Canadian universities and colleges. A critical thematic analysis was performed on 391 news media texts published between 2000 and 2017. Findings reveal the Canadian news media's tendency to construct issues related to international students and internationalization into one or a combination of four broad macrothemes: (1) Canada as benevolent and ideal; (2) international students and internationalization as commodified assets; (3) international students and internationalization as threats; and (4) the strategic neutrality of data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A common narrative for rural regions, maintained by corporate news media, is that extensive resource extraction from the natural environment by large corporations is an economic necessity. This corporate discourse marginalizes voices advocating for rural and community-based social and economic development. New Brunswick is one of the smallest and most rural provinces in Canada, with almost half of its residents living in rural areas. Our study explored how news editorials discussed rural issues in the province. News editorials function to maintain a dominant discourse in society. Unique in Canada, one family in the province has extensive business interests in resource extraction while owning a company, Brunswick News, that has a near-monopoly of the news media in the province. Our study conducted a content analysis of Brunswick News editorials focused on the term 'rural' over a recent five-year period. Our results highlight that in a vastly rural population, only one percent of editorials included this term. Of these, 87% backed claims of diminished rural communities, and 43% supported claims that corporate development of extractive industries was necessary to provide the economic boost to rural New Brunswick and ensure their sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the pathways taken by some settlers toward engaging in activities whose stated aims include reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. Drawing on in-depth, one-on-one interviews with forty non-Indigenous Canadians who attended at least one Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada event each, we analyze how participants came to be involved in the TRC, and how they came to care about Indigenous issues generally. Guided by a synthesis of Paulette Regan's [Unsettling the Settler Within: Indian Residential Schools, Truth Telling, and Reconciliation in Canada (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2010)] pedagogical framework for 'unsettling the settler within' and Mark Warren's [Fire in the Heart: How White Activists Embrace Racial Justice (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010)] theory of the 'seminal experiences' that lead some white Americans to pursue racial justice, our data analysis reveals six facilitating conditions commonly encountered by settler Canadians on their ways to seeking reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. These conditions include: unsettling lessons on residential schools and other colonial policies and practices, meaningful relationships with Indigenous persons, witnessing social injustice in Canada or abroad, prior social justice activism, personal experiences of marginalization, and the influence of role models. Participants also reported several common challenges, which, depending on how they are managed, may inhibit or promote deepened commitment to reconciliation activism. Theoretical and practical implications are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

News media coverage has the potential to shape awareness and perceptions of e-cigarettes, but little is known about youth and young adult exposure to e-cigarette news. We analyzed news exposure measures on Wave 1 of the ITC Youth Tobacco and E-cigarette Survey, conducted in Canada, England, and the U.S. Web-based surveys were completed by 16-19-year-olds in July/August 2017 (n = 12,064). The prevalence of exposure to e-cigarette news and its perceived valence is provided. Logistic regression was used to model the odds of news exposure, and the association between news exposure and e-cigarette harm perceptions, susceptibility, and quitting intentions. Overall, 17.1% of young people reported hearing or seeing e-cigarette news at least 'sometimes' in the past 30 days. The majority of those exposed (n = 2052) perceived the content of the news stories to be mostly negative (35.7%) or mixed (34.8%) about e-cigarettes, versus mostly positive (19%). Perceived exposure to mostly negative e-cigarette stories was lower among past 30-day e-cigarette users and youth in England. Participants exposed to mostly negative e-cigarette news were more likely to perceive that e-cigarettes cause at least some harm and, among past 30 day users, have intentions to quit e-cigarettes in the next month. Exposure to mostly positive news was associated with higher odds of e-cigarette susceptibility among never triers. Young people report exposure to e-cigarette news with varied perceptions of its valence. E-cigarette news exposure may shape e-cigarette harm perceptions and use intentions, as well as reflect existing beliefs and product interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a chronic neurodevelopmental disorder. Three position statements have been developed by the Canadian Paediatric Society, following systematic literature reviews. Statement objectives are to: 1) Summarize the current clinical evidence regarding ADHD, 2) Establish a standard for ADHD care, and 3) Assist Canadian clinicians in making well-informed, evidence-based decisions to enhance care of children and youth with this condition. Specific topics reviewed in Part 3, which focuses on associated autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, and prematurity, include the challenges of diagnostic assessment, common presentations, the role of genetics, and treatment, including the benefits of physical activity. Recommendations are based on current guidelines, evidence from the literature, and expert consensus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study explores the relationships among high-profile homicide incidents, media representations of gang homicides, and the establishment of specialized police task forces in British Columbia, Canada. The sample includes all articles on homicide published between 2004 and 2010 in a major daily newspaper (N = 2,873). We examine the attention given to gang-related homicides compared to other homicides, explore the impact of high-profile shootings on trends in reporting, and discuss the timing of media reports in relation to the creation of specialized police forces. Results are discussed with respect to the symbiotic relationship between police organizations and the media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Despite paid-duty policing and associated public opinions being an increasingly controversial topic in Canadian news media, there has been limited research about them. Analysis This article combines discourse and content analyses to examine the public opinions towards paid-duty policing in Canada expressed in the online readers'comment sections of news articles. Conceptualizing comments as popular texts, the article discerns several themes, including police impartiality., reputation, expertise, and performance. Most comments centered on the economics of paid duty. Conclusion and implications The article concludes by considering why economics prevailed over other themes and reflects on core concepts in the literature on online comment boards, including interactivity and counter-publics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder (NCRMD) designation remains widely misunderstood by the public. Such misunderstandings may also be reflected in the media. As such, the aim of this study is to conduct a preliminary examination of the tone and content of recent Canadian newspaper articles where NCRMD is a major theme, comparing these to generic articles about mental illness.Methods: Articles about mental illness were gathered from major Canadian newspapers. These were then divided into two categories: 1) articles where NCRMD was a major theme and 2) articles where NCRMD was not a major theme. Articles were then coded for the presence or absence of 1) a negative tone, 2) stigmatising tone/content, 3) recovery/rehabilitation as a theme, and 4) shortage of resources/poor quality of care as a theme.Results: The retrieval strategy resulted in 940 articles. Fourteen percent ( n = 131) of all articles had NCRMD as a major theme. In comparison to generic articles about mental illness, articles with NCRMD as a major theme were significantly more likely to have a negative tone ( P < 0.001) and stigmatising tone/content ( P < 0.001) and significantly less likely to have recovery/rehabilitation ( P < 0.001) or shortage of resources/poor quality of care as a theme ( P < 0.001).Conclusions: Articles with NCRMD as a theme were overwhelmingly negative and almost never focused on recovery or rehabilitation, in stark comparison to generic articles about mental illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an extensive literature comparing the politics, sociology and economics of the United States and Canada, but very little work comparing the role that public intellectuals play in the space of public opinion and how their ideas are received in both nations simultaneously. Noam Chomsky provides a theoretically useful example of an established academic and public intellectual whose reputation is deeply contested in both countries. Our comparative case study offers leverage to contribute to debates on the sociology of knowledge, reputations, intellectuals, and the politics of professors using data from six major Canadian and American newspapers from 1995-2009 and an innovative coding of media portrayal. Earlier work has demonstrated that Chomsky is discussed as a public intellectual more prominently in Canada than in the United States (McLaughlin and Townsley in Canadian Review of Sociology, 48(4):341-368, 2011). Here we examine the comparative construction of a 'public intellectual' reputation in the context of significant political change. We document small differences between the Canadian and American receptions of Chomsky, show change in the patterns of portrayal and number of publications over time, and offer an analysis of differences between political attacks and consecrations. We demonstrate more engagement with Chomsky's political view in Canada than in the United States, a rise in Chomsky's fame post 9/11, and illustrate clear political patterns in attempts to marginalize him. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing number of criminologists are urging their peers to engage the general public concerning criminal justice issues in order to reverse the discipline's marginalization and curb the recent intensification of punitive policies. This study examines the practical implementation of public criminology's pedagogical practices in a sample of Canadian news media on a recent 'tough-on-crime' legislation. Overall, this study found that the 'void' of criminological evidence in mass media, which is so often lamented in the calls to public scholarship, was entirely absent. The author argues that the call to public criminology is already being answered by stakeholders outside of the academy, whose mass-mediated pedagogical practices are directed towards the furtherance of partisan agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most recent migration of Roma from Central-Eastern Europe to Canada started in the 1990s. Several thousand people from former socialist countries, including Hungarian Roma, moved overseas. There were many reasons but for Roma, the motivations not only included a drastic loss of employment, but re-emerging systemic and increasingly violent racism. This article focuses on the discursive framing of these motivations and the reaction within both Hungarian and Canadian newspapers from 1999 to 2013. In the article we show how the press engaged in framing and counter-framing the policies and politics of the host country through their coverage of “the Hungarian Roma” issue. Specifically, we focus on the differing and shifting spheres of consensus and the changing political/policy contexts by conducting an in-depth comparison of the changing media frames in Hungarian and Canadian newspaper coverage. We show how the “Hungarian Roma issue” becomes an example and reflection of the changing political culture. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective: Mindset is a short recently-published booklet funded by the Mental Health Commission of Canada outlining evidence-based guidelines and best practices for journalists writing about mental health and suicide. Our study aimed to assess fidelity to Mindset recommendations in Canadian newspaper reports of a recent celebrity suicide. A secondary aim is to identify common themes discussed in these newspaper articles.Methods: Articles about Robin Williams' suicide from major Canadian newspapers were gathered and coded for presence or absence of each of the 14 recommendations in the "Covering Suicide" section of Mindset. A threshold of 80% was set to test for high fidelity to the guidelines. A qualitative content analysis of the articles was also undertaken to discern common themes and social issues discussed in the articles.Results: Fifty-five per cent of articles surpassed the 80% threshold for high fidelity, while 85% applied at least 70% of the recommendations. The recommendation most commonly overlooked was "Do tell others considering suicide how they can get help," which was absent in 73% of articles. The most common themes discussed were those of addictions and stigma.Conclusions: The news articles generally follow the evidence-based guidelines regarding the reporting of suicide set out in Mindset. This is a welcome development. Future research should continue to examine reporting of suicide to assess for further improvements, while also examining the wider impact of Mindset on the reporting of mental illness per se. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

this article examines how leading European newspapers reported on oil-sands production in Canada between 2008 and 2013. Based on content and critical discourse analysis of news reports published in major daily newspapers in the United Kingdom, germany, and France, it compares the interpretative frames and dominant storylines. the data analysis suggests that overall, European coverage adopted a critical perspective based on the environmental impacts of oil-sands development, with very particular differences in environmental frame building among the national media analyzed. the British coverage focused mainly on narratives based on a combination of factors such as cultural ties between the two countries and social and cultural practices of reporting on annual shareholders' meetings. in contrast, the later german and French environmental frame building was embedded mostly in the European debate over the Fuel Quality directive or in discussions of the Keystone Xl pipeline project. this article aims to provide a broader picture of how a prominent Canadian public policy issue is reflected in Europe and to contribute to the assessment of Stephen Harper's goal of fostering the international image of Canada as an energy superpower. the results of the empirical analysis suggest that Canada's position in the oil market did not allow it to actively lead the international energy discourse and instead fractured its ability to efficiently influence this aspect of its international image. as a result, oil-sands production had important destabilizing effects on Canada's international image in European media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the original version of the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act (2014), dual citizens having committed high treason, terrorism or espionage could lose their Canadian citizenship. In this paper, we examine how the measure was discussed in Canada's mainstream newspapers. We ask: who/what is seen as the target of citizenship revocation? What does this tell us about the direction that Canadian citizenship is moving towards? Our findings show that Canadian newspapers were more often critical than supportive of the citizenship revocation provision. However, the press ignored the involvement of non-Muslim, white, Western-origin Canadians in terrorist acts and interpreted the measure as one that was mostly affecting Canadian Muslims. Thus, despite advocating for equal citizenship in principle, in their writing and reporting practice, Canadian newspapers constructed Canadian Muslims as suspicious and less Canadian nonetheless. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which discusses the complexity and evolution of the relationship between women journalists and their male mentors at the Canadian Press (CP) news agency. The experiences of several women journalists are examined. Topics include sexism in the CP newsroom in the 1960s, negotiating career advancement and better working conditions in the 1970s, marriage, motherhood, and the glass ceiling, and employment equity in the 1990s.

The article focuses on Western Canadian newspapers during the first world war. Topics discussed include headlines in Canadian newspapers during the war, war enthusiasm and telegraphy and newspapers. Other topics which includes newspapers including "Manitoba Free Press", "The Calgary Daily Herald" and "The Morning Leader" are mentioned.

As public support is essential for implementing policies that act on the underlying social determinants of health (SDOH), it is important to consider how the public is exposed to this issue. This article explores how the SDOH have been represented in Canadian news media articles from 1993 to 2014. Of the 113 articles that explicitly included SDOH, housing (12.9%), income (10.5%), and poverty (9.3%) were most frequently reported. Over time, the reporting of SDOH increased, with peaks of coverage occurring at different times for different determinants (e.g., housing in 2005, income in 2009). A framing analysis revealed that the SDOH are presented in multiple ways: as an actionable issue and responsibility of government, a moral responsibility, and-problematically-as an issue that only affects disadvantaged groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section offers public health research-related news briefs as of October 1, 2022. A study evaluated the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on drug overdose-related deaths in the U.S. and Canada. An accurate device-based method was used in a study to assess moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) among adolescent girls and women in Namibia. The influenza surveillance systems in China, Malaysia, and Australia were evaluated on their adherence to World Health Organization guidance.

The article examines the newspaper coverage of women's labor in Canada during the World War II in 1939-1945. It provides empirical to illustrate that women's labor received limited news coverage despite its magnitude and importance, and that coverage reinforced gendered ideals within labor and commercial newspapers. It also offers ways of understanding women's labor beyond the historical gendered division of labor.

This article examines the claim that the media exaggerated the threat of H1N1, prompting an immediate demand for limited vaccine. We compare The Australian's and the Daily Telegraph's coverage of H1N1 with that of The Globe and Mail, which was comparatively critical of government performance. The events of October 2009 underscore the difficulty and importance of responding to media coverage of 'uncertain risks' (Renn ), risks for which there is a lack of scientific basis for decision making and potentially generate anxious public responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the newspaper "Borba" (The Struggle) launched in Toronto, Ontario, for South Slavic immigrant workers in Canada on November 1, 1931 by the Slavic Bureau created by the Communist Party of Canada (CPC). Focus is given to Croatian-born Marko P. Hećimović, a miner from Anyox, British Columbia, and his reminiscences about being involved with the newspaper, before and after its launch, which were published in the Toronto newspaper "Slobodna misao" (Free Thought) in 1939.

Despite the importance of critical media work, much is to be learned about breast cancer representations within media discourses and the implications for women’s identity construction. Building on research from Australia from a discursive perspective, this article used an eclectic approach to critical discourse analysis to explore the cultural construction of breast cancer in 25 detailed stories within Canada’s two national newspapers,The Globe and Mailand theNational Post. Ten images accompanying stories and 17 advertisements/public service announcements were also analyzed to contextualize discourses and subject positions/identities within the stories. Analysis of this media affords the unique opportunity to explore taken for granted assumptions and prevailing meanings about breast cancer and the implications for subjectivity. Two primary discourses were identified: a discourse of biomedicine and a discourse of healthism. Subject positions identified included “breast cancer survivor,” “the good consumer,” and the “medical expert.” The psychological, social, political, and health promotion implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper discusses the coverage given to Ukrainian Canadian topics in two Alberta newspapers, the Edmonton Journal and the Edmonton Bulletin, during the World War II years. Examples of the subjects included in the essay are Ukrainian Canadian participation in the war effort through enlistments in the Canadian armed forces and other ways, the banning of the Ukrainian Labour-Farmer Temple Association, the formation of the Ukrainian Canadian Committee, the raising of the matter of Ukrainian independence, and the Canadian conscription plebiscite of 27 April 1942. The two newspapers published in the provincial capital accorded significant attention to Ukrainian Canadian issues, a coverage that was paralleled by the many stories that related to Ukraine, a major battleground in the war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines Canadian Press reports of the Carpatho-Ukrainian autonomous state that existed from November 1938 until March 1939. It describes how Western opinion, including Canadian, reacted to the new state, and how fears that Hitler was about to create a "Greater Ukraine" internationalized the issue of Carpatho-Ukraine, which some feared would be the first step in Germany's destabilization of the Soviet Union. The state's brief existence is also important for what it reveals about the thinking of the OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists), the shift in the organization's politics at the time, and the lesson it drew or failed to draw from this episode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although far removed from the Soviet Union geographically and by no means a major international power, Canada closely followed events in "Red Russia" from its very inception. This is clear from even a cursory examination of Canadian press coverage of the U.S.S.R., which was both extensive and quite detailed, especially when it came to reporting on Soviet agriculture in the first decade and a half of Communist rule. This paper discusses accounts about the Soviet Union published in the mainstream Canadian press between 1924 and the end of 1930, when Joseph Stalin came to power and inaugurated the first Five-Year Plan with the objective of radically and fundamentally reshaping the economic, political, social, and cultural fabric of the former Russian empire. It pays particular attention to events in Ukraine that contribute to a fuller understanding of the 1932-33 Great Famine (the Holodomor). It further analyzes the news stories from Ukraine in the context of broader historical developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By examining the role of the Canadian press in framing health and social issues of immigrants, the authors highlight the issues of power and social injustice in which immigrant health is constructed and handled by Canada's health policies. Critical discourse analysis of 273 articles from 10 major Canadian dailies over one decade showed that pre-existing racializing discourses, which treat the immigrant body both as a disease breeder and an irresponsible health fraudster, continue to materialize in contemporary Canadian press coverage. A more balanced and fair media coverage of immigrant health will require deracialization of immigrant health issues as well as the transformation of the Canadian press toward greater inclusivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite an extensive dialogue on the subject of immigration, there has been little systematic cross-national investigation into the framing of immigration in the news media. Understanding the evolution of frames is an important piece of how we conceive of the link between the public's political priorities and policy makers' responses. While the multi-directional relationships that exist between media, public policy and public opinion often pose challenges to precisely extracting media effects, there is still much that can be said about how the content and tone of immigration frames change over time in response to major policy changes or focusing events. Using automated content analysis (ACA) of print news data from Canada and Britain, I examine immigration framing from 1999 to 2013, identifying immigration-related frames in print news coverage and identifying trends in the volume and tone of frames over time. Results offer insight into striking commonalities in the frames used by each country's print media, and the divergent evolution in the emphasis on certain frames over others, largely predicated on coverage of focusing events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a theory of racial mediation and examines how candidate race affects media coverage of political viability. Using two different types of content analysis—manual and automated—the article assesses print media coverage of white and visible minority candidates in the 2008 Canadian federal election. The study reaches two substantive conclusions. First, it appears that candidate race does not influence reporting on political viability in the aggregate, but does affect how non-incumbent candidates with racial minority backgrounds are portrayed. Although non-incumbent white candidates receive fairly positive coverage of their electoral qualifications, this is not the case for visible minority candidates. Incumbency washes away these differences, suggesting that once minority candidates have, in effect, proven themselves with an electoral win, they will receive coverage that is equivalent—and sometimes even more favourable—than their white competitors. Second, this study demonstrates how methodological choices influence the conclusions reached by content analysts. The article highlights how a researcher using an automated approach to content analysis could reach different conclusions than a researcher relying on a manual approach. The article concludes with a discussion of the trade-offs that researchers face when studying the media coverage of minorities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We argue that scholars of immigrant integration should pay more attention to immigrants' ‘civic visibility’ among local government officials, organisations and other residents. To document and analyse immigrants' civic visibility, we examine coverage of the Vietnamese and Indian communities in newspapers in San Jose, Boston, Vancouver and Toronto from 1985 to 2005. We ask (i) do local newspapers cover the lives of immigrants and their descendants and (ii) what explains variation in the amount of coverage devoted to different immigrant-origin communities in different places? We find little evidence that newspaper coverage is affected by the demographics of an area, newsroom factors or simplified models of the national political and discursive opportunity structures. Instead, we take an ‘embedded’ context of reception approach, which takes seriously the intersection between general discursive opportunity structures on immigration and particular discourses about certain types of migrants. Our findings suggest the need to complicate national opportunity structure frameworks by considering how their interaction with specific immigrant communities produces between-country and between-group variation. Our results also underscore the importance of immigrant agency; greater visibility in local media appears to link with immigrants' greater presence in domestic politics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this article is to identify whether differences exist in local and national news framing of immigration. Using 12 years (2001–2012) of print media data from 15 Canadian and British print media sources, this article presents the first attempt to look for systematic differences in cross-city, within-country and cross-national framing on the subject of immigration. Contextual variables such as change in the unemployment rate and in the rate of foreign-born within cities and countries are introduced to test the robustness of the findings from a computer-automated content analysis. Findings suggest that, contrary to expectations, there is little by way of systematic evidence that national and local newspapers frame immigration according to different concerns. Furthermore, cross-city news coverage does not vary based on local contextual factors such as changes in the unemployment rate or rate of foreign-born. Indeed, it would appear that there is little evidence to support hypotheses that local coverage attends only to the ‘local consequences’ of immigration such as crime and unemployment, and that national concerns such as border security and broader economic outlook are solely the purview of national media. Rather, there are far fewer differences in the content and tone of immigration framing among print news sources than conventional wisdom might suggest. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper identifies several impacts cultural transfers operated by Quebec missionaries from 1945 onwards had on their society and Church of origin, especially with respect to recent immigration. More specifically, it deals with the work achieved by the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) towards African immigrants through the Afrika Centre they found in Montreal in 1989. This case study exemplifies the dynamic relations that exist between Quebec missionary experience and the challenges posed to socio-ecclesial integration by a growing ethnocultural diversification of the Catholic population in Quebec. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada's political class is embracing ethnocultural news media with increasing zeal, highlighting the need to understand the role of these news organizations in the political process. This study investigated coverage of Canada's 2011 federal election in five Toronto-area ethnocultural newspapers. The publications, which carried campaign news to varying degrees, provided coverage that was distinct in many ways from mainstream media. Content such as the focus on ingroup candidates had the potential to strengthen community bonds while more general election news equipped readers with information that would facilitate participation in society through informed voting. Analysis of reporting about the Conservative Party of Canada, which pursued an aggressive ethnic media strategy, identified no clear pattern of stories with explicitly biased content. In most newspapers, however, the CPC did enjoy an advantage in that it received more coverage than the competition. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article explores Canadian press coverage of the Paris Commune movement in France in 1871. Emphasis is given to the moral aspects of the insurrection in relation to Canadian nationhood and the political development of Canadian Confederation. The author examines newspaper accounts on topics such as the separation of church and state, the appropriation of church property, and the social behavior of women. Other topics include the differences between Anglophone and Francophone newspapers, the popularization of socialism, and moral condemnation.

Objective:The purpose of this study is to investigate how Canadian print news frames infertility.Background:The way the media frames issues can affect the public’s interpretation of those issues. News coverage often frames health issues as highly alarming with few coping strategies, which tends to elicit fear, worry and avoidance, but no increase in issue knowledge or personal efficacy regarding the health issue. The present study will investigate the framing of infertility-related print news with respect to alarm, coping, medicalisation, genderisation, and identified causes/solutions.Methods:A content analysis was conducted on Canadian print news articles that contained the key word ‘infertility’ in the year 2012 (N= 157). Two independent raters analysed the articles using a pre-determined coding strategy.Results:Just over half of the articles employed alarm frames, and the vast majority of these met the criteria for categorisation as high alarm. The most commonly cited cause of infertility was delayed childbearing and the most frequently presented way to cope with infertility was in vitro fertilisation. Infertility was most often constructed as a women’s issue.Conclusion:Canadian print news media tends to present an alarming portrayal of infertility that adheres to a biomedical perspective that often conflates infertility with involuntary childlessness. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Since the end of the 1960s, discourse concerning Mexican immigration to the United States has become more alarmist. In the past few decades, references to the 'latino invasion' and the fear of a reconquest of US territory by the 'Mexican hordes' have entered the American collective imaginary. At the same time, north of the Canadian/US border, Quebec nationalism, which is perceived as a threat to Canadian unity, became a major issue. This article focuses on how the 'Quebec metaphor' is used in the United States to strengthen an anti-Mexican discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks at media coverage of a group of Sri Lankan Tamil (SLT) refugees who arrived in Canada in 2010 on the MV Sun Sea. Particular focus is given to gendered and racialized discourses of care and identity used in media discussions of the refugees. According to the author, popular and state discourses surrounding the refugee children constructed and reinforced hegemonic notions of women as natural caregivers. Canadian nation-building is also discussed.

In this article, we explore the role of the Canadian media during the 2008 parliamentary crisis. While the crisis was resolved when the Governor General granted a request for prorogation that allowed the Prime Minister to avoid a vote of no-confidence, debate persists about the wisdom of such action. We argue this event represents an important case study in understanding how the Canadian media communicates essential principles of parliamentary democracy. Five years later, and based on recent research, we compare survey results on the 2008 prorogation between 10 leading Canadian journalists and commentators, and 30 constitutional scholars and former advisers to the Crown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada’s climate change strategy faces an uncertain future since the country’s withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol in 2011, making domestic public debate and awareness critical in the search for effective mitigation policies. This article presents a spatio-temporal analysis of newspaper reporting across Canada on climate change and carbon reduction approaches, ranging from renewable energies (solar, wind, hydro power) to carbon management (e.g., carbon capture and storage [CCS]) and economic approaches (e.g., carbon trade, ecological fiscal reform). The findings of a news article keyword analysis show that the overall growth of the Canadian news coverage during this time period was significantly fragmented into isolated peaks of activity rather than continuous growth of the topic of climate change. Furthermore, the study finds a strong news emphasis on technology- and growth-oriented solutions as opposed to a comprehensive ecological modernization that would encourage a deeper structural discussion about Canada’s much-criticized carbon-intensive energy economy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses radical Christian political thought in the Canadian labour union press from 1926 to 1939. Newspapers analyzed include "The Canadian Unionist," "Trades and Labor Congress Journal," "Canadian Railway Employees' Monthly," and Labor World/Monde Ouvrier." Topics include anti-capitalist interpretations of the anticipated return of religious figure Jesus Christ, Christian critiques of business ethics, and the use of Christian activist traditions for leftist causes.

The article presents 2013 news on medical education. The 16th Ottawa Conference: Transforming Healthcare Through Excellence in Assessment and Evaluation will be held in Ottawa, Canada on April 25-29, 2014. A virtual patient authoring and delivery software system called UChoose was released by the University of the West of England. A big data management system called AsterixDB, which is a Java-based big data management system, has been developed by researchers at the University of California.

Background: The use of recreational cannabis by adults was legalized in Canada in 2018 (The Cannabis Act, 17 October 2018). This change in drug policy indirectly opened the doors to broader uses, including those for health-related conditions. As a first step towards understanding ethical, legal, and social shifts on this landscape, we examined messaging surrounding medical cannabis and health in Canadian news media before and after legalization.Methods: We retrieved news articles about medical cannabis and health from Canadian sources (2010-2020). Deductive and inductive content analytic approaches were applied to code eligible articles for both a priori ethical, legal, social, and issues, and emergent themes. Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney U tests were used to test for thematic changes pre- and post-legalization.Results: Two hundred and sixteen (216) articles met inclusion criteria. Analysis yielded three themes and eight subthemes, comprising 4931 coded references. The a priori theme of Ethical, Legal and Social Issues (access, benefits/risks of medical cannabis, public engagement, and conflicts of interest) dominated news media coverage across the decade (coded in 99% of articles). The emergent theme of Medical Applications (therapeutic use of cannabis, consumption considerations, comparisons to other drug and treatment options) was coded in 86% of articles; Resource Issues (research and education) in 50%. We found little discourse on ethics issues specific to exceptional populations. Coverage on aspects of access declined significantly post-legalization.Conclusion: Capturing the push of Canadian news coverage of medical cannabis is a powerful means of understanding how public opinions on the subject are shaped and then, by extension, inform public policy for well-being and healthcare. Continued examination of these issues, public consultation, engagement with diverse populations such as people with disabilities and neurologic and mental health conditions, and integration of diverse cultural views into the policy discourse are critical steps for future research and action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents 2013 and 2014 news on education. A Center for Innovative Research in Cyberlearning is being developed by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the research institute SRI International. The second International Conference on Faculty Development in the Health Professions will take place in Prague, Czech Republic on August 23-25, 2013. The 16th Ottawa Conference and the 12th Canadian Conference on Medical Education will be held in Ottawa, Canada on April 25-29, 2014.

The democratization of Web access in the mid-1990s fueled the hopes of many for greater pluralism of information available to the public. Since 2001 the Internet has assumed a more central role in strategies for disseminating news in Canada, and eventually became one of the prime diffusion channels for some major news outlets. However, it appears that while some commentators argued that the Internet would broaden the spectrum of news producers, we have witnessed, in Canada at least, acceleration in the concentration of media ownership. The presence of these legacy actors is almost as important in the new media sector as in newspapers, radio and television, where the only major change has been the introduction of “pure players”, called infomediaries (e.g. Google, Yahoo, MSN and Sympatico). In this paper, we examine firstly how structural factors and current contexts have forged the Canadian mediascape by accentuating a tendency towards the convergence, both technical and economical, of news actors. Secondly, we examine the consequences for journalism practices in the perspective of the apparent obstacle to information pluralism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]