Le Bon, la Brute et le Raciste. Analyse de la couverture médiatique de l'opinion publique pendant la «crise» des accommodements raisonnables au Québec

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 379-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thierry Giasson ◽  
Colette Brin ◽  
Marie-Michele Sauvageau

Résumé.De mars 2006 à décembre 2007, le Québec a été secoué par un débat sociétal sur la question de la gestion de la diversité culturelle. Cette «crise» aurait été alimentée par untsunami médiatiquetraitant de divers cas d'accommodements juridiques ou d'ajustements administratifs accordés dans les services publics à des citoyens québécois issus de l'immigration dans la grande région de Montréal (Giasson et coll., 2008). Par le biais d'une couverture étendue, les médias ont attiré l'attention de la population sur ces pratiques d'accommodement. L'article présente les données exploratoires d'une analyse de contenu de la couverture faite par onze journaux québécois du climat de l'opinion des Québécois en matière de diversité et d'immigration pendant la phase intensive de développement du débat. L'étude montre que dans leur analyse des sondages d'opinion et dans la présentation générale des tendances de l'opinion publique sur les accommodements raisonnables, les journaux ont mis l'accent sur l'évaluation du malaise des répondants envers l'immigration et la diversité religieuse plutôt que sur l'ouverture de la population québécoise envers la diversité et sur l'apport social de l'immigration, renforçant ainsi davantage l'impression populaire qu'une crise sociale majeure se déroulait et qu'il existait un fossé entre les Québécois «de souche», les Québécois issus de l'immigration et les autres Canadiens.Abstract.From March 2006 to December 2007, the province of Quebec experienced a contentious public debate on diversity. The “crisis” was fueled by a “media tsunami” during which news outlets actively reported on numerous cases of reasonable accommodation practices or administrative agreements in public services granted in the Greater Montreal region to citizens of immigrant background (Giasson et al., 2008). Through this extensive coverage, the media brought these instances of accommodation to the public's attention. The research studies the press coverage that 11 daily newspapers dedicated to the state of public opinion in Quebec during the active and intense development phase of the “crisis”. The study shows that in their analysis of polls and their general framing of the mood of public opinion towards reasonable accommodation, newspapers focused mostly on the malaise in the population toward immigration and religious diversity rather than on its openness to diversity and to the positive social outcomes of immigration. In doing so, the media further anchored the popular impression that a serious social crisis was ongoing and that a wide gap in tolerance existed between Francophone Quebeckers, Quebeckers of recent immigrant background and other Canadians.

1994 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Mulkay

An examination is undertaken of the way in which embryo research and associated techniques of assisted reproduction were represented in British newspapers during the passage through Parliament in 1989-90 of the Human Fertilization and Embryology Bill. It is shown that, despite complaints within Parliament of media bias in favour of embryo research, press reports of parliamentary debate concerning these matters were consistently balanced and uncommitted. It is also shown, however, that a substantial majority of editorials, features and other extended newspaper presentations did strongly recommend the continuation of embryo research. The underlying rhetoric and the specific narrative structures employed in the press to convey the case for embryo research are described and compared with alternative textual resources which were available in principle, but almost entirely excluded from the newspapers in practice. Suggestions are made to account for the overwhelming support for embryo research in the media during this phase of the public debate; and the likely impact of press coverage on public opinion and upon the parliamentary process is assessed.


1995 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 412-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guo-Qiang Zhang ◽  
Sidney Kraus

This content analysis of Chinese newspapers before and after the Tiananmen Square protest examines the symbolic representation of the Student Movement of 1989 in China. The study reveals that top leaders manipulated symbols given to the media and that these symbols rigorously highlighted the dominant ideology of the Chinese Communist Party and isolated the movement participants. Officials attempted to legitimize the military suppression of the movement. The press construction of public opinion echoed the hegemonic process created and maintained by the party structure.


2010 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thierry Giasson ◽  
Colette Brin ◽  
Marie-Michèle Sauvageau

ABSTRACT  From March 2006 to May 2008, the province of Québec engaged in a contentious public debate on diversity and reasonable accommodation practices. This study examines the evolution of press coverage in eleven Québec dailies dedicated to the issue of reasonable accommodation over the intensive twelve-month period during which the concept entered the public agenda. We examine the “media tsunami” hypothesis, an expanded version of the media hype theory developed by Vasterman (2005). The hypothesis posits that the media, in dealing with an emergent social issue in a relatively short period of time, amplify the importance of the issue through successive waves of press coverage that gain in intensity and magnitude over time. In doing so, they can manufacture social “crises.”RÉSUMÉ  De mars 2006 à mai 2008, le Québec a été secoué par un débat sociétal sur la question de la gestion de la diversité culturelle et du principe d’accommodement raisonnable. Cette étude s’intéresse à l’évolution de la couverture du concept d’accommodement raisonnable dans la presse écrite québécoise au cours de la période intensive du traitement médiatique où le terme est entré dans le discours public. L’article examine l’hypothèse du « tsunami médiatique », une version plus étoffée de la théorie du media hype mise de l’avant par Vasterman (2005). L’hypothèse de la déferlante médiatique pose que l’enjeu en question est une création médiatique dont la couverture en amplifie l’importance sociétale et peut générer une inquiétude au sein de la société. Les données tirées d’une analyse exhaustive du contenu de onze journaux québécois révèlent que la couverture produite par la presse écrite de la question des accommodements raisonnables représente un cas typique de « tsunami médiatique. »


2019 ◽  
pp. 130-156
Author(s):  
Katherine Isobel Baxter

Chapter Six provides an extended examination of the newspaper reporting of the treason trial of Obafemi Awolowo, the second major treason trial after independence. How the Nigerian press covered the trial illuminates the ways in which legal process as a mode of nation formation was woven into the daily lives of newspaper readers. Moreover, attending to that press coverage illustrates the importance of narrative and literary form in the process of national self-construction. The chapter begins by outlining the relationship of politics and the press in Nigeria before looking at the defining features of the trial itself. The chapter examines how the trial was presented in the press and the readerly engagement that the press sought to foster. The chapter concludes by reflecting on the larger significance of the trial and its coverage in the media at the dawn of Nigeria’s first Republic.


2014 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 179
Author(s):  
Judá Leão Lobo ◽  
Luís Fernando Lopes Pereira

Este artigo delineia as principais características da imprensa durante o reinado de D. Pedro II e busca explicar o porquê de ter sido tão poderosa instituição no processo político-constitucional do período por meio da comparação da alta e da baixa cultura jurídica, uma baseada no pensamento constitucional e outra na imprensa diária, respectivamente. Por tal procedimento, buscamos desvelar a íntima conexão entre esses dois polos do espectro jurídico, assim como a especificidade da opinião pública brasileira durante o Segundo Reinado. Ambos os resultados foram atingidos por abordagem empírica de fontes primárias produzidas no período, tais como livros de autores destacados e debates públicos surgindo de periódicos diários de Curitiba, a capital da recém-estabelecida província do Paraná. Havendo condições sociais, políticas, teóricas e institucionais favoráveis, a imprensa era, sem rival, a principal instituição representando a opinião pública no processo constitucional. Embora deputados e senadores tivessem amplo direito à liberdade de expressão na tribuna e cidadãos comuns pudessem interferir nos negócios públicos pelo direito de petição, a imprensa superou tais direitos e se tornou verdadeiro Tribunal da Opinião Pública. Contudo, os critérios pelos quais a poderosa instituição julgava decisões políticas e administrativas eram mais morais que legais, e a legalidade era menos importante que a força moral. Com efeito, sanções previstas em lei eram frequentemente negligenciadas, enquanto a responsabilidade moral estendia seus vereditos inclusive a casos que observavam os preceitos legais. PALAVRAS-CHAVEForça moral. Liberdade de imprensa. Monarquia Constitucional brasileira. Opinião Pública. Responsabilidade moral.  ABSTRACT This article sets forth the main features of the press during the reign of Pedro II and tries to explain the reasons why it was such a powerful institution in the constitutional ongoing process of the period, and so by bringing the upper legal reasoning of the Constitutional Monarchy and the lower legal thought of the daily press together. Through this procedure, we intent to unveil the inner connection between these two sides of the juridical culture, as well as the specificity of the Brazilian public opinion during the Second Reign. Both of these outcomes were brought to light through an empirical approach to primary sources of the period, such as books of distinguished authors and public debates arising from daily newspapers of Curitiba, the capital of the recently established Paraná province. Since there were social, political, theoretical and institutional slanting conditions, the press was overwhelmingly the main institution representing the public opinion in the constitutional process. Even though representatives and senators had a broad right to free speech in congressional ground and ordinary citizens could interfere in public affairs through the petition right, the press overcame these rights and became a real Public Opinion Court. However, the criteria by which this powerful institution tried administrative and political decisions were more moral than legal, and lawfulness was less important than moral strength. Indeed, legal punishments were very often neglected, whilst moral responsibility stretched out its verdicts even to lawful cases. KEYWORDSBrazilian Constitutional Monarchy. Freedom of the press. Moral responsibility. Moral strength. Public opinion.


2005 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 83-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Dorman

Since the Aum Shinrikyôô affair of 1995, the Japanese authorities have been quick to demonstrate that they are firmly in control in situations involving religious groups that espouse millennial ideas, or other groups rumored to be acting against social norms. In April 2003 the Japanese mass media began reporting intensely on a virtually unknown new religious movement named Pana Wave. A massive police investigation was launched immediately on the premise that the group appeared to resemble Aum Shinrikyôô in its early days. Although the press coverage and police involvement again raised the public's fears over dangerous religious groups, the media dropped the story quickly after the investigation yielded little more than vehicle violations. The Pana Wave affair represents a post-Aum Shinrikyôô moral panic in which the reaction to the perceived threat far outweighed the reality of the situation.


Journalism ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bart Cammaerts ◽  
Brooks DeCillia ◽  
João Carlos Magalhães

This research critically assesses the press coverage of Jeremy Corbyn during his leadership bid and subsequent first months as the leader of the United Kingdom’s Labour Party. A content analysis ( n = 812) found that the British press offered a distorted and overly antagonistic view of the long-serving MP. Corbyn is often denied a voice and news organisations tended to prize anti-Corbyn sources over favourable ones. Much of the coverage is decidedly scornful and ridicules the leader of the opposition. This analysis also tests a set of normative conceptions of the media in a democracy. In view of this, our research contends that the British press acted more as an attackdog than a watchdog when it comes to the reporting of Corbyn. We conclude that the transgression from traditional monitorial practices to snarling attacks is unhealthy for democracy, and it furthermore raises serious ethical questions for UK journalism and its role in society.


2021 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 53-60
Author(s):  
Svetlana Procop ◽  

This article attempts to show how public opinion about Roma was formed on the pages of the republican press in the 60s and 70s of the XX century. It is known that a set of political attitudes relevant to Soviet society was propagated through the media in the 60s and 70s. At the same time, the media, the press in particular, had certain ideological guidelines for presenting information. The content of this information was aimed not only at selective reflection of socio-cultural reality, but also at creating by means of culture an ideal image of a new person and new social relations, convenient for the political system. In the present article, we will try to show the “presence” of Roma and their problems, reflected in the republican press of Moldova in the 60s–70s of the XX century. In fact, it is about how a whole block of social problems was touch upon and solved in the periodicals, while the interests of the Roma population, living in the republic, were not considered separately. Within the framework of this study, an attempt was made to formulate a hypothesis related to the extent to which the “Roma issue”, as it is presented today all over the world, has been included in a number of national issues that need to be addressed


2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-224
Author(s):  
Magdalena Budzyńska-Łazarewicz

Is to present lexical ways of evaluation, which are present in press articles dedicated to the election of E. Kopacz for prime minister. The study material consists of articles published in eight public opinion weeklies, which were published in Poland in September of 2014. They are journals with different ideological profiles. Among the noted lexical terms, there are primarily-evaluative as well as descriptively-evaluative expressions. These are adjectives, adverbs, participles, pronouns and modality indicators. Numerously represented are statements in which the authors report affirmations that evaluate other people. The analysed terms invoke, most of all, the utilitarian, perfectionist, cognitive, socially-custom criterion. Among the noted terms, the majority consists of those with a negative value mark. As it turned out, the ideological engagement of periodicals had a slight impact on the media image of E. Kopacz. An almost solely negative evaluation was present in conservative press. However, the press, which can be described as liberal, also pointed the weaknesses of the new prime minister, recalling negative opinions about her. It did it, however, in a more veiled manner.


2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 364-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelsey Gushue ◽  
Jennifer S. Wong

Media framing of an event can have a significant impact on both reader response and public opinion. Through an examination of the deadliest gang-related murder to ever occur in British Columbia, the current study extends previous research by analyzing the influence of victim characteristics on the development of a problem frame. We analyze all newspaper articles published in the Vancouver Sun mentioning at least one of the murder victims between October 19, 2007, and December 31, 2016 ( N = 210). Results suggest that journalists use a number of techniques when creating a problem frame, including victim differentiation, purposeful inclusion of sources, and use of specific language. We argue that the extensive coverage of the murders provided an opportunity for the media to develop a problem frame that dichotomized victims, capitalized on societal fear of crime, and, consequently, affected calls for policy change.


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