scholarly journals The Irvings Cover Themselves: Media Representations of the Irving Oil Refinery Strike, 1994-1996

1999 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Steuter

Abstract: This article focuses on the media coverage of a strike at the Irving Oil Refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick, between 1994 and 1996. A variety of central issues are examined, including: monopoly ownership of the New Brunswick media by the Irving Group of Companies, the ideological presentation of strikes in general, and the representation of changing labour relations in a postindustrial, globally oriented society. The four New Brunswick English-language daily papers as well as selected English-language papers elsewhere in Canada were analyzed for their representation of the strike. The paper argues that the media coverage reinforced an ideology of defeatism and aided in the increased legitimation of a "roll back" orientation in our society. Résumé: Cet article porte sur la couverture médiatique d'une grève ayant lieu à la raffinerie de pétrole Irving à Saint John au Nouveau-Brunswick entre 1994 et 1996. L'article examine une diversité de questions centrales, y compris: le monopole des médias du Nouveau-Brunswick que détient le Groupe de compagnies Irving, la présentation idéologique de grèves en général, et la représentation de rapports de travail changeants dans une société post-industrielle sujette à la mondialisation. L'article analyse la représentation de la grève faite par les quatre quotidiens anglophones du Nouveau-Brunswick ainsi que par des quotidiens anglophones sélectionnés ailleurs au Canada. Cet article soutient que la couverture médiatique renforça une idéologie de défaitisme et aida à accroître la légitimité d'une orientation vers les coupures dans notre société.

Author(s):  
Meda Chesney-Lind ◽  
Nicholas Chagnon

Though it is generally given less attention than sexual assault, domestic violence is quite often depicted in corporate media products, including news broadcasts, television shows, and films. Mediated depictions of domestic violence share many of the same problems as those of sexual assault. In particular, the media tends to imply that women are somehow culpable when they are being beaten, even murdered, by their partners. News on domestic violence is often reported in a routine manner that focuses on minutiae instead of context, informing audiences minimally about the nature, extent, and causes of domestic violence. Though it is encouraging that over the past several decades the media has begun to acknowledge that domestic violence is a serious problem, this recognition is challenged by antifeminist claims-making in the media. Such challenges generally cite contested social science research as proof that feminist research on domestic violence is biased and inaccurate. Furthermore, media representations of domestic violence often supply racializing and class-biased discourses about abusers and their victims that frame domestic violence as largely the product of marginalized classes, rather a problem that affects the various strata of society. Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, media coverage of the violence against women abroad, particularly in Islamic nations, has provided more racializing discourse, which juxtaposes “progressive” Western cultures with “backward” Eastern ones. On the domestic front, news focusing on indigenous communities replicates some of the racism inherent in the orientalist gaze applied to domestic violence abroad. Generally, the media do a poor job of cultivating a sophisticated understanding of domestic violence among the public. Thus, many researchers argue such media representations constitute a hegemonic patriarchal ideology, which obfuscates the issue of domestic violence, as well as the underlying social relations that create the phenomenon.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon Mason ◽  
John Hajek

Abstract Educational issues are a regular feature in mainstream media, and the ways in which particular issues are represented can influence public perceptions of the various discipline areas and, in turn, policy decisions that affect them. While the research literature includes media coverage analyses of a wide range of educational disciplines and sectors, missing is an understanding of the media representations of language education in the tertiary setting, despite languages being seen as a key pathway to generalised national multilingualism, social harmony, and economic prosperity. The authors address this gap using Australia as a case study, a country that has seen considerable policy and media attention to language education in general over many years. A content analysis of print newspaper coverage from 2007–2016 was conducted, revealing that the coverage of the discipline area at the tertiary level is extremely limited, is generally superficial in depth, narrow in scope, and negative in tone. This representation perpetuates the already precarious position of language education in Australian universities, and there is little support for a more positive and visible public agenda.


2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (6) ◽  
pp. 624-632 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xavier Ginesta ◽  
Enric Ordeix ◽  
Josep Rom

This article studies how traditional media functions have changed due the new media growth in terms of consumption and influence and how this has affected the public relations (PR) campaigns in terms of storytelling and managing content. The starting point of this article is the media coverage of the Paris attacks on the 13th November, as well as the institutional ceremonies that the French government organized as a tribute to 120 victims. The methodology of this article is based in a sample of the mainstream media in French and English language published in Europe. The analysis indicators are the following: (a) the “message,” as the story based on organizational essentials, values and identity; (b) the publics in a media relations campaign: opinion leaders and opinion makers; (c) the social dimension and the agenda setting; (d) effectiveness versus excellence and vice versa; (e) role of the media: traditional media (or mainstream media) and new media; (f) trends and challenges for professionals. As we will see, new trends of communication are redirecting the media strategy in PR campaigns in terms of influencing other key publics that generates major engagement in institutional reputation. Hence, traditional media functions (setting agenda, transmitting values, and creating opinion) operate in a new digital context of mashup journalism where cross-cultural PR seeks to better align media agenda’s with public and political agenda’s in order to set frames of sociability and community engagement.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1489
Author(s):  
Martin Javornicky ◽  
Áine Macken-Walsh ◽  
Anita Naughton

International literature acknowledges benefits of the legally recognised Producer Organisations (POs). Successful leveraging of these benefits depends on two forms of cooperation: horizontal integration among the producers for more effective functioning of the POs; and vertical integration of POs with other actors in the production chain to facilitate processes of co-creation and interactive innovation. In 2016 PO legislation was first introduced in Ireland, and in 2019 Ireland’s first two beef POs emerged at a time when primary producers in the beef sector mobilised en masse, protesting against poor prices and seeking changes in supply chain relationships. Throughout this period, significant and detailed media reporting of the beef sector surrounded the protests, which takes the focus of our analysis. Building on an existing but limited literature on institutional conditions in the Irish beef industry and international accounts of factors influencing the success of POs, we analyse media coverage in order to shed light on the nature of emerging new forms of horizontal and vertical cooperation. In this regard, we focus on horizontal integration of producers into PO and associations of POs (APOs); and vertical integration of POs into Inter Branch Organisations (IBOs) and value-based supply chains (VBSCs). Our analysis shows that the media representations of the Irish beef sector evidence significant challenges to the establishment and successful operation of POs, in any form. The analysis suggests that current constellation of relations in the Irish beef sector represents an environment that is partially resistant to horizontal co-operation and significantly hostile to vertical co-operation. Interactive innovation involving different chain actors seems not to be imminent, at least in the short term, unless there are strategic public and/or private interventions introduced to support it.


Urban Studies ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (14) ◽  
pp. 3178-3198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatriz Garcia

This paper looks into the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) programme as a leading example of culture-led regeneration intervention aimed at renewing or diversifying the economic base and positioning of host cities. One of the key claims associated with the programme is that it can transform the ‘image’ of a city. These image transformation claims are often supported by evidence of heightened or more positive media coverage in the short term. However, little evidence has generally been gathered to determine long-term, sustained image change. The paper seeks to at least partly address this lacuna by presenting evidence on the media representation of Glasgow and Liverpool over three decades. These two cities are widely perceived to be paradigmatic not only of successful culture-led regeneration but also of the power of the ECoC title to transform city image. The paper looks at the importance of the media narrative arc surrounding major cultural events in solidifying ‘image change’ processes, regardless of the existence of evidence to suggest a change in perceptions by local communities at the time the event is taking place. The core argument is that if media coverage about a particular place shows a significant change in focus and attitude over time, is voluminous enough and cuts across geographical and journalistic variations, then it effectively becomes a key source of evidence of de facto image change. The key proposition in this paper is that evidenceable and sustained change in media representations of place can be taken as tantamount to image change. This is based on the assumption that widespread and longitudinal trends in media representation have the capacity to both reflect and influence public attitudes and perceptions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (10) ◽  
pp. 49-61
Author(s):  
V. A. Kozhemyakina

The analysis of sociolinguistic situation in the Canadian province of New Brunswick is offered in the article. The history of the settlement of this territory by representatives of different linguistic cultures — the French and the British — is considered. An overview of the demo linguistic situation in the province is given. The statistical data of the latest population censuses are presented. Particular attention is paid to the use of the minority French language in various social and communicative spheres in New Brunswick at the present stage: in the legislative and executive branches, in the main sphere of the language functioning — in the sphere of education, in the spheres of services, trade and the media. The author dwells on the problem of variation of the Acadian French language in a situation of institutional bilingualism, when the French language is constantly under the influence of the dominant English language. The relevance of the article is due to the attention of the Russian and world community to the position of minority languages in a multilingual society and the problem of their preservation. The novelty of the research is seen in the fact that the ongoing language policy is considered simultaneously with the analysis of existing laws on language, since only adopted laws can allow members of the linguistic minority to assert and defend their rights.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia A. Duff ◽  
Tim Anderson ◽  
Liam Doherty ◽  
Rachel Wang

Abstract The growing body of research on Chinese as an international (or “global”) language examines linguistic, psycholinguistic, social-psychological, and orthographic aspects of acquisition primarily. There has been relatively little critical discussion or analysis of the larger social context and discourses in which Chinese language education is embedded. However, recently sociocultural, discursive, and critical aspects of the teaching, learning, and use of Chinese as an additional language have begun to receive more attention. This study analyzes circulating discourses, ideologies, and tropes related to Chinese in news media, as one means by which information and perspectives are spread by media and by which public attitudes and policy decisions are (recursively) shaped or reproduced. To this end, a large sample of English-medium news reports of Chinese language education in three Anglophone countries was created and analyzed for the years 2004 to 2012. The findings revealed that reports dealing with Chinese education tended to fall into one of several major tropes, which we have roughly classified as “hope,” “hype,” and “fear,” distinctions that parallel existing models of cyclical or amplified media coverage of innovations or otherwise newsworthy events. The sociopolitically and socioeconomically motivated occurrence of these tropes in the media, combined with the novelty of the Chinese language itself, a historically less frequently taught language in comparison with various European languages, constituted a consistent and recurring narrative. Thus, the shifting representations of Chinese learning in the media tended to appear as corollaries or “side stories” servicing the needs of larger geopolitical events and perceived or desired changes in public sentiment. These trends and their significance are illustrated and discussed in relation to Global Chinese.


INvoke ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jori Dusome

When most Canadians consume their news media, they don't often consider the underlying narratives of colonialism, racism, and classism that can be spread through media representations of marginalized peoples. Such is the case with Indigenous women in Canada, who die violently at five times the rate of other Canadian women, but are given three and a half times less coverage in the media than white women for similar cases. News media articles covering Indigenous women's deaths are also less in-depth and less likely to make the front page. Prior to the apprehension of Robert “Willy” Pickton in 2002, media coverage of the dozens of missing women on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside was minimal, and often portrayed the women as the harbingers of their own misfortune. The Vancouver Police Department also failed to take action, citing the women’s “transient lifestyles” as reason to believe they would return soon. However, even after widespread recognition of the issue began, media coverage continued to attribute a level of “blameworthiness” to the missing and murdered by regularly engaging with tropes and stereotypes that individualized the acts of violence against them. In this paper, I look to explore that phenomenon by asking how the women of the Downtown Eastside are named as culpable or blameworthy in the violence enacted against them, as evidenced in the media coverage of the Robert Pickton case. My analysis found that while an identifiable killer like Pickton provided the news media a temporary cause for the women’s deaths, sex-working and drug using women maintained blame in the public eye both during and long after the case, due in equal parts to their use of drugs, their status as sex workers, and their proximity to “tainted” geographical regions like the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. As evidenced by this research, Indigenous women are continually and systemically blamed for the violence enacted against them. Keywords: MMIWG, sex work, media bias, Downtown Eastside, gendered violence


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika C. Speer ◽  
Chari Arespacochaga

Missing uses a historical reimagining of the murder of JonBenét Ramsey as a launchpad to examine what it is like for a woman of colour to be inundated in a sexist and racist media and cultural spin-cycle. The script tells the story of a young Black girl, Nancy, coming of age and absorbing these cultural messages. In Act 1, Nancy, a child beauty pageant contestant, learns about the death of her friend, JonBenét. Nancy is simultaneously drawn in, obsessed and repulsed by the media storm that follows. In Act 2, indelibly shaped by this childhood event and inspired by her role model Diane Sawyer (pageant winner turned news anchor), Nancy has grown up to be a reporter. She now finds herself peddling similarly problematic stories for ratings and clickbait. Nancy struggles increasingly with both the erasure of identities like her own and the salacious eagerness through which the media (now her job) capitalizes on violence against women in general. The title Missing stems from ‘missing white woman syndrome’ a phrase coined by PBS journalist Gwen Ifill and subsequently adopted by social scientists to refer to the immensely uneven media coverage favouring victims who are upper/middle-class white girls/women in contrast to the coverage and framing of victims of colour. A key goal of the play is to underscore and then question the dominant media representations of women whose stories garner mainstream attention. Whose stories get told? How are they framed? Who, in turn, are marginalized and ignored? How can artists engage representational inequity without inadvertently piling more attention on the already visible? Musicals can and should tackle questions of systemic inequity and inclusion; doing so requires more than positioning protagonists of colour in a theatrical world that fails to acknowledge the systemic realities of our actual one. Missing, a collaborative project in process, tackles these questions.


2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-132
Author(s):  
Karen Grandy

This study examines the American business media’s presentation of the ideal worker/ideal mother conflict, as seen in the 2012-2013 coverage of Marissa Mayer, the then newly appointed, pregnant CEO of the prominent internet company Yahoo. Pregnancy, maternity leave, and childcare are issues that foreground a seemingly unresolvable dilemma for working women who are also mothers: how to meet competing societal pressures to be both an ‘ideal worker’ and an ‘ideal mother’. It might be tempting to dismiss Mayer’s experience as irrelevant to the vast majority of working mothers, given her exalted position and the plethora of options available to her. However, I will argue that the media coverage of Mayer illuminates the double-bind that all working mothers face and the often obscured inequities embedded in the idea of ‘choice’, a neoliberal construct continually invoked in media representations of work and motherhood. 


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