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Contextualizing the Crisis: The Framing of Syrian Refugees in Canadian Print Media

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2018

Rebecca Wallace
Rebecca Wallace*
Affiliation:
Queen's University
*
Department of Political Studies, Queen's University, Mackintosh-Corry Hall, Room C321, 68 University Ave., Kingston ON, K7L 3N6, email: r.wallace@queensu.ca
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Abstract

This project examines the framing of the Syrian refugee crisis in Canadian print media from January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2016, in eight English-language major dailies. Using automated coding to uncover central themes in the coverage, this analysis explores the changes in news frames over the course of the conflict and the concomitant federal election in Canada, as well as across regional and national news sources. The results indicate that the conflict frame dominates the coverage of Syrian refugees in the pre-election period but shifts markedly following the release of the iconic Alan Kurdi photo toward a more humanizing depiction of refugee families and their resettlement. This analysis speaks to the importance of news media in reflecting and reproducing depictions of refugees among the Canadian public, highlighting the value of examining changes in the portrayals of refugees over time and across news outlets.

Résumé

Ce projet examine la formulation dont la presse écrite canadienne a rendu compte de la crise des réfugiés syriens du 1er janvier 2012 au 31 décembre 2016 dans huit grands quotidiens anglophones. Au moyen d’une codification automatique employée pour repérer les thèmes clés des reportages, cette analyse explore les changements intervenus dans les cadres d’information au cours du conflit et en coïncidence avec l’élection fédérale au Canada, ainsi qu’au travers des sources d’information nationales. Les résultats indiquent un encadrement général du conflit dans la couverture médiatique de la situation des réfugiés syriens pendant la période préélectorale, avec cependant un changement net après la publication de la photo emblématique du petit Aylan Kurdi marquant une description humanisée de la situation des familles et de leur réinstallation. Cette analyse confirme l’importance des médias d’information dans la réflexion et la reproduction des représentation des réfugiés parmi le public canadien, en faisant ressortir la valeur que revêt l’examen des changements survenus dans la description de la situation des réfugiés au fil du temps et dans les médias d’information.

Type
Research Article/Étude originale
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 51 , Issue 2 , June 2018 , pp. 207 - 231
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 2018 

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