Media Framing, Claims-Making, and Risk in Canada during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Authors

  • Courtney Joshua The University of Winnipeg
  • Kevin Walby The University of Winnipeg

Keywords:

COVID-19, Risk, Contagion, Claims-making, Framing, Health, Canada, News

Abstract

This paper examines the claims made by Canadian media, government agencies, and citizen groups about the social and individual risks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Engaging with the sociology of risk, we analyze media framing and claims-making in the Western provinces of Canada during the first three months of the pandemic. Analyzing 257 articles from CBC News, Global News, National Post, The Globe and Mail, and CTV News, we assess how discourses emanating from community regulation, policing, social media use, and government communications encode notions of risk, contagion, and disease related to COVID-19. We also explore the intersection of these communications with government social media messaging online meant to indicate levels of contagion. By doing so, we add to emerging criminological literature on COVID-19 as well as sociological literatures on risk and health regulation.

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Published

2024-05-13