The influence of region and language on daily newspaper coverage of the Meech Lake Accord

Todd Gitlin's news frame theory contends that the mass media use patterns of selection, emphasis and neglect to guide their coverage of issues. The hypothesis to be tested in this thesis is that in Canada, these framing patterns are set according to regional and linguistic influences. Using content analysis, the thesis probes the manner and extent to which the daily press in Canada was influenced by its respective regional base and linguistic community with respect to the Meech Lake Accord. It is suggested that while the impact of region and language was not as pronounced as hypothesized, in some areas differences in coverage impacted public understanding of the issues. Generally, coverage of the Accord's five key provisions was the same, barely visible, regardless of its regional and linguistic origins. However, coverage of the constitutional process used the forge the Accord was strictly an English issue. In a similar vein, coverage of the historical background leading to the Accord was only present in the Quebec and French papers. The hypothesis that Gitlin's news frame is, in Canada, driven by region and language is refuted, perhaps suggesting that these traditional cleavages in Canadian politics have now been replaced by Charter groups.