Search

This paper explores Canadian reporting on suicide and the ways it changed over 150 years. Archival research on the reporting practices of two long-standing newspapers presented here shows that suicide was not always taboo in the media. In fact, the silencing and tip-toeing around reporting on suicide only began in the mid-twentieth century. Early newspaper accounts frequently included reports on suicides, both local and far removed, including details on the exact manner of death. As public perceptions of suicide, and the laws surrounding it, gradually shifted from considering the act a crime to an aspect of psychiatric malady, reporting on suicide changed. Once suicide became an untouchable subject in newsrooms the stigma became entrenched, making it hard to address in any meaningful way for decades [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Canada, opposition toward GLBQ identities and practices has been almost entirely religious in nature. On the other hand, antipathy toward "undesirable" immigrant profiles--ironically, often those perceived as homophobic and misogynistic--has been articulated through arguments about the supposed incompatibility of their religious values (usually Islamic) with "Canadian" mores. This paper analyzes a variety of national news media to demonstrate how the transgressive figures of the immigrant and the queer are composed in a powerful and particular way through journalistic attitudes toward and understandings of religion. In particular, I examine a discursive framework emergent in reporting on two recent tragedies--one, the 2011 suicide of the gay Ottawa teenager Jamie Hubley, and the other, the 2009 Shafia family "honour killings." I argue that this reporting disingenuously evokes a commitment to tolerance without occasioning a substantial interrogation of what is really being tolerated and why. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article challenges assertions made by business magazine editors that the business press plays no role beyond reporting on women's executive advancement—or lack thereof. The study begins with the latest reported statistics on women's leadership roles in corporate Canada and a summary of the most common explanations for these numbers. The second half of the paper goes on to examine the Canadian print media coverage of Annette Verschuren, a woman who defied the executive odds. It argues that although Verschuren is prominently featured in the business press, gendered stereotyping, which has been identified as a major obstacle to women's promotion, is reinforced in that coverage by both the framing of her story and the language and imagery used to describe her and her accomplishments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The word gang appears frequently in newspapers. The meaning of this term, however, varies greatly depending on context. This study examines its different significations in the top-selling English-language newspapers in Canada. Taking almost 3,900 occurrences of the term and its variants (gangs, ganging, and ganged) in the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the Vancouver Sun, and Montreal's Gazette, the authors analyse how journalists deploy the concept of gangs to describe diverse subjects from vandalism by teenagers to extortion by organized crime syndicates to terrorist plots by religious extremists as well as simply groups of friends or acquaintances with no criminal connections. Using Ernesto Laclau's concept of the empty signifier as the main theoretical framework, the authors argue that 'gang' has been emptied of its meaning and, while its current uses are not necessarily indicative of conspiratorial or ideological strategies, this ambiguity risks being appropriated within hegemonic political discourses if not questioned and reassessed by journalists and readers. The authors conclude by suggesting ways to combat this problem of ambiguity and highlight the political implications that future researchers may explore in relation to mediated representations of crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Criminology is the property of University of Toronto Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)