The Bordering Practices of Canadian Newspapers (2011-2022): “Canada is the Hope of the World”

Abstract

This paper is based on a frame analysis of the media portrayal of Syrian refugees in the three highest circulating Canadian newspapers from 2011 to 2022. From 2011 to 2013 the focus was on the conflict being far away, confusing and complicated but not Canada’s concern. From 2014 to 2016, the conflict became urgent to Canadians and their politicians. From 2017 to 2022, as policy changed to actively soliciting refugees to come to Canada, the focus emphasized the inadequacies of resources available to refugees and bureaucratic snafus. There was little reporting about Syrian refugees as people, but when given a voice they were portrayed as grateful and heroic.

Keywords:

• Canada
• newspapers
• Syrian refugees
• frame analysis
• media

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council under Insight Grant is 435-2021-0529.