Lam Steven, Cunsolo Ashlee, Sawatzky Alexandra, Ford James, Harper Sherilee L
Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Rd E, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada.
Labrador Institute of Memorial University, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
BMC Public Health. 2017 Mar 27;17(1):282. doi: 10.1186/s12889-017-4164-4.
Drinking water insecurity and related health outcomes often disproportionately impact Indigenous communities internationally. Understanding media coverage of these water-related issues can provide insight into the ways in which public perceptions are shaped, with potential implications for decision-making and action. This study aimed to examine the extent, range, and nature of newspaper coverage of drinking water security in Canadian Indigenous communities.
Using ProQuest database, we systematically searched for and screened newspaper articles published from 2000 to 2015 from Canadian newspapers: Windspeaker, Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, and National Post. We conducted descriptive quantitative analysis and thematic qualitative analysis on relevant articles to characterize framing and trends in coverage.
A total of 1382 articles were returned in the search, of which 256 articles were identified as relevant. There was limited coverage of water challenges for Canadian Indigenous communities, especially for Métis (5%) and Inuit (3%) communities. Most stories focused on government responses to water-related issues, and less often covered preventative measures such as source water protection. Overall, Indigenous peoples were quoted the most often. Double-standards of water quality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, along with conflict and cooperation efforts between stakeholders were emphasized in many articles.
Limited media coverage could undermine public and stakeholder interest in addressing water-related issues faced by many Canadian Indigenous communities.
在国际上，饮用水不安全及相关健康问题对原住民社区的影响往往尤为严重。了解媒体对这些与水相关问题的报道，有助于洞察公众认知的形成方式，这可能对决策和行动产生影响。本研究旨在考察加拿大原住民社区饮用水安全方面报纸报道的范围、广度和性质。
利用ProQuest数据库，我们系统检索并筛选了2000年至2015年加拿大报纸《风语者》《多伦多星报》《环球邮报》和《国家邮报》上发表的报纸文章。我们对相关文章进行了描述性定量分析和主题定性分析，以描述报道的框架和趋势。
检索共返回1382篇文章，其中256篇被确定为相关文章。对加拿大原住民社区水问题的报道有限，尤其是对梅蒂斯（5%）和因纽特（3%）社区的报道。大多数报道聚焦于政府对与水相关问题的应对措施，较少涉及诸如水源保护等预防措施。总体而言，原住民被引用的频率最高。许多文章强调了原住民社区与非原住民社区在水质方面的双重标准，以及利益相关者之间的冲突与合作努力。
有限的媒体报道可能会削弱公众和利益相关者对解决许多加拿大原住民社区所面临水相关问题的关注。
