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The Americans are Coming! The Americans are Coming! Framing the Great Lakes Water Debate in the North American Press Brent Gibson, B.A. A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies In partial fulfillment of The requirements for the degree of Master of Arts School of Journalism and Communication ©2008 Brent Gibson Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-36809-1 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-36809-1 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. Canada 11 ABSTRACT A 1998 proposal to export water from Lake Superior to Asia initiated a storm of protest across the Great Lakes region, setting in motion a series of policy responses. This thesis draws upon political communication and environmental communication literatures to explore how the U.S. and Canadian press framed bulk water export and diversion policies and debates from the period 1998-2005. Utilizing quantitative and qualitative methodologies, the research findings indicate much coverage side-stepped the media's traditional role as vehicles for transmitting and translating news and information from the elite to the public, emphasizing instead the importance of elite-elite communication networks. The news media provided arenas for myriad elite actors to engage in policy debate within a discourse defined by political motivations and experiences. The analysis also reveals much about the precarious nature of nationalist mythologies in Canada and the U.S. where 'dangerous Americans' are concerned. Ill ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor, Joshua Greenberg, for his support and insight throughout this research project. You always had thoughtful feedback, despite my wandering, book-length e-mails, and pushed me to write a thesis of which I could be proud. From my examination committee, I would also like to thank Patricia Ballamingie and Andre Turcotte for their thoughtfulness and interest. The final product is stronger because of your help. Thanks are also due to Anne and Gary who have been an unwavering source of encouragement and enthusiasm during my years at Carleton. To my parents, Marg and Tom, you've pushed me to take pride in my work, and to persevere through whatever challenges I may face. Finally, a very special thank you to Sarah. You have never doubted my ability to succeed, no matter how much I might have questioned it myself. Whatever the circumstance - or time of day - you were always an attentive and supportive sounding board. You never let me settle for 'good enough' and I cannot express to you how much your support has meant to me. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Table of Contents iv List of Tables vi List of Figures vii List of Appendices viii 1. Introduction 1 Media Discourse and Water Policy 5 Water In, Water Out 11 Understanding Water Scarcity 14 Thesis Overview 21 2. Discourses of the Environment 25 Covering the Environment: A Review of the Literature 25 Survivalism and the Promethean Response 35 3. Theorizing Politics, Policy and the News Media 40 The Intersection of Media and Policymaking 40 Developing a Theoretical Model to Understand Media Coverage of Water Policy.... 42 Agenda-Setting 42 Spheres of Influence and the Indexing Hypothesis 45 Political Contest Model 47 Critical Elite Theory 52 4. Methodology 57 The Research Sample 57 Sampling Strategy 58 Coding Strategy 59 Content Analysis 64 Framing Analysis 67 The Piper's Tune: Ethical Considerations 71 5. Data Analysis 74 Establishing a Context 74 Discourses of the Elite 83 Elite Framing 83 Source Use 89 The Dangerous American 96 Great Lakes Survivalism and the Promethean Response 98 V Regionally Focused News and the Consequences for Bi-national Media Influences 101 6. Conclusion 105 7. Appendix 1: Tables and Figures 122 8. Appendix 2: About the Newspapers 132 9. Appendix 3: Coding Information 134 Coding Scheme 134 Description of Frames 138 10. References 140 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1-Number of articles written by reporter 125 Table 2 - Top frames, overall (n=241) 127 Table 3 - Top frames, Canadian newspapers (n=167) 127 Table 4 - Top Frames, U.S. newspapers (n=74) 127 Table 5 - Breaking down the Interjurisdictional Relations frames 128 Table 6- Source type 128 Table 7 - Source type, first and second sources 128 Table 8 -Top frames used by Council of Canadians 129 Table 9 - Top frames used by Great Lakes United 129 Table 10 - Use of Dangerous Americans frame by sources 130 Table 11 - Other mentions of topics 131 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 - Articles written per year, by country 122 Figure 2 - Articles written per quarter, by topic 123 Figure 3 - Article location in newspaper, by country 124 Figure 4 - Top dominant frame when None is excluded 125 Figure 5 - Interjurisdictional relations as a dominant frame 126 Figure 6- Number of articles per newspaper 131 Vlll LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix 1: Tables and Figures Error! Bookmark not defined. Appendix 2: About the Newspapers Error! Bookmark not defined. Appendix 3: Coding Information Error! Bookmark not defined. Coding Scheme Error! Bookmark not defined. Description of Frames Error! Bookmark not defined. l 1. INTRODUCTION Two men walk along the shore of the Rideau River in Ottawa. Marc Lavigne is a seasoned political veteran and Solicitor General of Canada. The other, Tom McLaughlin, is a young Prime Minister who has taken over his father's party after McLaughlin Sr. was killed in a mysterious canoeing accident. The two are discussing the fate of Canada's sovereignty in light of an increasingly water-hungry United States. "They will need water," says McLaughlin. "And when they need it they will take it, and that puts us in the shitter. Unless we can do a deal now. Dictate the terms, manage the resource, and exact a price that will sustain the nation in the future because the alternative... there is no fucking alternative." The scene is from the 2004 CBC movie, H20 (Biname, 2006). A consortium of business interests have set into play a series of events to open Canada's water resources to the U.S. When the Prime Minister, McLaughlin Sr., shelves legislation that would pave the way for massive water diversion, he is killed by a former Canadian special forces commando. The consortium cajoles McLaughlin Jr. into taking over the party, and the plan is put back on track. McLaughlin forwards a scheme, making agreements between Ontario, Quebec and First Nations to sell water to pay for health care and ballooning provincial deficits. When evidence is found that confirms his father was assassinated, the Emergency Measures Act is invoked, and civil order begins its strategic erosion. The endgame: continental integration. By inciting just enough disobedience, McLaughlin creates pretence for inviting the U.S. military to assist Canada in protecting shared strategic installations. His vision is one of an integrated North America, where, in his 2 words, "We seek an autonomous relationship, similar to the one that Scotland enjoys with the United Kingdom. The Canadian parliament will retain control over issues which matter to the citizen: health, justice, education, culture. To the United States, we will cede fiscal policy, foreign affairs, and the military." In exchange, McLaughlin offers water. In the end, the plan spirals out of control. The U.S. Ambassador informs the Prime Minister that the collapse of civil order is endangering the well-being of the U.S., and parliament will remain suspended while a provisional government is put in place. Ultimately, the U.S. invades Canada and the Prime Minister has cleared the path. The film fades to black as the Centennial Flame in front of Parliament is extinguished. As a navel-gazing political drama, H2O invokes many deep-rooted Canadian national anxieties. It covers the full spectrum of gremlins that lurk under the beds of nationalists: turmoil and misunderstanding in Quebec-Canada relations; power- concentration in the Prime Minister's Office; concentration of ownership and editorial policy in Canada's media; the Emergency Measures Act and the memory of the October Crisis; and, the lack of a telegenic and unifying leader.