BRAND JANE - FINCH: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF PRINT
MEDIA DISCOURSE ON A TORONTO LOW INCOME COMMUNITY
HAIDE T. HALL
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER'S OF ART
GRADUATE PROGRAM OF COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE
YORK UNIVERSITY,
TORONTO, ONTARIO
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The theoretical frameworks of critical discourse analysis (CDA), framing and branding are fused in this study to create a variant framework through which news discourse on Jane-Finch, a low-income community in Toronto, Canada is filtered. The approaches of CDA, framing and branding intersect around language and power and are therefore beneficial for combining in any analysis that seeks to identify the socio-cultural influences on the text, such as the reiteration of dominant discourses within the text. This research examined news articles selected from The Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail, two mainstream Canadian newspapers with the highest circulation. The news articles show that Jane-Finch is portrayed in a negative and stereotypical way by both newspapers. These findings support the view that news discourse is as ideologically-bound as other forms of discourse, despite claims to its objectivity. As a consequence of being ideologically-bound, a fundamental attribution error is enacted in news coverage on Jane-Finch, as coverage repeatedly attributed the problems in Jane-Finch to race and immigrants
(internal factors) and ignored the more substantive contributing factors of discrimination, structural constraints, poverty and joblessness (external structural factors). More generally, the analysis shows that news about Jane-
Finch tends to be negative and therefore obscures any positive developments
iv in the community. Sustained repetition of the same news stories brands the community with a negative reputation and promotes a false stereotype of its residents. Not only is news capable of agenda-setting (bringing certain issues to the forefront), but in repeatedly showcasing issues the same way all the time, a 'branding effect' (similar to the process in corporate branding) is enacted. A 'domino effect' results in that negative branding of Jane-Finch affects property values, prevents educational and job opportunities for its residents and reduces economic development of the area. Ultimately, this can cause misrecognition of the 'real' problems affecting the community, preventing the development of effective community and policy responses to these issues. The thesis not only contributes knowledge in the area of branding and the news but also contributes in the area of policy-making related to low-income communities and the poor. Policy-makers need to address external structural factors affecting these areas and pay less attention to the 'sensational' areas showcased by the media. For example, because of the focus on crime in the news media, policymakers may think more stringent crime laws are needed when if other issues, such as ensuring jobs for the young, are addressed, youth crime would lessen.
v Dedication
This thesis is dedicated to
Osric and Phyllis Hall, the very best parents in the world.
VI Acknowledgements
This thesis is dedicated to my mother and father, Phyllis and Osric Hall, who have always supported me unconditionally, especially as far as my scholarly goals. As an educator, Mom, you passed your love for learning on to me - it is a gift for which I am forever grateful. And, Dad, your quiet strength always grounded me, especially now in adulthood. A special thanks too to all my brothers and sisters (Sharon, Colin, Jossette, Alwyn, Nyron and Marsha) for their constant support.
I also extend gratitude to Professor Fred Fletcher, my supervisor, who provided constant scholarly guidance throughout my graduate studies at York
University. My thanks also to the members of the examining committee: Amin
Alhassan, Barbara Crow, Leesa Fawcett and Honor Ford-Smith for their
insightful comments on the paper.
Lastly, I thank the many friends who contributed to making my studies at York
and this research a successful endeavour.
VII Table of Contents
Abstract iv
Acknowledgements vii
Table of Contents viii
List of Tables xiii
Introduction 1
Research Aim and Questions 7
Overview of Methodology and Theoretical Framework 10
Significance 11
Assumptions and Limitations 13
Overview and Organization of Chapters 15
Theoretical and Methodological Framework 16
Discourse Analytic Approaches 17
Critical Discourse Analysis 19
Potential Weakness in CDA 22
Applying Fairclough: Communicative Events and Orders of Discourse 23
The Variant Framework 25
Superstructure and Propositions 26
Framing within the Literature 31
Distinct Applications of Framing within the Literature 35
Frames as Salience 37
viii Frames as Organizing Schemas 38
Frames as News (text) Attributes 39
Episodic vs. Thematic Framing and Attribution of Responsibility 39
Framing and Social Constructionism 41
Van Gorp's Frames as Culture Premise 42
Frame Package 42
Weaknesses in the Framing Concept and Approach 45
Framing and its Alignment with CDA Theory and Methodology 46
Incorporating Branding into the Research Framework 51
Social Dimension or Socio-cultural Features of Canada 54
Canada's Historical, Social, Cultural and Economic Dimension 55
Ontario and its Demographics 58
Whither a Racist Canada? 59
Racialized Economy and Racialized Access to Resources 62
Barriers to Employment 63
Precarious Work 63
Job Market realities and income inequality 65
Racialized women and the criminal justice system 66
Economic Performance of Racialized and Recent Immigrants 66
Creation of the South in the North 67
Textual Analysis 69
Data Selection & Analysis 69 ix Scope of this Research 71
Research Structure 72
Analysis 73
Social Dimension (contextual) analysis structure 74
Research Questions 75
Political Orientation of the Newspapers 77
Data Collection and Selection 78
Potential Bias 80
Textual Analysis - Part 1 81
Headline Analysis 84
List-of-Frames 90
What the Literature Reveals 92
Urban Social Pathology Frame 93
Victorian Ideals -Aligning the Poor with 'Dirt' 95
Government Policy or Program Frame 96
Blame the Victim or Anti-poverty Frame 97
Crime Coverage Disproportionate to Crimes Committed 98
Bad News Frame 99
Public Housing Stigma 100
Construction of Blacks as Criminals 100
Stereotypes about Minorities 103
Immigrant Xenophobia 104
x Branding Analysis 107
Textual Analysis - Part 2 107
Scope of Analysis 107
Article 1 109
Article 2 116
Article 3 121
Article 4 125
Article 5 135
Article 6 143
Article 7 147
Linking the Frames to the Social Dimension or Socio-cultural Context 151
Brand Jane-Finch 153
Relating Corporate Branding to the Branding of Jane-Finch 155
Jane-Finch as a Product 156
The Elements of Branding 162
Attributes 163
Associations 169
Brand Identity (image) of Jane-Finch 171
Brand Personality (Persona) 173
The End Result of Branding - Reputational Capital 177
The Consequences of Brand Jane-Finch 178
Conclusions and Discussion 180
xi The Invisible Minority 188
Racialization of Crime 189
Dominant Discourses Uncovered in the Texts 190
Limitations and Considerations for Further Research 197
Recommendations for Change 200
References 205
Appendix A: Newspaper Articles 219
Appendix B: News Headline Analysis 261
Appendix C: Frame Analysis 277
XII List of Tables
Table 1: Norman Fairclough's discourse analytical framework 24
Table 2: Teun van Dijk's News Superstructure 27
Table 3: Van Gorp's Frame as Culture Argument 43
Table 4: Van Gorp's Frame Reconstruction 44
Table 5: Norman Fairclough's CDA Dimensions 71
Table 6: Van Gorp's textual analysis structure 74
Table 7: Table showing van Gorp's structure of contextual analysis 74
Table 8: Frames Identified in News Articles 149
Table 9: Framing Cross-Analysis Table 150
Table 10: Linking frames to the social dimension 152
Table 11: Steps to Corporate Branding 155
Table 12: Branding Attributes found in News Articles 165
Table 13: Branding Attributes found in news articles 168
XIII CHAPTER ONE Introduction contrary to any claims to objectivity on the part of the media industry, news reporting is a mode of rhetoric in the broadest sense of the word - a value laden ideologically determined discourse with a clear potential to influence the media audience's assumptions and beliefs about the way the world is and ought to be - P.R.R. White (2006)
Jane-Finch, a low-income community in Toronto, Canada is burdened with a negative reputation. Analysts and Jane-Finch residents alike claim the news media is responsible for Jane-Finch's negative reputation. Grise (2006), in a recent study, points out the area is often associated with negative stereotypes of crime and violence (49) and like many, he finds the media accountable:
"Jane-Finch is a community perhaps known best for its violence and guns thanks to the mainstream media portrayals of the community (49)." Residents of Jane-Finch themselves have voiced concerns about news media coverage; as an example, see a Toronto Star article entitled, Media Blamed for Poor
Image of Jane- Finch in which coverage of Jane-Finch is described as sensationalized (Appendix A).
For some time, the media's portrayal of peoples, communities and issues has been a contentious area within (and even outside) academia (Packard, 1950;
Klapper, 1949; Scheufele & Tewsbury, 2007). While the effects of media 1 discourse are still an area of controversy, scholars have provided convincing evidence that the news media's claims to objectivity and impartiality are not tenable (see for example, Schudson, 2003). However much news organizations strive for neutrality, it is clear that they reflect and are constrained by dominant discourses. Researchers found news content influenced by filters such as type of news sources, ownership, journalistic bias, profit-orientation, fear of lawsuits, and government muzzling (restrictions) (see
Hackett & Gruneau, 1999, for instance). Clearly, news portrayals must be viewed as ideological.
This paper examines potential news influence by assessing how mainstream
Canadian print media characterize and present Jane-Finch to readers. While it is true that low-income Jane-Finch has a higher crime rate than other 'well-off' areas in Toronto, thus confirming there may be some factual basis for the image of the area, the media's contribution to building a negative perception of
Jane-Finch is worth investigating and is the issue that preoccupies this study.
Criminal acts take place in other areas of Toronto, such as downtown Toronto, however these areas do not seem to have the overall negative reputation as that held by Jane-Finch.
2 In the case of Jane-Finch, the main finding of this thesis is that the news media operate with a 'fundamental attribution error' (FAE), when it comes to coverage of the community (which is what even the residents of Jane-Finch seem to be saying). With fundamental attribution error, behaviours or actions are attributed to internal (for example, personality, immigrant status or, in this case, race) rather than external (situational or contextual) factors. Fiske and
Taylor (1991) note with FAE one "attribute(s) another person's behaviour to his or her dispositional qualities rather than situational factors (67)." Jane-
Finch as a low-income community faces similar issues confronting other inner- city areas in Toronto (and even other major North American cities), yet in the findings of this paper:
The news media coverage wrongly attributes these problems to race and immigration and ignores the real issues of discrimination, structural constraints, poverty, joblessness and other issues;
The negative 'branding' of the area enacted in the media stereotypes its residents and would obscure any positive development in the community, and;
These consistent, prolonged negative attributions in the media not only affect property values, economic development, job and educational opportunities, but they will also make it more difficult to design effective community and policy responses through misrecognition of problems and lowered self-esteem, optimism and hope amongst its residents.
Jane-Finch the community in question is found in Toronto. By first-world standards, the landscape of Toronto, a first class city situated in one of the wealthiest nations in the world, would be deemed marred by its backdrop of 3 low-income communities. Journalist Laurie Monsebraaten in an article published in The Toronto Star on October 2, 2007 confirms Toronto's standing in the world:
Toronto continues to rank among the world's most livable cities. Crime rates are down, physical activity and environmental awareness are up. And the city is the centre of a growing and prosperous region. But according to Vital Signs 2007, the Toronto Community Foundation's annual checkup on the city's social and economic health, Toronto has stalled in terms of population growth and prosperity the gap between the rich and poor continues to expand with the richest tenth now earning on average nearly 11 times the amount of the poorest tenth. Finding work - and jobs that pay living wages - remains tougher for new immigrants and young people.
Toronto's low-income communities have the reputation of being crime-ridden, backward, and welfare-dependent (this knowledge I have gained from living in
Toronto) and not surprisingly, these communities are mostly composed of poor immigrants, minorities, and low-income earners who probably cannot afford rent in other parts of the city. The city, in fact, is a microcosm of a world where capital-driven, rigidly deep, class-based divisions exist at every level between the minute percentage who make up the rich compared to the large percentile who is frantically poor and who often end up in inner cities. As Macek (2006) notes:
In these densely settled, often squalid, desperately impoverished neighbourhoods, which could be found in every major city in the capitalist world, successive generations of bourgeois social explorers, reformers and uplifters confronted, surveyed and tried to come to grips with their worst nightmares: the human detritus cast off by the
4 exploitative economic system on which their comfortable lifestyles depended. (43)
Toronto is similar to many first world cities: - see the same article by Laurie
Monsebraaten's in which an economist analysed Statistics Canada to show:
low- and moderate-income families in Toronto are not reaping the benefits of the city's booming economy....she found that most low- and moderate-income families in Canada are sinking further into debt and working longer hours just to keep pace. The problem is even more pronounced in Ontario and most severe in the Toronto area, she says.
Many of Toronto's poor live in social housing communities like Jane-Finch, which was "developed as a high-rise suburb in the 1960s, in part by Ontario
Housing Corp. Of note is that the area's population boomed from about 1,300 in 1961 to 33,000 in 1971." (Neighbourhoods in Need, Toronto Star, April 10,
2007). Today the community has a population of 85, 275 and "half of (its) families earn less than $40, 376 a year compared to 11 per cent of families across the city (Neighbourhoods in Need, Toronto Star, April 10, 2007)."
Earlier this year, the City of Toronto and United Way identified Jane-Finch as one of 13 Toronto communities that "need special investment in social services" (Neighbourhoods in Need, Toronto Star, April 10, 2007).
Jane-Finch has also now grown into an immigrant community made up of
"mostly new immigrants from over 100 different national backgrounds
(Desroches, 1992)." A Presentation to the Safe Cities for Youth Conference 5 (March 12, 2007) entitled, a Model for Meaningful Youth Engagement, found on the City of Toronto website reveals:
82 different nationalities live in Jane-Finch, speaking 102 different languages; 75% are new immigrants currently facing a 40% rate of unemployment; poverty, marginalization and single parentage, primarily women-led households is the norm. (Wraith, 2007)
In reality though, Jane-Finch is an intersection in Toronto where Jane Street intersects with Finch Avenue. Homes and high-rise buildings branching off from this intersection are referred to in the news as 'Jane-Finch'. News reports on crime occurring in homes or buildings near the intersection refer to these locations as Jane-Finch. As a resident of the Greater Toronto Area for a number of years, I have learnt overtime that Jane-Finch is the Toronto low- income community with the worst reputation (see also Grise, 2006). Despite the notorious reputation the 'community' seems to have in the news (see the analysis of news articles later in the thesis) and within the city of Toronto, when one visits Jane-Finch one uncovers a very different picture; one that contradicts the dominant portrayal of this neighbourhood as dangerous. This makes the focus of negative attention on the neighbourhood in the print media
(see the analysis of news headlines and articles in Chapter 3) a high point of interest and raises questions as to 'why' the negative is repeatedly identified and accentuated.
6 Research Aim and Questions
The overall aim of this thesis research is to identify any influences from the social dimension (for example, dominant discourses) on the portrayal of Jane-
Finch within the mainstream print media and to determine whether the constant negative portrayals of the community enact a certain kind of branding-from-without. As far as is possible as in a critical discourse analysis, the study will demonstrate the importance of discourse in naming subjects and locations so as to maintain a kind of distinction; a kind of 'othering', or an "us" versus "them" dichotomy and to reinforce power relations.
The main research questions are: how is Jane-Finch characterized in mainstream print media in Toronto? Or, in other words, how is Jane-Finch constructed linguistically in the press? These questions also seek to decipher if the print media has a role in any stigma leveled against low-income communities with the same make-up of Jane-Finch, not only in Toronto, but also in other places. In identifying the extent and degree of the negative branding of Jane-Finch and how this 'branding-from-without' operates, the study may give insights into why low-income communities in general are saddled with a poor reputation and the print media's role in reputation-building around low-income communities. The print media are influential because of
7 their ability to command acceptance from society as credible sources of information and their ability to be far-reaching and accessed by a large cross- section of the Canadian society (see the General Social Survey, Statistics
Canada, 1998). A most important consideration in choosing print media is that newspapers are not only mostly read by educated, individuals with more privilege, 'power' (who have more sway) and wealth in society, but are also written by these same people (see Lorimer and Gasher, 2004).
As well, even though television remains the dominant medium, newspapers are still widely read and, in fact, influence television news coverage. A 2005
National Audience Database (NADBank) study additionally demonstrates that
"across all markets, 52% of adults 18+ read a newspaper everyday, 55% read a newspaper last weekend. By Friday, 72% of adults have read at least one issue of a daily newspaper and 78% have read a newspaper in the past week." Given these findings, newspapers do have a wide reach in Canada and thus newspaper articles could potentially contribute to some sort of 'branding' or 'attaching of meaning' to low income communities, or, any community for that matter, through constant representation of the community in a certain way.
8 Of importance is that the reader is not only receiving news written from the worldview (perspective) of the reporter who wrote the news, but newspapers do reflect the 'beliefs' of their audiences in trying to keep their readership and in consideration of advertising dollars. John Miller (1998) confirms the newspaper audience in Canada is constituted by the better educated and, by extension, more privileged Canadians. He notes that:
increasingly Canadian newspapers are catering to a rather, older and better educated reader for the sake of the bottom line. They are, in short, becoming elitist, programmed by marketing to deliver the "right" kind of readers to advertisers. (29)
What this means is newspaper content is now 'catered' to achieve a certain kind of audience and often reflects what that certain kind of audience wants to see and hear.
This research will focus on mainstream Canadian newspapers, such as The
Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail because of their wide reach. However, headlines from the Share Newspaper, as a newspaper directed at the black diaspora in Toronto, will also be assessed to tap into or investigate any counter discourses. These counter discourses may be present in alternative media because the alternative media are often not trying to appeal to mainstream audiences (and to attract as large amounts of advertising dollars
9 as the mainstream media). They also often represent an alternate voice, that of their audience, which is most times absent from mainstream media.
Overview of Methodology and Theoretical Framework
The empirical aspects of this study are based on a quantitative content analysis of selected newspaper headlines and a qualitative textual analysis of full articles. The textual analysis of the articles relies on Critical Discourse
Analysis (CDA) methodology - which analyzes texts in the context of the myths that sustain the social distribution of power - and framing analysis, which assists the analyst to identify the assumptions underlying the selection of important phrases and metaphors that are likely to shape audience interpretations (frames). The CDA methodology, in its evolution, sought to address a gap in textual analysis, whereby analysis was focused solely on the text and ignored the social context within which the text was written or enacted
(see Tonkiss, 2004). The CDA approach sets out to be two-pronged: firstly, to be critical and secondly, to pursue change, or at least draw attention to where change is needed (see Fairclough, 1995, 2004). The approach is very applicable to critically looking at the language used 'around' low-income communities in Toronto, whilst bearing in mind the unequal power relations present in society. In addition, the analysis uses the concept of branding to
10 deconstruct the linguistic process by which Jane-Finch is labeled and stereotyped in the texts.
Significance
The topic of this research paper is worthy of investigation as it not only allows a look at how one low income community is portrayed in the print media, but its thesis can also be extended in later studies to look at whether there is a potential relationship between the type of coverage and the community's status as a low income community. This is easily achieved by studying and comparing media portrayals of low-income, middle-income and high-income communities.
Secondly, this research study is worthy in that its results are applicable to assessing how being framed and 'branded' a certain way is likely to affect the subjectivity of persons living in low-income communities. The ability to negatively impact subjectivity through text and talk from a position of power is well documented. Graddol and Boyd-Barrett (1994) indicate "subjectivity is not given by (the) membership of well defined social groups but is constructed through discourse - the everyday experience of language interaction (19)." To extend this particular thesis further one can, in follow-up studies, investigate
11 the impact of this subjectivity on the quality of life of persons living in low- income communities.
Thirdly, the study also finds value in that it is the first of its kind attempting to merge 'branding' theory with Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The merging of CDA and branding may help show the power of consistent and repetitive discourse within society. Testing branding's applicability, in this case, adds a new dimension to looking at how language unwittingly, or otherwise, can carry out a branding effect and function because of its persuasive powers, or because it is being directed from a certain place or position of power. The value of merging branding with CDA is to test whether non-marketing or non- branding language or discourse can carry out an 'unsuspecting' or unintended branding function. This merging, in turn, adds a new dimension to critical research (as described in the next paragraph below).
Lastly, the subject is worthy of investigation, as through using CDA, it contributes to the new pool of critical research in academia. CDA is a promising method of research because of its focus on the 'critical'. 'Critical' research is essential in taking the lead towards social change and in identifying and responding to social anxieties. In defining critical research,
Phillips and Jorgensen (2002) state it aims "to investigate and analyse power
12 relations in society and to formulate normative perspectives from which a critique of these can be made with an eye on the possibilities for social change." CDA seeks to address social issues stemming from power imbalances in society by critically examining text and talk, drawing attention to these issues and demanding or taking action.
Assumptions and Limitations
A significant limitation with any discourse analytic study is that the analysis and newspaper articles are constrained and influenced by the researcher's personal beliefs, experiences, worldview and perspective. In the case of this research, it is expected that my experiences and beliefs would also influence any interpretations. As well, another researcher could interpret these same headlines and newspaper articles differently depending on their worldview and experiences. In undertaking research of this nature, my subjectivity as a researcher has to be considered. I was drawn to the topic because the issues are very relevant to me on several levels. I am a black woman who is an immigrant in Toronto. As a student living on the York University campus, I also reside near the Jane-Finch community and regularly go to the community to do grocery shopping. I was amazed that when I visited Jane-Finch, despite what I had heard, that the picture I saw for myself there was far different from what was held in the public perception of the area and what was depicted in 13 various news stories on the area. In so doing, the issues examined in this thesis are very close to me, and the way in which I 'read' the news stories may be done differently by someone else who is far from the issues at hand. This has to be borne in mind when reading the research - nonetheless, even with that said, this research was undertaken with the strictest academic rigour possible.
Another major assumption of the study is that broad statements about print media's ability and potential to brand communities can be made from analyzing a select number of headlines and sample articles from two mainstream newspapers. Another assumption is that the audiences themselves who encounter these articles and headlines would interpret the stories in the same way, or would be influenced by the stories to the extent that they obtain the same impression of Jane - Finch, through this 'branding effect', and not bring their own experience or understanding to the text. The analyst must assume that her experience of the discourse in its cultural context will lead her to an understanding of how others would respond to the same textual materials. Conclusions, therefore, must be understood as indicative and not definitive.
14 Overview and Organization of Chapters
The thesis is divided into five chapters including this chapter. Chapter two provides a description of the theoretical framework and the methodology used in conducting the study. Framing, Branding and Critical Discourse Analytic
Methodology are merged to create a framework through which the newspaper articles and headlines are analysed. Importantly, all these approaches intersect around language and power and are therefore beneficial to combine in this analysis. Chapter three describes the corpus (the articles and headlines selected) and gives an overview of the data selection process and criteria and the data analysis steps. Chapter four outlines the branding analysis, demonstrates how corporate branding aligns with the branding of
Jane-Finch and shows how Canadian print media portrayals create Brand
Jane-Finch. Chapter five relates the Canadian context to the text, that is, the news articles analysed and sums up with a discussion and recommendations.
15 CHAPTER TWO Theoretical and Methodological Framework
A number of academic areas and methodological approaches intersect and underlie this analysis which seeks to capture how the low-income community of Jane-Finch in Toronto is portrayed textually in mainstream print media. The thesis will determine the subtle linkages of this portrayal to discourses of power and the extent to which the community suffers from a branding-from- without as a result.
For this analysis, we will bring together the academic areas and theories in communication and culture associated with the discourse analytic approach, in addition to theories associated with framing and branding. It will be demonstrated that these areas do intersect and coincide on a number of levels and can be merged and cross-fertilized to create a powerful analytic (filtering) tool for the variables (related to discourses of power) to be assessed in this research study. These areas overlap in that they all have to do with language and address the power of language in their own way. For example, framing is an assessment of media (news) language and its potential impacts on audiences and policy, whilst branding in its classic sense is the use of language to meet certain strategic business ends. Critical discourse analysis
(CDA) on the other hand, takes a critical look at language use and its socio- 16 cultural underpinnings in the bid to generate and create social change.
Brookes (1995) points out that the aim of critical discourse analysis (CDA) is to
"uncover how language works to construct meanings that signify people, objects and events in the world in specific ways (462)."
Discourse Analytic Approaches
The body of literature on discourse analysis reveals a diverse range of approaches extending from cognitive approaches (van Dijk), critical approaches (Fairclough, Foucault), articulation theory (Mouffe and Laclau), to discursive psychology. However, they all share a fundamental epistemology,
Jorgensen and Phillips (2002) note:
discourse analytic approaches take as their starting point the claim of structuralist and poststructuralist linguistic philosophy that our access to reality is always through language. With language we create representations of reality that are never mere reflections of a pre existing reality but contribute to constructing reality. (8)
To grasp the essence of critical discourse analytic approaches, one can rely on Jorgensen and Phillips' (2002) claim that all discourse analytic approaches agree on the following points:
Language is not a reflection of pre-existing reality. Language is structured in pattern or discourses - there is not one just one general system of meaning as in Saussurian structuralism but a series of systems or discourses whereby meanings change from discourse to discourse. These discursive patterns are maintained and transformed in discursive practices. 17 The maintenance and transformation of the patterns should be explored through analysis of the specific contexts in which language is in action. (12)
However, discourse analytical approaches are also varied and wide-ranging; there are those approaches that solely analyse text; others analyse text to highlight the socio-cultural influences on text and to show that text is a reflection of socio-cultural changes and still others analyse text to show the operation of power in society. In discourse analysis, the term 'text' encapsulates more than just the written; instead, text can mean written, oral, visual, non-verbal language. Despite their varied frameworks, at their most basic level, critical discourse analytic approaches aim to analyze language or texts.
The term 'discourse' itself is also somewhat 'loaded' in that it has differing meanings. Fairclough et al (2004) admit:
There is a great deal of conceptual confusion around the term "discourse." The term is used in a variety of different senses, including as an abstract noun to refer to what we might call the semiotic, one element or moment of the social, more concretely as a count noun to refer to particular discourses (for instance according to social field, ideology, social function, or topic, for example political discourse, feminist discourse, discourses of social welfare, management discourse, and so on), and most concretely to refer to particular instances of, especially, spoken interaction. There are also different theoretical, academic and cultural traditions which may push discourse (especially in the first two senses) in different directions. (4)
18 Critical Discourse Analysis
Of all the discourse analytical methods, this study will rely on Critical
Discourse Analysis (CDA) as its overarching methodological framework. This method of analysis falls within the arena of critical social science research.
Critical perspectives, such as this one, concern themselves with casting a critical eye at society and eventually proffering solutions to counter society's problematics or ills. As Fairclough and Wodak (2004) indicate "critical social research draws upon the resources of social science to address the most pressing social problems of the day: those aspects of the structure, organization and functioning of human societies that cause suffering, injustice, danger, inequality, insecurity, and self-doubt (1)."
CDA seeks to address social issues stemming from power imbalances in society by critically examining text and talk. The CDA methodology, in its evolution, sought to address a gap in textual analysis, whereby analysis was focused solely on the text and ignored the social context within which the text was written or enacted (see Tonkiss, 2004). The CDA approach sets out to be two-pronged: firstly, to be critical and secondly, to pursue change, or at least draw attention to where change is needed (see Fairclough, 1995, 2004). The approach is very applicable to critically looking at the language used 'around'
19 low income communities in Toronto, whilst bearing in mind the unequal power relations present in the Canadian society.
In actuality, critical discourse analysis is concerned with societal anxieties and injustices, making it an ideal formulation through which to filter the linguistic depictions of the low-income community Jane-and-Finch. That is to say as a low-income community, Jane-Finch is disadvantaged and embodies anxieties on several levels. For instance, anxieties as an immigrant community, as a community of low-income earners as well as a community consisting of 'the other', that is, other than what is considered distinctly Canadian (see Galabuzi,
2006) for a discussion on the White Canadian imaginary). It is therefore worth considering the extent to which Jane-Finch has been and is constituted through language, especially because it identifies how these anxieties are constructed, reinforced or reproduced.
In so doing, critical discourse studies argue that discourse is inherent not only to the process of creating and maintaining societies' ills but integral as well to the transforming of the inequalities and injustices in society. As noted by
Fairclough (1999):
language is a 'machine' that generates and as a result constitutes the social world. This also extends to the constitution of social identities and social relations. It means that changes (author's emphasis) in discourse are a means by which the social world is changed. Struggles at the 20 discursive level take part in changing as well as in reproducing the social reality. (9)
To Fairclough (1999) it is clear ascribing meaning in discourse works to constitute and change the world. There are opportunities then for journalistic ponderings on Jane-Finch to either change perceptions around the community or maintain the discursive constructions of the community. To what extent then is the depiction of Jane-Finch in Canadian mainstream newspaper articles a means to preserving the social Canadian reality, which not only consist of the country's social, economic cultural and political make-up but also its problematics - the injustices or inequalities present in its structure.
Critical discourse analysts are concerned with how language is used to maintain these structural deficiencies. Fairclough and Wodak (2004) concur that:
critical social researchers are acutely and increasingly aware that such issues and problems are, to some significant degree, problems of discourse. One might argue that it has always been so: people not only act and organize in particular ways, they also represent their ways of acting and organizing, and produce imaginary projections of new or alternative ways, in particular discourses. People also organize and act through particular discourses. (2)
Language has inherent political power; it is often those with control over language and its production who have the most power. CDA takes a political approach to analyzing language and its effects. Sara Mills (2004) aptly sums
21 up the political (critical) dimension of the CDA approach, indicating its scholars analyse texts from a political perspective:
Because they argue that language is a central vehicle in the process whereby people are constituted as individuals and as social subjects, and because language and ideology are closely imbricated, the close systematic analysis of text can expose some of the workings of texts and by extension, the way that people are oppressed within current social structures. (118)
The CDA methodological framework to be used extensively in this study is the method developed by scholar Norman Fairclough (Fairclough 1995, 2003,
2004). Of all the other discourse analytical methodologies, this method has the strongest applied critical social perspective. Accordingly, McKenna (2004) further argues "although Foucaultian approaches to analysis may be critical in analyzing power, there is no commitment to social change (10)." Within
Fairclough's framework then, discourse analysis is not done for the mere act of doing analysis, but is done with the expectation of creating social change, or with the social context in mind. In fact, Fairclough deliberately superimposes a critical dimension to his framework.
Potential Weakness in CDA
The CDA methodology is not without its critics (see Widdowson, 2004; Stubbs,
1997). Stubbs (1997) in his critique of the CDA method underscores that:
CDA's methods of data collection and text analysis are inexplicit, that the data are often restricted to text fragments, and that it is conceptually 22 circular, in so far as its own interpretations of texts are as historically bound as anyone else's and that it is a disguised form of political correctness. (3)
Truly this would be one of CDA's obvious weaknesses in that the text selection and even textual analysis are arguably very subjective processes. CDA, as with most qualitative analyses, may not be as rigorously and statistically sound as quantitative analysis. It is also true that the person interpreting the text will inevitably be biased and influenced by context, circumstances and history. The person interpreting the text using CDA may carry subjective readings to the text, and how this is countered is a relevant concern. Researchers who undertake a CDA critique realize this inescapable aspect of CDA research and often use disclaimers at the start of their research indicating that personal biases or interests may have affected their findings and perspectives.
However, despite these weaknesses CDA still proves itself useful at unearthing hidden values, biases and workings of power within the text. Used with care and humility, CDA can be a powerful tool for discovery, if not for verification.
Applying Fairclough: Communicative Events and Orders of Discourse
Fairclough's framework of analysis has to do with examining orders of discourse and communicative events. Orders of discourse are constituted by
23 discourse (in the case of this study, media discourse) and genre (generic structures of language such as news). Examples of other genres are political speeches and advertisements. Within the boundaries of this study, communicative events within the CDA framework would be the selected news articles. According to Fairclough, in analyzing the communicative event, one should focus on three dimensions: text, discourse practice and socio-cultural practice (see the definition of each dimension in Table 1 below).
Table 1: Norman Fairclough's discourse analytical framework
Dimension Meaning Text Can be oral or written Discourse Process of media text production and text consumption Practice Socio-cultural The social and cultural context of which the communicative Practice event is a part
Within this particular research study, Fairclough's text dimension is the news article; his discourse practice dimension is concerned with the practice of journalists / journalism (the process of production of the news report) as well as the text consumption (audiences), whilst his socio-cultural practice dimension would be concerned with the social, political and economic context of Toronto and possibly Canada. Except for the discourse practice dimension, efforts will be made to assess the dimensions in the articles on Jane-Finch selected for this study. However, using Fairclough's framework as a grounding point, I will be merging another method of discourse analysis, 24 proposed by van Dijk (1988), to build on Fairclough's framework, thus creating a variant framework to analyze Fairclough's three dimensions. As noted above, discourse analytic research has several different strands. Fairclough is still upheld within the literature as the founding father of critical discourse analysis and his framework is arguably the foundation for other 'critical' methods, van Dijk (1988) is being merged into the analytic framework of this study because he has developed and applied a method of analyzing print media discourse which is very applicable to this study. As well, in merging these two different strands, I believe one is able to achieve a deeper level of analysis.
The Variant Framework
As noted above, van Dijk's (1991) method of analyzing news articles will be merged in, as it lends itself well to 'fleshing out' Fairclough's text dimension within the context of print news discourse, van Dijk's (1991) method focuses on news in the press and highlights ways of analyzing the generic structure of news. According to van Dijk (1988), news reports follow a hierarchical schema which he calls a superstructure. This superstructure comes with a list of 'ever-present' categories with the most important details coming ahead of other not so important details. This portion of van Dijk's approach will be used to analyse the headlines of the articles selected for analysis and other aspects
25 of his approach (such as assessing propositions) will be used when analysing the rest of the news article.
Van Dijk's research entails examining the discourse on race (particularly to do with minorities and foreigners) in text and talk. In his own research on a corpus of news articles, Van Dijk (1988) shows that the press "(re)produces and further emphasizes a negative view of minorities, immigrants, refugees, and thereby contributes to increasing forms of intolerance, prejudice and discrimination against Third World peoples in Europe and America (111)." Van
Dijk's findings are relevant in assessing articles on Jane-Finch, as the community is composed of minorities and immigrants.
Superstructure and Propositions
The superstructure and the proposition are two integral concepts to grasp in seeking to apply van Dijk's analysis to the selected news articles, van Dijk
(1988) alerts us that news follows a hierarchical schema called the superstructure. The superstructure consists of a list of 'ever-present' categories such as Headline, Lead (together forming the Summary); Main
Events, Context, History (together forming the Background category), and
Verbal Reactions and Comments. This kind of structure allows for the most important details to come ahead of other not so important details, van Dijk 26 (1988) notes this as "a top-down strategy, which assigns a so-called relevance structure to the text (115)."
van Dijk also identifies propositions, which he notes as the "conceptual meaning structure of a clause," (van Dijk, 1991). Propositions contribute to local coherence and global coherence according to van Dijk (1988). Local coherence has to do with how the propositions within the text are linked to cause it to make sense, van Dijk (1988) notes "one of the major conditions of such local coherence of texts is that their propositions refer to facts that are related, for instance, by relations of time, condition, cause and consequence
(115)." van Dijk (1988) argues that "propositions can also be functionally
Table 2: Teun van Dijk's News Superstructure
Summary Headline and Lead Background Main events Context History Verbal Reactions and Quotations Comments Types of Sources coherent: for instance when the second proposition has the function of a
Specification, Paraphrase, Contrast or Example. Proposition in news reports are often connected by a relation of Specification: more general propositions are followed by more specific ones that give further details (112)". Another
27 important consideration when it comes to propositions is they can be part of a
shared social script. He notes that "our shared social knowledge of such
scripts provide the numerous missing links between the concepts and
propositions of the text (van Dijk, 1988, 112)." van Dijk (1991) notes that
"many ideological implications follow not only because too little is being said,
but also because too many, irrelevant things are being said about news actors.
The well-known example in news reports about minorities is the use of
irrelevant ethnic or racial labels in crime stories (114)." He calls this a
"strategic use of irrelevance."
The discourse practice dimension of Fairclough's framework is achieved by
looking at how news discourse is produced, the practices of the newsroom
and how these practices impact the way stories are presented and the types of
stories presented. As far as the media and news, the practice of journalism,
the media industry and journalists themselves are essential considerations in
unraveling discourses. Baker and McEnery (2005) rightly assert that
"journalists are able to influence their readers by producing their own
discourses or helping to reshape existing ones (199)." The academic literature
has also long proclaimed the influences and constraints on news reporting and journalism, such as the fact that news organizations are essentially privately
owned businesses with a profit motive (see Bagdikian, 1997; Vipond, 2000,
28 Bennett, 2007). The media in North America (both the United States and
Canada) uses a capitalist based model. Vipond (2000) notes, "the fundamental economic fact about our mass media industries is that with a couple of partial exceptions they are made up of private enterprises owned by corporations and individuals for the purpose of making a profit. Like other businessmen, media owners desire to minimize their cost and maximize their prices (65)."
Given this scenario, news organizations, in operating like any other business, have an imperative to satisfy their shareholders. Thus they often present sensationalized news or the news that is most likely to attract and retain their audience base (or readership). The advertising dollar is a strong force behind decisions about what is presented as news in these organizations. As W.
Lance Bennett (2007) underscores, "many journalists are beginning to raise questions about their own somewhat captive relationship - caught between corporate owners who demand more profitable content and politicians who offer little that is not packaged for public consumption (xviii)." Given his recent research, Bennett (2007) asserts that the news in America has become a lot more entertaining than educational, and is essentially an illusion that has severe political consequences:
Filled with growing volumes of political spin, sensation and insider buzz, the daily news sometimes provides, but increasingly does not offer 29 citizens a solid basis for critical thinking or effective action....Despite (or perhaps because of their simplicity and familiarity, news images of the political world can be tragically self-fulfilling. Scary images of distant enemies can promote war or military interventions that in retrospect seem dubious (Vietnam, for example and Iraq). Failure to report the full extent of real-life calamities can delay timely actions....Dominant political images, when acted upon, can create a world in their own image - even when such a world did not exist to begin with. A media crime wave occurred in the 1990s while most aspects of violent crimes were actually declining. Yet politicians sold tougher crime policies to frightened citizens. (Bennett, 2007, p xviii)
Another criticism leveled against journalism and news production stems from research evidence in Canada that most journalists are white, male and privileged and the fact that there are more white journalists than journalists derived from minority groups (see Lorimer & Gasher, 2004 and Miller, 1998).
In 1998, Miller wrote:
In Toronto, Canada's most multicultural city where one in every three residents is a person of colour, the four competing newspapers employ only two staff columnists who are non-White: Royson James of the Star and Jan Wong of the Globe and Mail. (127)
Another study by Miller & Caron (2004), just three years ago, showed that
Canadian newspapers continue to lag behind in hiring minority journalists.
The argument is that the perspectives of journalists, who are derived from a certain social class and privileged status, on issues related to and affecting minorities are going to be affected by their worldview. Fairclough (2003) himself points out that:
different discourses are different perspectives on the world, and they are associated with the different relations people have to the world, 30 which in turn depends on their positions in the world, their social and personal identities, and the social relationships in which they stand to other people. (124)
These journalists necessarily speak to and assess things from a certain privileged perspective, which could be an explanation of why communities such as Jane-Finch are framed in a particular way. The next section examines framing theory and methodology and allows for a comparison of how CDA and framing handle the analysis of language.
Framing within the Literature
The concept of framing was first formulated in the discipline of sociology and psychology (see Scheufele & Tewsbury, 2007). In fact, many scholars cite sociologist Erving Goffman's 1975 book Frame Analysis: An Essay on the
Organization of Experience as framing's conceptual starting point. In his book,
Goffman (1975) conceptualizes frames as configurations used to organize human experience:
definitions of a situation built up in accordance with the principles of organization which govern events - at least social ones - and our subjective involvement in them; frame is the word I use to refer to such as these basic elements as I am able to identify. That is my definition of a frame. My phrase "frame analysis" is a slogan to refer to the examination in these terms of the organization of experience. (10)
Underlying his assertion is the basic premise that frames (what he calls
'schemata of interpretation') are what individuals rely on to understand their
31 social experiences. According to Goffman (1975), the 'schemata of interpretation' renders what "would otherwise be a meaningless aspect of the scene into something that is meaningful (21)." Studies on framing, according to Kendall (2005), shift Goffman's "use of frame analysis from a focus on an individual's personal approach to a larger view of how other people, and especially the media, devise frames that influence our interpretation of reality
(8)." In the arena of news, journalists really step in to provide a 'schemata of interpretation' on a number of events for their audience. It is important to note as well that these schemas are already available within the social context for the journalist to choose from. As Scheufele and Tewksbury (2007) indicate:
as a macroconstruct, the term "framing" refers to modes of presentation that journalists and other communicators use to present information in a way that resonates with existing underlying schemas among their audience. This does not mean, of course, that most journalists try to spin a story or deceive their audiences. In fact, framing, for them, is a necessary tool to reduce the complexity of an issue, given the constraints of their respective media related to news holes and airtime. (12)
It is important to note as well that framing in the media is often deliberately done to attract audiences and to fit the journalistic criteria of newsworthiness.
As Kendall (2005) rightly notes:
framing of news and entertainment shows is not an accidental occurrence. A basic premise of framing analysis is that the process of framing is an active endeavour involving patterns of selection, emphasis and exclusion on the part of journalists or writers who determine what material might be entertaining or newsworthy for readers and viewers. (9)
32 As such, journalists rely on and choose the schema or frame that would attract the most audience or be the most newsworthy. The question then becomes, what kind of schema on Jane-Finch would resonate more with the Canadian audience or would journalists more likely choose in framing their stories?.
Arguably, Jane-Finch as a low-income community (made up to some extent of public housing and from its spatial identification) already has a schema in the public mind.
Since Goffman's (1975) conception of framing, the term has come to encapsulate a number of varied definitions, interpretations and applications within academia to the extent that one theorist calls it a fractured paradigm
(see Entman, 1993). The truth is neither the concept nor the methodology of how to identify frames and undertake frame analysis is conclusive, which could pose a challenge in any research on framing such as this one. Within
Communication Studies as elsewhere, framing is embattled territory, though recent attempts to ground the concept and its application are evident. A special issue of the Journal of Communication (March 2007) examines framing and more specifically the relationship between framing, agenda setting and priming. Though the field seems to be in a kind of conundrum, more likely than not it is experiencing a groundswell of attention because of the potentialities embedded in the concept and its application.
33 As mentioned, various postulations and adaptations of framing exist. Firstly, framing is put forward as an extension of media effects theory. Framing analysis seems to be reawakening and breathing new life into media effects theory by demonstrating that media does indeed have influence and an effect on audiences (see Scheufele & Tewsbury, 2007). Secondly, some theorists contend that framing is merely a synonym for agenda-setting and priming, or is just an addendum to agenda-setting (thus second-level agenda-setting). Thus, there has also been a sort of revival of agenda-setting theory by merging it with framing. First-level agenda-setting is drawing attention to the issue/s and second-level agenda-setting is telling one how to think about the issue/s at hand. In outlining the difference between first-level and second-level agenda- setting, Poindexter, Smith and Heider (2003) show that:
second-level agenda-setting is distinguished from the first-level because the focus is on the transfer of attribute salience from the media agenda to the public agenda while the first-level focused on the transfer of object salience (e.g., issues, political candidates, public institutions) from the media to the public agenda. In other words, the first-level of agenda setting told us what to think about; the second-level, as a result of selection, emphasis, or exclusion of attributes, told us how to think about the object, issue, individual, event, institution, or even product. (527)"
Considering framing as second-level agenda setting is really an assertion that the media can and does influence how its audience thinks about issues, events and people. This convergence between framing and agenda-setting is
34 said to allow one to look at relationships between news content framing and the resultant effects (see Poindexter, Smith & Heider, 2003).
Nonetheless, scholars such as Van Gorp (2007) and others disagree with any convergence of this nature; they instead contend that aligning framing with agenda-setting weakens framing's potential. Scheufele & Tewsbury (2007), for instance, assert "the reduction of framing to a process analogous to agenda setting squanders much of the power of the framing approach (13)." To my mind, limiting framing in this way would diminish the extent of framing's analytical capabilities in terms of looking at the political power of language.
Distinct Applications of Framing within the Literature
Framing within the literature is separated into cognitive, constructivist and critical perspectives (see Reese, 2007). The cognitive approach which aligns with the media effects tradition seems to have received the most attention (see
Reese, 2007). Scholars point out that agenda-setting, priming and framing are all approaches that form part of the 'negation models' of media effects research, which is the most recent media effects stage developed in the 1980s and early 1990s (Scheufele & Tewsbury, 2007). According to these academics, negation models are
35 based on the idea that mass media had potentially strong attitudinal effects, but that these effects also depended heavily on predispositions, schema and other characteristics of the audience that influenced how they process messages in the mass media. (11)
Whereas the cognitive approach looks more at the effects of frames on audiences, the constructivist approach ties frames to the larger societal context or to social actors. The constructivist approach regards "frames as relatively benign resources, tools that are more or less accessible to social actors, whereas the critical perspective has regarded frames as controlling, hegemonic and tied to larger elite structures (149)." Focusing on the social constructivist approach, Reese, Gandy & Grant (2001) point out "frames are organizing principles that are socially shared and persistent over time, that work symbolically to meaningfully structure the social world (11)."
The framing approach used in this research study is more aligned with the constructivist and critical perspectives because it is more concerned with how the social dimension (such as elite forces in society) influences language and the construction of subjects through language. Journalists rely on socially shared schema to organize their news stories or to make the stories clear to audiences. The audience in turn draws on their own interpretive schemas to categorize and try to understand news stories. These socially shared schemas are generally aligned with power discourses.
36 This section highlights the most popular application of framing within the literature.
Frames as Salience
The literature cites frames as aspects of the issue that are selected and made salient. Entman (1993), in his well-cited article, notes:
framing essentially involves selection and salience. To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation and or treatment recommendation for the item described. Typically frames diagnose, evaluate, and prescribe... (52)
In doing frame analysis, one needs to assess what issues journalists select over others and what about these issues they make salient. When frames are highlighted or privileged and thus elevated in salience, they become "more noticeable, meaningful or memorable to the audiences receiving those bits of information (Kendall, 2005, 9)." In tandem, Reese (2007) thinks of frames as
"structures that draw boundaries, set up categories, define some ideas as out and others in and generally operate to snag related ideas in their net in an active process (150)." In looking at the news articles on Jane-Finch, the aim is to see what ideas are 'out' and what ideas are 'in' and then to go even further in looking at the social context to identify 'why' these are 'in' or 'out'. 37 Frames as Organizing Schemas
Frames, as noted in earlier paragraphs, are commonly seen as organizing schemas or schemata. According to Entman (1993) "schemata and closely related concepts such as categories, scripts, or stereotypes connote mentally stored clusters of ideas that guide individual processing of information (53)."
Kendall (2005) offers up a similar definition showing that "schemas are sets of related concepts that allow us to make inferences about new information based on already organized prior knowledge (22)." The understanding is that these schemas are already in existence in society and culture and are drawn upon by journalists in defining news and by audiences in their interpretation of news. As Van Gorp (2007) notes:
media makers not only make use of frames but frames also influence the schema of the journalists when they have to represent an issue or an occurrence as a newsworthy event. There is interaction between the journalists (un)conscious selection of a frame out of the cultural stock of frames - as the result of the individual belief system and the influence of additional factors inside and outside the media organizations. (67)
These organizing schemas are generally found in (i) the audience, (ii) the journalist, (iii) within the text, and (iv) within society. Put another way, frames are found in four locations - in the communicator, the text, the receiver and culture (Entman, 1993).
38 Frames as News (text) Attributes
Frames are considered to be attributes of the text in question, for example the news text in the case of the media. Entman (1991) points out:
frames reside in the specific properties of the news narrative that encourage those perceiving and thinking about events to develop particular understanding of them. News frames are constructed from and embodied in the keywords, metaphors, concepts, symbols and visual images emphasized in a news narrative. (7)
In saying that frames are attributes of the news texts, it means one can sift through a news article identifying its images, symbols, metaphors and keywords to identify how its issues are being framed.
Episodic vs. Thematic Framing and Attribution of Responsibility
Frames can also attribute responsibility depending on how they are presented.
Iyengar (1991) in his research on framing shows that television news presents the news using either episodic or thematic framing. Iyengar explains:
the episodic news frame takes the form of a case study or event- oriented report and depicts public issues in forms of concrete instances (for example, the plight of a homeless person or a teenage drug user, the bombing of an airliner of an attempted murder). The thematic frame, by contrast, places public issues in some more general or abstract context and takes the form of a "takeout" or 'backgrounder" report directed at general outcomes or conditions. (14)
39 Television relies on stories with episodic framing more, however, because they are 'visually compelling' and because of "constraints of time, advertising, and professional ethics ....thematic coverage of related background material would require in-depth, interpretive analysis which would take longer to prepare and would be more susceptible to charges of journalistic bias (Iyengar, 1991, 14)."
Episodic framing though tends to single out individuals and individual events.
Episodic framing because it focuses on the individual often attribute cause to the individual. In looking at media treatment of poverty, for example, Kendall
(2005) found that:
episodic framing of some stories may suggest that most of the poor are undeserving because they are welfare cheats, drug addicts or greedy panhandlers. Episodic framing may cause audiences to conclude that the poor have only themselves to blame because of their bad attitudes and behaviours. (95)
Depending on whether the framing is episodic or thematic, responsibility is attributed in terms of the "creation of the problems or situations (causal responsibility) and for the resolution of these problems or situations (treatment responsibility) (Iyengar, 1991, 3)."
Causal Responsibility focuses on the origin of a problem, whilst treatment responsibility:
focuses on who or what has the power to alleviate (or forestall alleviation of) the problem. Thus if the problem of unemployment is assessed in terms of causal responsibility the relevant questions 40 concern the processes by which individuals lose or fail to obtain jobs. Treatment responsibility on the other hand seeks to establish who has the power (and interest) to alleviate or perpetuate unemployment. (Iyengar, 1991, 8)
Ultimately, if responsibility is 'farmed out' to individuals rather than uncontrollable societal forces, one can see how Jane-Finch and its members could be perceived negatively in the public mind.
Framing and Social Constructionism
Within social constructionism, framing is not considered as solely textual
(buried within the text) but is considered part of and shaped by the broader political and social context. Within this framework, journalists frame their stories by drawing on the broader social context (culture) and likewise do readers (the audience) rely on culture to interpret and understand these news stories. Explaining this process, Van Gorp (2007) notes "a shared repertoire of frames in culture provide the linkage between news production and consumption (61)" and points out that the "effort here is to argue how frames, as part of culture, get embedded in media content, how they work, and how they interact with the schemata of both journalist and the audience member
(61)." Frames then are embedded in culture and journalists rely on these frames to write their stories. Nonetheless, it is still clear "media makers apply a range of persistent frames, and as such, they possibly control the number of 41 alternatives that are available to the receivers when they are constructing social reality (Van Gorp, 2007 62)."
Van Gorp's Frames as Culture Premise
Van Gorp offers an excellent set of premises to confirm why frames are part and parcel of culture. These are listed in Table 3. Van Gorp's premises on culture resonate with the claim within Critical Discourse Analysis that discourse is in a dialectical relationship with other social dimensions. His principles thus merge well with CDA. This thesis research will apply van
Gorp's method in looking at the frame packages in the news articles.
Frame Package
In assessing the frames of news articles, this research will rely on a framework offered by Van Gorp (2007) because of his overall assertion that frames are linked to the social and cultural context, as well as because it enables identifying the frame package embedded in the text or article. The basis of his latter assertion is that "each frame that a journalist has applied in a text can be represented as a frame package, a cluster of logical organized devices that
42 Table 3: Van Gorp's Frame as Culture Argument
FRAME AS CULTURE ARGUMENT - VAN GORP As the individual is unable to change persistent cultural phenomena the repertoire of frames is conceptually situated largely externally of the individual As frames are a part of culture, "the actual frame is not encompassed in media content. The text and the frame are independent from one another. Both the attribution of meaning to media content and the connection with certain frames are part of the reading process" As frames are related to cultural phenomena their use seems so normal and natural that the process of social constructionism remains invisible the way individuals interpret the media content is not solely internally motivated but guided by cultural processes means frame changes very little or gradually over time but the framing process is dynamic the essence of framing is in social interaction
function as an identity kit for the frame. Therefore a principal part of a frame analysis is the reconstruction of these frame packages (64)." Van Gorp's
(2007) frame package consists of manifest framing devices, manifest or latent reasoning devices and implicit cultural phenomenon that sums up the package in total. Table 4 below shows what a frame package would consist of: 43 Table 4: Van Gorp's Frame Reconstruction
VAN GORP'S FRAME RECONSTRUCTION
Term Meaning
Frame Central organizing theme Manifest framing devices Word choice, metaphors, exemplars, descriptions, arguments and visual images Manifest or latent reasoning Implicit & explicit statements that deal with devices justifications, causes and consequences in a temporal order Implicit cultural phenomenon that displays the package as a whole
The frame, the central organizing theme, relies on subtle or blatant reasoning devices to define the problem, designate responsibility, give moral evaluation and offer solutions. In its totality,
the frame package suggests a definition, an explanation, a problematization, and an evaluation of the event and ultimately results in a number of logical conclusions - for example, with regard to who is responsible for the perceived problem. (Van Gorp 2007, 65)
In reconstructing the frame package during frame analysis, Van Gorp (2007) recommends that the analyst "determine(s) for each text which elements and propositions can probably function as framing or reasoning devices. Then the frame analyst can identify logical chains of framing and reasoning devices across the separate texts (72)." He also recommends "representing each of the frame packages in a matrix in which the row entries represent the frames
44 and the column entries describe the framing and reasoning devices (ibid)" (In
Appendix C, the frame analysis follows this format).
Van Gorp's (2007) approach considers embedded power and is very applicable in this CDA-driven research project because of his final assertions as to why one should undertake frame reconstruction and frame analysis. Van
Gorp (2007) asserts:
the purpose of frame analysis is to assess not so much the impact of loose elements in a text but the impact of the implicitly present cultural phenomena conveyed by all these elements as a whole and to relate them to the dynamic processes in which social reality is constructed. (72)
This coordinates quite well with the critical form of discourse analysis that is not concerned solely with what is taking place in the text but also with the socio-cultural dimensions and influences on the text.
Weaknesses in the Framing Concept and Approach
The concept of framing and its analytic approach has its inherent weaknesses particularly because of the disjointedness of the field and the fact that a concrete way of applying the concept remains undefined and haphazard. No doubt, this haphazardness surrounding framing analysis poses a challenge in research. Scheufele & Tewksbury (2007) observe, for instance, "studies offer new operationalizations of media frames, for example, without addressing the 45 conceptual framework of their work or clarifying the inconsistencies between their measures and frames used in previous studies (13)." As well, these authors note that "operationalizations of framing are often confounded by content (13)."
Framing and its Alignment with CDA Theory and Methodology
Framing merges quite fluidly with critical discourse analytical methods and theory; for one, framing itself is discursive, and, arguably frame analysis is indeed a kind of discourse analysis. Yet the claim becomes more substantial when it is shown that framing analysis also intersects on other levels with the core fundamentals of CDA. A look at some of the core assertions common to
CDA methods, as identified by Phillips and Jorgensen (2002), will adequately demonstrate the intersections between framing and CDA. Firstly, common to
CDA methods, is that:
discursive practices - through which texts are produced (created) and consumed (received and interpreted) - are viewed as an important form of social practice which contributes to the constitution of the social world including social identities and social relations. It is partly through discursive practices in everyday life (processes of text production and consumption) that social and cultural reproduction and change take place. (Phillips and Jorgensen, 2002, 61)
Likewise the act of framing contributes to the constitution of the social world in terms of social structures, social identities and social relations. Framing relies
46 on schemas, and the re-assertion of these schemas time after time contributes to constituting the social world in a certain way. As well, these repeated schemas can and often do re-affirm unequal power relations or maintain unfair societal structures. Media framing also has the power to effect change, however, this is arguably often not the stance taken by the corporate media, who seem currently to be more focused on profits and shareholders (see
Bagdikian, 2000).
Secondly, Phillips and Jorgensen (2002) pinpoint amongst these approaches that discourse is considered to be both constitutive and constituted. Discourse is thus:
a form of social practice which both constitutes the social world and is constituted by other social practices. As social practice discourse is in a dialectical relationship with other social dimensions. It does not just contribute to the shaping and reshaping of social structures but also reflects them. (61)
This is also the case with framing, that is to say, it can be demonstrated that framing both constitutes (whether by maintaining or challenging the status quo) and is constituted (for instance, from various societal schemas or social relations).
Framing is part of a larger conversation and is part of culture. CDA recognizes this larger conversation in the use of language. Theorists who are 47 conceptualizing framing anew in academia are aware of this larger cultural conversation within which the enactment of language occurs. As Reese
(2007) notes, for instance:
Highlighting simple descriptions of media frames is tempting, and a frequent approach given the easy availability of media texts, but this risks reifying them - locking them in place, as though they were not part of a larger conversation, serving particular interests and undergoing changes overtime. (149)
Conjoining CDA with framing allows one to assess whose interests and note the larger conversation and possibly socio-cultural change overtime.
Asserting that framing is a part and parcel of the socio-cultural, or even contributes to change, allows one to critically examine how imbalances, power relations, discriminations, and biases are played out in media or news framing.
Van Gorp (2007) posits that:
by locating frames in culture, the framing process, which is often conceptualized as a matter of individual cognition is directed by the larger culture. Within a constructionist view, the potency of frames to influence the public lies in the fact that they are closely linked with familiar cultural frames. Cultural resonances contribute to the fact that devices are often perceived as familiar, so that the frames to which they refer can remain unnoticed. These micro-macro linkages situate journalists and the members of the audience in a context, which they interact with the larger society and many frame sponsors and it is in this dynamic social process where social reality is produced, reproduced, and transformed. (73)
The bid to broaden the concept of frames to make them more than just "static features of media texts or individual psychological elements (Reese 2007,
150)" aligns well with critical discourse studies and analysis. It is plausible and 48 without doubt that frames and interpretive schema are socially and culturally based. In this regard, Reese's (2007) identification of a 'symbolic environment' within which frames are embedded firmly synchronizes framing to CDA. As he notes, "when looking at frames spread across discourse, rather than contained strictly within individual message / story packages, it reflects how frames are embedded in the symbolic environment (Reese 2007, 150)."
In looking at the Canadian symbolic environment or the socio-cultural dimension, this research paper is concerned with identifying the interpretive schemas that journalists appear to share with their audiences. Lastly, a common belief amongst discourse scholars, as well, is the idea that discourse functions ideologically (Phillips and Jorgensen, 2002).
...it is claimed that discursive practices contribute to the creation and reproduction of unequal power relations between social groups....these effects are understood as ideological effects....The research focus of critical discourse analysis is accordingly both the discursive practices which construct representations of the world, social subjects and social relations, including power relations, and the role that these discursive practices. (63)
Framing, of course, can have an effect on the audience as demonstrated by research (see Iyengar, 1991) and these effects can be ideological in nature. In fact, as noted above framing is lending new life to the media effects paradigm
(see special issue of the Journal of Communication, March 2007).
49 On other levels, framing also broadens or complements CDA because it can answer pertinent questions about whether news articles on this particular community constantly and consistently frame issues in a certain way.
Questions about whether there is a continual pervasive discursive treatment afforded the community can tell us, for example, if language is being used to maintain and further entrench unequal social relations. In so doing, framing analysis is being applied in a critical manner in order to support critical analysis. This type of analysis can also tell us whether pervasive discursive language can ultimately lead to a kind of branding. An investigation of the socio-cultural dimensions of this discursive atmosphere also becomes necessary.
In addition, frame analysis allows one to look at how popular and dominant discourses (arguably, the interpretive schemas behind framing) are enacted in news through framing - for example, one can assess if news is framed in such a way as to support dominant discourses on welfare and poverty, such as the welfare queen who sucks the hard-earned dollars from the rest who are hardworking and conscientious, or the poverty (capitalist) discourse, where it is believed that poverty is the result of laziness and if poor people were working hard enough they would be able to pull themselves out of their condition.
50 Incorporating Branding into the Research Framework
An integral part of this study is to consider the potential 'branding' of the Jane-
Finch community; as such, efforts will be made to incorporate branding elements into the framework. The attempt here is not to identify or claim a concerted and deliberate branding of the area, by a set of malicious cohorts, so to speak, but to assert that because the media focuses on only certain issues and themes for this community, the community is inevitably 'branded' a certain way. The media's framing may not be deliberate; instead the media could be relying on embedded societal interpretive frames or schemas and tapping into these various interpretive frames or discourses in order to frame or map the image of Jane-Finch in this particular way.
Albeit, even without deliberate branding, unwitting "brand management" on the part of those with the power to name is of high probability in this case, and in essence, would be a confirmation of discourses of power in operation.
Discourses of power operate to silence alternative discourses and perspectives of subordinate groups in order to maintain power relations and hierarchies in society. Discourses of power reserve the right to 'name' and silence 'the other' (the subordinate, the minority, the immigrant, and others).
Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), through the work of van Dijk and
51 Fairclough, is one way in Communication Studies in which this power has been studied.
Within this study, the branding claim is an assertion that branding of the community is taking place without the community's knowledge or participation
(i.e., a kind of external branding). This is different from branding as it is practiced in business. As practiced in the business world, branding usually takes place with the knowledge and 'buy-in' of the parties being branded. For instance, companies normally have marketing departments whose function is to originate branding ideas and manage brands. As well, a whole host of textbooks and articles are written on how to brand products and implement brand management (see examples such as Aaker, 1996; Biel, 1992).
Branding is essentially the 'packaging of meaning' and has to do with advertisers and marketers strategically using language to get products (and locations) to 'take on' certain images and meanings. Currently we live in a world where branding is ubiquitous and not surprisingly, this thesis proves branding is indeed applicable to Jane-Finch. Biel's (1992) description of twentieth century America as a 'brandscape' seems very apt (6). In tandem,
Clifton, Simmons, et al (2004) state, "everyone from countries to political parties to individuals in organizations is now encouraged to think of themselves as a brand (xii)."
52 Everything seems 'branded' nowadays, as if to fit into our current fast-paced, newsclip era, where short, catchy phrases and buzzwords are preferred. In this busy, hectic world, advertisers exploit the fact that people have little time to think and choose from the multitude of products available, so to give consumers an easy way out they deliberately create brands. Branding allows marketers and advertisers to tap into this consumer need by attaching meanings to products to make it easier for them. As Biel (1992) also points out brands "form a kind of shorthand that makes choice easier" for the consumer; brands "make it easier to store evaluations (6)." Branding therefore adds an evaluation to the product on the consumer's behalf. Within this study, we are asking what evaluations are being stored about Jane-Finch and furthermore, who gets the chance to make and circulate these evaluations?
One way that marketers and advertisers 'brand' and attach meaning and evaluations to their products is through the use of repetitive language in order to create and reinforce brand image (see Aaker, 1996; Biel, 1992). My claim as far as the branding of Jane-Finch finds credence in this strategy. For instance, if in analyzing these news articles for repetitive discursive features, one finds evidence of this, then one can safely claim 'branding' might be inadvertently taking place. In this way, CDA and framing analysis both offer a
53 way to linguistically assess news articles for repetition and potentially for
'branding'.
Most important to this study is that within the recent literature on branding, there is a shift to concentrating on how branding theory can be applied to locations such as tourist destinations, nations and even downtown locations and communities. Hankinson (2005), for instance, confirms that "place branding as a strategic marketing activity has increased significantly over the last quarter century (24)." Additionally, Caldwell and Freire (2004) assert that
"although destination branding is a new concept, there is a general agreement among academics and practitioners that places can be branded in much the same way as consumer goods and services (50)." Attempting to show how
Jane-Finch as a community might have a brand becomes very plausible given this realization that place branding is applicable. Combining it with CDA emphasizes the power of language to 'name' with the ultimate aim of keeping inequalities intact.
Social Dimension or Socio-cultural Features of Canada
The following section outlines some of Canada's socio-cultural and socio economic features (or what, to my mind, would entail the make-up of the country's social dimension or social reality). The aim of this section is to:
54 (i) give an overview of the cultural context (larger conversation) within which the frames identified in the news articles may have emanated from,and
(ii) give insight into some of the factors that converged to create and sustain neighbourhoods such as Jane-Finch and other stigmatized low- income communities where the population is racialized, poor and immigrant.
As Van Gorp (2007) posits, frames are often linked to familiar cultural frames.
The socio-cultural context contributes to the discursive climate and would lay the backdrop to a journalist's interpretive schema. In other words, looking at the social dimension reveals the pool of interpretive schema that journalists could draw from in writing their stories. This again supports Fairclough's claim that discourse and the social dimension are mutually constitutive.
Canada's Historical, Social, Cultural and Economic Dimension
'white-settler colony' nostalgia and 'forced' diversity
Historically, Canada has been predominantly white. Theorists such as
Galabuzi (2006) claim throughout its history, Canada made persistent efforts to become and then remain a white-settler colony, by first wresting the land from First Nations peoples, its earliest inhabitants, then socially excluding them, and afterward, putting in place an immigration policy whereby only
White Europeans were 'acceptable' as immigrants. As noted:
55 The Europeans who began migrating to Canada in earnest in the 1600s came with a mission to establish a White-settler colony upon their arrival. In a process that involved war, conquest and treaty-making, they took control of land, resources and the fur trade from the First Nations. This was followed by systematic policies of economic exclusion, genocide and segregation aimed at subordinating and eliminating the Aboriginal population. (Galabuzi, 2006, 70)
It was only when European migration to Canada stalled that Canada began allowing other migrant ethnicities, such as South and East Asians and Blacks into the country. As Galabuzi (2006) points out the Canadian society only became "ethnically and racially diverse towards the late twentieth century. This follows key changes in the 1960s to an otherwise historically Eurocentric immigration policy (1)."
The ethnic diversity in Canada stemming from current immigration policies is arguably 'forced' in that it resulted from Canada's urgent needed to supplement its population after a decline in European migration to Canada.
Many scholars have noted this fact, including Galabuzi:
the reversal of earlier trends and policies assuring near-exclusive European or white immigration has less to do with political choice and more with population pressures on Canada, global immigration trends and the process of globalization. (Galabuzi, 2006, 1)
Despite diversity claims, immigrants, however, depending on their ethnicity, do not necessarily get the welcoming carpet rolled out for them in Canada.
56 Galabuzi (2006) reveals that "debates on Canada's immigration policy continue to labour under a white-settler colony imaginary, betraying a hostile sentiment toward racialized group settlement in Canada (3)." Surveys also show that the shift in the types of immigrants coming to Canada, from White
Europeans to the more ethnically diverse, is unsettling to many Canadians
(Peter S. Li quoted in Galabuzi, 2006):
There is substantial evidence from opinion surveys to indicate that some segments of the Canadian public are unhappy about the growing number of non-White immigrants coming to Canada, and consequently are reluctant to support a more liberal immigration policy to enlarge the intake of immigrants. The reluctance is premised on the view that the non-White immigrants represent unbridgeable differences that would undermine the social landscape, the normative order and the European tradition of Canada. From this vantage point the reservation towards immigration is to a large degree a reservation towards people of color. (71)
Recent research by Adams (2007), though, counters claims of a xenophobic
Canada. From his research, Adams (2007) found Canadians to be more accepting of foreigners and proud to be a multicultural nation.
Even so, Canadian multiculturalism has been challenged because of its
'compartmentalizing' effects. Canada is legislated through official government policy to be a society based on multicultural values. Multiculturalism has been described as an ineffective government policy installed from above and not workable on the ground; even achieving clarity around the word
57 multiculturalism seems to be itself a challenge. Fleras and Kunz (2001) astutely point out, "Canada's commitment to multiculturalism has contributed to its image as an open, secular and largely tolerant society" but it is by no means perfect.
Can evidence of racism or xenophobia about immigrants and non-white populations in Canada be found in news coverage of areas like Jane-Finch? In other words, have the discourses on racism or xenophobia found their way into newspaper coverage?
Ontario and its Demographics
Current immigration patterns also created demographic transformations in
Canada's provinces. The demographic profiles of provinces such as Alberta,
Quebec, British Columbia and Ontario reflect changes brought on by the current immigration (see Galabuzi, 2006). Out of all these provinces, Ontario, though, has been impacted extensively. Notably, Ontario "has 37% of
Canada's population, but 54% of the immigrant population (Galabuzi, 2006,
70)." In fact, Ontario has the largest number of racialized group members; no doubt because of immigration. The racialized make up 19 % of the population of the province of Ontario (see Galabuzi, 2006). Racialization is defined as a:
58 binary distinction among the races (creating) a hierarchy in which Anglo perceptions about race and ethnicity dominated the social structure, and other non-White groups were placed in the Other category, which translated into inferior social status.... this difference ... translates into social policies, laws, customs, and norms that justify all forms of oppression and a social structure that promotes inequality and domination based on class, race, and gender, (see Littlefield, 2008, 675)
The 2001 Census shows that across Canada, racialized group members are concentrated in Canada's urban centres (see Galabuzi, 2006); a significant proportion of the racialized in urban centres are immigrants. The "immigrant's share of the population make-up of urban Canada has been on the rise; every year over 75% of all immigrants end up in Canada's three biggest metropolitan centres, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver (Galabuzi 2006, 6)." Toronto,
Ontario's urban centre, has a large concentration of racialized group members. Unfortunately, Toronto's racialized populations are also concentrated in low income neighbourhoods such as Jane-Finch.
Whither a Racist Canada?
Within Canada, ever-present racism confronts members of different races and ethnicities (both immigrants and those who were born in Canada). Augie
Fleras (1999) states for Canada, "racism may be less blatant than in the
United States, but people of colour continue to be politely discriminated against in housing, employment and access to social services (64)." Fleras 59 (1999) notes, "racism in Canada continues to be chronic and embedded in its culture and institutions rather than an affliction among individual malcontents with little or no sign of diminishing (64),"
Theorists have cited how the blatant racism of old has been replaced by a new kind of racism. Henry and Tator (2002) avow that:
the 'new racism' manifests itself in more subtle and insidious ways and is largely invisible to those who are part of the dominant culture. This form of racism is pervasive and is often expressed discursively through 'text and talk, expressed in board meetings, job interviews, policies, laws, parliamentary debates, political propaganda, textbooks, scholarly articles, movies, TV programs and new reports in the press, among hundreds of other genres'. The new racism rarely demonstrates itself in violence overt racist behaviour, yet its consequences for minorities are just as severe: it limits and constrains their life chances. (23)
'New racism' is indeed a subtle kind of racism that stays below the radar. To determine if this kind of racism is reflected in the print media articles is a tough task because of its subtlety; however, Van Gorp's (2007) frame package analysis and CDA may provide the most appropriate tools to investigate this new racism. New racism is also referred to as everyday racism or democractic racism, which is racism co-existing side by side with democratic liberalism. Democratic racism:
constitutes both an ideology that emphasizes racism and a set of discursive policies and practices that regulate behaviour in specific institutions and settings despite a legislative state framework based on the policies of multiculturalism and employment equity and despite the Canadian Human Rights Code, provincial human rights code and 60 the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, racism continues to penetrate all levels of Canadian society. This has created a fundamental tension in Canadian society - a dissonance between the ideology of Canada as a democratic liberal state and the racist ideology that is reflected in the collective belief system operating within Canadian cultural, social, political and economic institutions. (Henry and Tator, 2002, 23)"
As a result of the way ideology operates, it is not farfetched to see how racist ideology could permeate journalism or journalists' viewpoints. As noted:
ideology regulates social practices ideologies organize, maintain, and stabilize particular forms of power and dominance. Ideology constitute a baseline various groups in a heterogenous society apply when framing their attitudes and organizing means and strategies to further their own ideals goals and interests. Ideology is shared; it operates at a collective level rather than out of individual cognition. (Henry and Tator, 2002, 20)
To what extent would racism permeate print media discourse on low income communities, whose inhabitants are mostly members of minority groups?
Some would argue that in the first place it is because of racism and racist ideology that communities such as Jane-Finch exist. It is an imperative of critical scholarship to assess the print media's role in perpetuating and promulgating the racist impressions and beliefs in the Canadian society through their media outlets. Both racism and discrimination based on economic class could play a part and reinforce each other in this context.
61 Racialized Economy and Racialized Access to Resources
Let us now move to looking at the influences that gave birth to economic divisions and the creation and perpetuation of low income communities such as Jane-Finch in Canadian cities and provinces such as Toronto, Ontario.
Historically, with differential access to resources and the exclusion of First
Nations people from participating in the economy, a racialized economy was created since the time of the coming of the British and the French in the
1600s.
As Galabuzi (2006) points out " the policies that reserved economic opportunity for Europeans created the first racialized economy in Canada, one in which differential access to resources led to improvements in the economic performance of European settlers at the expense of First Nations people (71)."
Racialized access to resources together with a racialized economy persist till now in present day Canada, where access to economic and material resources is restricted or very limited when it comes to certain racial and ethnic groups. These racial and ethnic groups who are barricaded from access
(despite the tenets of democratic liberalism) often end up in communities like
Jane-Finch.
62 Barriers to Employment
The natural-born, racialized Canadian as well as the recent immigrants to
Canada faced barriers to employment historically and still do so to this day.
Galabuzi (2006) records "immigrants from the South with a broad range of skills arrived, only to face barriers to access in employment - as documented by a Royal Commission report in the early 1980s - or to be slotted into low- end job ghettoes, as other research shows (9)."Many of these immigrants were faced with a class-shift, or even when they came highly educated were prevented from practicing in areas for which they were trained or forced to take lower-level jobs. Many immigrants, as a result, end up in low-income communities. As well, research shows that immigrants (especially racialized women) live well below the poverty line (see Galabuzi, 2006).
Precarious Work
The 'precarious work' phenomenon, ubiquitous around the world and brought on by globalization, heavy movement of labour, and flexible accumulation is also common to Canada. These 'precarious work' conditions seem to have only intensified the ills suffered by the poor and racialized, who were already being subject to discrimination, disadvantaged and sidelined, and given this
63 well-embraced precarious work formula their situations have worsened. As
Galabuzi (2006) informs:
Global economic restructuring has not only encouraged the informalization of economies and the emergence of "precarious work" - temporary, part-time, contract and casual work with low pay, no benefits, no job security, and poor working conditions - but also exacerbated previous fissures of racial and gender inequality based on systemic discrimination. A growing body of Canadian studies suggests that flexible work arrangements, facilitated by the state-mediated processes of deregulation and re-regulation of the labour market, have particularly disadvantaged racialized groups and particularly racialized women. (10)
Precarious work results in "increased segmentation of the labour market along racial lines, the racialization of poverty, the racialization and segregation of low-income neighbourhoods and intensified social exclusion (ibid)". What this means is that those who are of other races and often immigrants get excluded from permanent, full-time work (with benefits) in Canada which disqualifies them from buying houses, and finding the stable and fulfilling lives they were seeking in Canada. They often end up living in poor neighbourhoods and remain socially excluded from deriving the benefits of the labour marketplace.
Despite the fact that Canada is a wealthy country, the wealth is not shared and the ones who are the most disadvantaged and most excluded seems to be the racialized. Another outcome of this current phenomenon is that the social and economic status of the racialized is on the decline because of their disproportionate participation in precarious work (see Galabuzi, 2006).
64 Galabuzi (2006) adds "the labour of racialized group members is devalued with added significance because of their increased numbers in Canada's urban centres (11)."
Job Market realities and income inequality
Given precarious work and unstable job-market realities, the income gap between the racialized and immigrants and other Canadians have also increased and "become sustained in double digits (Galabuzi, 2006,13)."
....while the Canadian economy was growing faster in the late 1990s than at any time over the last 25 years, Canadian incomes were becoming more unequal what we show here is that the income inequality in Canada was also increasingly along racial lines. Income inequality represents just one dimension of the socio-economic exclusion of racialized groups, which is manifested in their labour market experiences of higher unemployment; over-representation in low-end occupations and low-income sectors; and under-representation in managerial, professional and high-income occupations and sectors. (13)
Immigrants and the racialized as noted find themselves in low-paying, low-end jobs, often times temporary short-term jobs; they also face higher unemployment rates and mental health issues.
65 Racialized women and the criminal justice system
Another pertinent factor as far as the social environment of Canada is that racialized women suffer proportionately more from the discriminatory labour market and the aforementioned precarious work phenomenon. Many of these women are sole breadwinners and they often have no choice but to live in poor neighbourhoods - "the disproportionate concentration of racialized populations in part-time, temporary and home work - particularly racialized women - leads to low-income with consequences being their over- representation in substandard housing and increasingly segregated neighbourhoods, along with higher mental and other health risks, tensions between communities and contact with the criminal justice system (Galabuzi,
2006, 13). Racialized women confronted by these issues, and who, as a result, end up on welfare are usually stigmatized as evidenced in the news article, Welfare Moms Given Chance to Break Cycle (See Appendix A).
Economic Performance of Racialized and Recent Immigrants
Many immigrants reside in Jane-Finch and to have immigrant status in
Canada is to be an 'other'. Galabuzi (2006) underscores that "immigrant status has been racialized and the inferior status of racialized peoples is now extended to immigrants to the point where the quality of their human capital is
66 called into question (10). Immigrants are 'the other' and seen as inferior; no
doubt, by extension, Jane-Finch as an immigrant and racialized community would be seen as inferior.
Further, it is also documented that immigrant economic performance has
lagged in recent times compared to the experience of previous European
immigrants -
in a departure from earlier patterns of immigrant economic performance, the lag in economic attainment has become a permanent income gap between racialized communities and the rest of the population. In a pattern... immigrant economic performance has grown progressively worse. (Galabuzi 2006)
This is explicitly the result of the differential treatment proffered to earlier
immigrants over the most recent diverse immigrant population. Given this
picture, one can safely see why immigrants end up in low-income
communities.
Creation of the South in the North
The 'South-in-the-North' is the sarcastically coined label for low-income
communities in North America. These South-in-the-North communities are
created by a large influx of immigrants from the poorer countries (once
colonized and called the South) who are now colonizing the North (or the
metropolis) in reverse in seeking better lives. Ironically, often they come to the 67 North for a better life but end up facing a life of hardship similar to, or even worse than, what they left behind in their home countries. According to
Galabuzi (2006), "this phenomenon is characterized by the racialization of
neighbourhoods and in some cases, cities and regions (9)."
All the factors mentioned above make up the discursive climate and provide
fodder (or interpretive schema) for journalists to pull from in writing their
stories. These factors can influence framing of news stories and how persons
residing in Jane-Finch and the community itself are treated in the media.
68 CHAPTER THREE Textual Analysis
Mainstream print media's portrayal of Jane-Finch, a low-income community in
Toronto, is assessed by selecting and analysing newspaper articles printed in
The Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail during the years 1989 and 2006.
These two years are randomly selected, however, they do represent different decades and it would be noteworthy if similar representations on the Jane-
Finch area are held across decades. The ultimate aim of the analysis is to determine whether socio-cultural contextual features and any dominant societal discourses may have influenced the portrayal of the community and to determine whether the portrayal is persistent and the extent to which the portrayal is negative. To achieve these objectives, the analysis relies on CDA and Van Gorp's (2007) framing analysis.
Data Selection & Analysis
The analysis will rely on a variant framework that merges critical discourse analysis (CDA), framing and branding. A critical discourse analytic framework is applied because it enables an examination of how language is used to maintain inequalities and injustices in society and an assessment of societal influences on discourse (see van Dijk, 1991; Fairclough, 1995,1999, 2003,
69 2004). This thesis examines particularly whether print media discourse could be unwittingly using language that supports and perpetuates society's inequalities and injustices. Framing theory and branding theory complement and can extend the capacity of the CDA method, and may even help to banish some claims around CDA's weaknesses. For instance, one critique of CDA is its inability to conclude if textual repetition has an effect (whether detrimental, long-lasting, or any at all). However, the hope is that branding theory will help answer this question. The act of branding is based on repetition of words, ideas, concepts so that the product being branded can be associated with what is repeated (see Aaker, 1996, Biel, 1992, Tschirhart (online). Tschirhart notes "repeated exposure to a brand creates brand knowledge, i.e, brand recall and recogition coupled with associations of the brand with desired attributes, benefits and attitudes in the consumer's mind." According to
Stubbs (1997) in a critique of the CDA methodology:
CDA presents no theory about the role of repetition in such influences. In common with linguistics in general, it has no theory of how our ways of seeing the world are influenced cumulatively by repeated phrasing in texts. Exactly what is the relation between frequency of use and repetition? (6)
Though the variant framework merges three approaches, it will be encapsulated under Fairclough's CDA method in which analysis is undertaken on three dimensions - the text, the arena of text production and the socio- cultural context (see Table 5). 70 Table 5: Norman Fairclough's CDA Dimensions
Dimension Research Structure in this Thesis
Text Text analysis filtered through frame analysis and van Dijk's macrostructural framework Discourse Practice outside the scope of this thesis Socio-cultural Practice A look at contextual socio-cultural features and dominant discourses
For instance, in this research paper, both framing theory and van Dijk's macrostructural analysis will be applied in analyzing Fairclough's text dimension through the newspaper articles selected. Using both these methods to analyze the text may reveal the intersections between the text and the socio-cultural, or show how the socio-cultural dimension could lead to a particular kind of framing within the text or even lead to the overall general discursive climate. In other words, assessing the socio-cultural context is as much a part of frame analysis as it is of CDA (see Chapter 2), and gives insight into why particular formulations and utterances are present in the text.
Scope of this Research
Analysing the discourse practice dimension (the dimension in which the text is produced) is an integral part of the CDA method developed by Fairclough (see
Table 5 above). To fully apply the CDA method by incorporating discourse practice analysis into this research would mean assessing the journalistic 71 practices and factors influencing news output such as personalities, biases and newsroom pressures. This would involve an in-depth assessment of the newsroom practices of The Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail, and looking in particularly at the journalists who wrote the news articles selected and the potential biases of these journalists. Undertaking this component of CDA is outside the scope of this thesis research because of the extent of time and resources required to conduct interviews with journalists and to investigate the newsrooms of The Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail. This research study will be limited in scope because of the omission of this step (discourse practice) of the CDA methodology.
Research Structure
The analysis of data in this research is two-pronged. In the first stage, a textual analysis is completed, and, in the second stage, an attempt is made to filter the findings of the textual analysis through socio-cultural lenses by looking at the social dimension (socio-cultural analysis). This responds to and satisfies the CDA methodology as well as frame analysis (see Chapter 2); the social dimension is an integral component of both frameworks. The social dimension is critical because it is not only out of the social dimension that text is produced but text also acts upon the social dimension.
72 Analysis
The textual analysis entails the following steps:
(i) Scanning the scholarly literature to develop a probable list of frames
(see first part of Tankard's (2001) methodology);
(ii) Assessing the selected news articles (the text dimension) using van
Dijk's macrostructural analysis;
(iii) Applying frame reconstruction by identifying the frame package (van
Gorp, 2007) associated with an article. Van Gorp (2007) identifies
frame packages as "a cluster of logical organized devices that function
as an identity kit for the frame (64)." Frame analysis, in turn, includes
reconstructing this frame package. The frame package is composed of
manifest framing devices (word choice, metaphors, exemplars,
descriptions, arguments and visual images); manifest or latent
reasoning devices (implicit & explicit statements that deal with
justifications, causes and consequences in a temporal order) as well as
the implicit cultural phenomenon that displays the package as a whole.
This latter component is similar to Fairclough's (1995, 2003, 2004)
social dimension;
73 (iv) Conducting a branding analysis (sifting out brand attributes, brand
associations, brand personality, brand identity and brand equity).
Table 6: Van Gorp's textual analysis structure
List of Framing Package Frame identification possible Manifest framing Latent manifest frames device reasoning device
Social Dimension (contextual) analysis structure
In turn, the social dimension analysis entails the following step:
(i) Relating the findings of the textual analysis to the social, cultural
economic dimension, the current discursive climate or any implicit
cultural phenomenon (Van Gorp, 2007) and to any dominant
discourses.
Table 7: Table showing van Gorp's structure of contextual analysis
Frame identified Socio-cultural Dimension Example: social pathology Pathology of race (particularly the black race) thus associated with a racist discourse
74 Research Questions
The research questions that guide the study are: How is Jane-Finch characterized in print media in Canada? Or, how is Jane-Finch constructed linguistically in the press? To answer these two overarching questions, the data analysis process will seek to find out:
(i) The framing and presentation of the community of Jane-Finch and its
members in the news article selected (textual analysis). Here
community is being defined as a locality, a reference to "the territorial or
geographic notion of community (see Heller, 1989)." However, one of
Brent's (2001) conceptualization of community as "the way it affects the
relationships and lives of the people taking part and the relationships
they have with other people and social forces (221)" is very important to
this discussion on Jane-Finch.
(ii) Whether this framing and presentation consist of potential branding
elements {branding analysis)?
(iii) What the possible interpretations of this presentation are if one
takes into consideration the social, cultural, economic context of
Toronto and even Canada (socio-cultural or contextual analysis)? 75 Newspaper articles from the Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star are the
units of analysis. The 2005 Canadian Newspaper Association (CNA) data on circulation (retrieved from the Canadian Newspaper Association website
August 2006), showed The Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail were the
newspapers with the highest audience reach. As such, my research focused
on articles on Jane-Finch in The Toronto Star and Globe and Mail. Of all
newspapers, the CNA data shows that Canada-wide, The Toronto Star has the highest weekly circulation of 3,236,655 and the Globe and Mail, the
second highest circulation of 1,970,216. In contrast, the third largest paper, the
National Post has a weekly circulation of 1,447,475 (ibid). The Toronto Sun was also another paper worth considering, however, the limited scope of the
thesis prevented an analysis of articles from this newspaper.
The research will also include the Share community newspaper, though it is a
weekly tabloid-sized production rather than a daily, in order to receive an
'alternative' perspective from a newspaper with lesser reach (meaning its
audience is not mainstream) and one targeted to immigrant communities. The
CNA, however, does not provide data on the circulation of the Share
community newspaper. On its website (www.sharenews.com), Share
describes itself as "Canada's largest ethnic newspaper and as serving the
76 Black & Caribbean communities in the Greater Metropolitan Toronto Area."
Share also states it has a readership of 130,000 people.
Political Orientation of the Newspapers
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest circulating newspaper and has the largest reach. The newspaper is considered to have a more 'liberal' perspective than others (Guttstein, 2000; Miller 1998). The Toronto Star is seen as a newspaper that gives a more understanding perspective of those without power, or the disenfranchised in society (such as recent immigrants and low-income communities). Miller (1998) concurs in referring to The
Toronto Star as having an "egalitarian tradition" and as a paper that stands for
"social justice" (pg 29). The Toronto Star undertakes an ongoing War on
Poverty series to highlight what they describe as "the plight of our neediest".
Under the war on poverty series, The Star has written editorials such as
Support for Poor should be a priority (September 8, 2007); Harper lagging on
Poverty Agenda (August 5, 2007) and Child Poverty Shames Ontario
(September 12, 2007). If The Toronto Star is egalitarian as claimed, it would be interesting to see how The Star 'positions' or represents Jane-Finch compared to other newspapers. Not only does The Star reach more people, but given its political orientation, it would possibly appeal to more lower- income people and immigrants. Guttstein's (2000), in his research, shows that 77 out of all other mainstream newspapers, The Toronto Star had the most balanced coverage giving equal political coverage to both right-wing and left- wing perspectives. The research also showed the Globe and Mail was more left leaning (70 per cent) than right leaning (30 percent). The general perspective on the Globe and Mail is that it is directed more to an elite and business-oriented audience.
The Share newspaper, on the other hand, is a weekly community paper (that also accepts advertising). It is targeted at the African diaspora, some of whom reside in Jane-Finch. In this thesis we compare the headlines of any articles on the Jane-Finch community in the Share newspaper with the headlines in mainstream newspapers, to identify if the newspaper offers an alternative viewpoint on Jane-Finch counter to that of the mainstream media.
Data Collection and Selection
The corpus was generated from a search of news articles on Jane-Finch published in the Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star during the first seven months of the years in 1989 and 2006. Articles from The Toronto Star and
Globe and Mail were accessed through the Factiva online database (available at the York University Library). The Factiva database gave access to articles from both The Toronto Star and Globe and Mail. To generate the articles, the 78 search term "Jane and Finch" (in quotations) was typed into the 'search builder' of the Factiva database. "Jane and Finch" was used as a search term because this is how way the community is referred to (named) in common parlance. No other terms were added to the search term "Jane and Finch" so as not to add bias. For example 'Jane and Finch" and "crime" would have skewed the information in a particular direction and by using solely "Jane and
Finch" a more neutral search was enacted. Interestingly, when "Jane and
Finch" was searched, articles on other low-income communities also appeared in the search results. Elements of association could be at work here; in our branding analysis in the next chapter, we see where associations can also help to define products as well as places. In other words, a product (or place) is also defined through its associations.
Headlines from the Share newspaper are accessible electronically through the
CBCA Complete online database (available at the York University Library).
When the term "Jane and Finch" was typed into this database in order to do a search of the Share publication 24 articles on Jane-Finch were found. A quick scan of other articles in the Share newspaper revealed most of the articles were targeted at the broad African diaspora, and thus there were articles on
George Bush, the Caribbean and Africa, rather than solely on Toronto communities. Given this result, more coverage of Jane-Finch was evident in
79 the mainstream newspapers than in the Share newspaper. The Share newspaper is a weekly rather than a daily and this may explain why there are fewer stories on Jane-Finch. However, another reason may be that mainstream media pays more attention to communities like Jane-Finch, especially when it comes to negative news, in showcasing them as 'the other.'
(Brookes, 1995). This is similar to the "us" versus "them" pattern in news reporting that makes a marked distinction between dominant groups and ethnic groups and immigrants as identified by Van Dijk (1988).
Potential Bias
In any type of qualitative-based research, including CDA and framing, potential bias may result from the subjectivity that is inevitably present. Tankard (2001) aptly points out "frame identification (is) a rather subjective process. Does one reader saying a story is using a conflict frame make that really the case?
Indeed, coming up with the names for frames itself involves a kind of framing
(98)." Another issue is whether the researcher is finding specific frames merely based on the fact that (s)he is looking for those frames. Tankard
(2001) also stresses, "without a systematic approach to defining possible frames, researchers may tend to find the frames they are unconsciously or consciously looking for. Researchers might also tend to define frames in a stereotypical or conventional way (98)." The first part of Tankard's 80 methodology applied in this thesis research helps reduce this researcher bias by identifying list of frames already in the literature.
Textual Analysis - Part 1
My analysis during the initial stages of the study consisted of assessing the headlines of articles related to Jane-Finch published between June 2005 and
July 2006 (a one-year period) in the Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star so as to get an overview of the type of coverage received by Jane-Finch, and to identify in particular any key themes, categories and keywords from the headlines. I then compared these headlines to the headlines found in the
Share newspaper.
Our headline analysis in this section will indicate whether the type of portrayal afforded Jane-Finch in mainstream newspapers is negative and whether this portrayal persists over a set period of time. Persistence and repetition as noted earlier could contribute to 'branding' in a specified way and suggest a societal 'brand' that is long-standing in nature. This headline analysis along with a deeper analysis of the sample of articles selected from the years 1988 and 2006 support the objectives of this research, which is to determine the type of coverage and whether it is persistent.
81 Headlines, especially, are critical when looking at framing and investigating
potential branding of Jane-Finch. They are attention-grabbing and often contain keywords or 'buzzwords' that people may remember from memory about the area of Jane-Finch. Headlines are what readers see first, as they are bolded and highlighted above other parts of the story. They (and possibly the lead paragraph) are the only parts of a news story that readers often scan
before they move on to other news stories in the newspaper. As Teo (2000)
argues "a reader need only to glance at the headline or lead to obtain a fairly
accurate idea of what the whole report is about (13)." Teo's (2000) argument
validates our use of a headline analysis first to determine what the newspaper wants to emphasize and second to surmise what elements of the article the
reader is more likely to see, read or remember.
Further, headlines are powerful analytic tools and are significant aspects in the
presentation and construction of the news article. Within the generic structure
of the news release, important elements such as the headline and lead are
placed first and reporters and journalists adopt this structure universally. That
is to say, journalists are trained to write news in an inverted pyramid style
starting with the most important elements first. Journalists (copy editors) are
further trained to strategically and deliberately use headlines to grab the
audience's attention. The headline and the lead of news articles will have
82 details that the journalist or the newspaper thinks are the most important for the reader, van Dijk (1988) rightly stresses that "the assignment of importance or relevance may have ideological implications (115)." Thus, headlines, because they are selected and of strategic importance to the news article, can play an ideological role:
In a genre of discourse where space is premium, news headlines have to be crafted in such a way as to employ the minimum number of to package maximum information. Thus every word in a headline is carefully chosen and structured so as to maximize the effect of the headline. In this way headlines often encapsulate the newspaper's ideological values and attitudes and analysing the lexical choices and syntactic structures of newspaper headlines ...would allow the critical discourse analyst a peek into the ideological meaning behind the newspaper reporting. (Teo, 1999, 14)
Headlines can quickly depict frames and news angles. For the journalist, headlines capture the elements that are most critical and impactful. In her look at ideological constructions of Africa in news, Brookes (1995) asserts:
Headlines, as part of the characteristic pattern of organization of news discourse, are a focusing act. They function as initial summaries of news texts and foreground what the producer regards as most relevant and of maximum interest or appeal to readers. By so doing, headlines provide preferred meaning for news texts and frameworks within which readers may interpret them. Thus headlines are a mechanism for constructing a particular ideological view. Furthermore, news texts are often partially read, usually not beyond the headline and the first few lines, and as a result, headlines here indicate not only the dominant meanings given to Africa, but also the dominant ideological representations of Africa that are likely to be stored in the minds of the readers. (467)
83 As noted, assessing headlines enables a look at the key categories, and, possibly recurrent themes in coverage on Jane-Finch, which is a type of manifest framing (see Van Gorp, 2007). In turn, determining key themes or categories shows what received the most coverage over the period selected.
A theme or subject can be defined as "a single concept underlying the overall topic of a news article (Brooks, 1995)." In her analysis of news on Africa in the
Western press, Brooks (1995) sees subject analysis as a "useful tool for establishing the ideological framework within which Africa (was) constructed
(465)" in the headlines she analysed.
Headline Analysis
After inserting the search terms 'Jane-Finch' in the Factiva database to generate headlines published between June 2005 and July 2006, 147 headlines of articles came up in a search of The Toronto Star and 73 headlines of articles came up in a search of the Globe and Mail. Appendix B lists key categories or themes derived from headlines in The Toronto Star and
Globe and Mail. Appendix B also shows the headlines and key categories gleaned from the Share newspaper between 1988 and 2006. After identifying the categories or subjects derived from headlines topics related to news coverage on Jane-Finch in both The Toronto Star and Globe and Mail, it is that evident news about the community focuses predominantly on crime and 84 violence (guns, gangs, the courts and drugs) (see Appendix B). Examples of these headlines are:
Miller backs Liberal 'total' gun ban - Dec 9, 2006 {Toronto Star)
Man dies, brothers shot in afternoon of violence - Nov 15, 2005 (Toronto Star)
Caught in the Crossfire - October 25, 2005 (Toronto Star)
Friends cheer as man freed - October 7, 2005 (Toronto Star)
When home is where the guns are - August 6, 2005 (Globe and Mail)
Youth shot in stomach outside Jane-Finch Mall - August 22, 2005 (Globe and Mail)
Funeral shooting becomes a study in fearful silence - November 26, 2005 (Globe and Mail)
Project Flicker snuffs out gang, police believe - September 17, 2005 (Toronto Star)
Another subject or topic receiving attention were stories based on strategies, initiatives and social justice and programs, such as a university bridging program as well as funding and charity stories which are similar in nature to the former category. Jane-Finch is portrayed in both newspapers as a community who receives much help, funding and charity. For example, some of the headlines are:
David Miller's initiative - Dec 25 2006 (Toronto Star)
Awards laud social justice advocates - Apr 22 2006 (Toronto Star)
85 PEACH study program begins to bear fruit - July 3, 2006 (Globe and Mail)
Welfare mothers given chance to break the cycle; Participants in new program get free daycare for their children - July 24, 2006 (Globe and Mail)
Social housing needs pitted against desire for programs - May 11, 2006 (Globe and Mail)
Similar to the topic of programs is the question of policies and the actions of politicians. These headlines include:
It's time 'to take back our streets'; Toronto meeting on gun violence hears victims Miller wants more federal cash for social programs - September 22, 2005 (Toronto Star)
Politicians asked to try housing units; Toronto agency extends invitation to MPs, MPPs Wants them to understand dire need for $225M - October 19, 2005 (Toronto Star)
Ottawa may sue U.S. gun makers -October 22, 2005 (Toronto Star)
Will Liberal gun plan really help? -December 9, 2005 (Globe and Mail)
Martin's proposed gun ban propels sales rise -December 26, 2005 (Globe and Mail)
Toronto tragedy sparks federal outcry -December 28, 2005 (Globe and Mail)
Policies and politicians are turned to as solutions to 'fix' violence and crime and or 'fund' the community. Even in this category, the theme of crime is still present.
86 Another topic that received significant attention from the media had to do with stories on schools, students, teens and youth. In some cases, the stories linked youth to crime and there is an implication that the young ones or teens in low-income areas are 'at-risk', involved in crime, and or likely to turn to crime if help is not offered. The stories highlight that there is a need to help or focus on the young through programs, giving funding to inner city schools and boosting self esteem, teaching the youth anything is possible and steering them away from crime.
Examples of all these stories include:
Job program, no cure all teens say - September 27, 2005 (Toronto Star)
Schools must treat all students fairly - September 28, 2005 (Toronto Star)
3 inner-city schools to get $1M each - January 31, 2006 (Toronto Star)
Students learn anything is possible -April 19, 2006 (Toronto Star)
Why are some schools tougher on unruly kids - April 13, 2006 (Toronto Star)
The art and science of helping kids boost self-image - February 21, 2006 (Toronto Star)
Court help for black youths - May 17, 2006 (Toronto Star)
Students keeping it real - July 6 2006 (Toronto Star)
Helping steer youth away from crime - February 9, 2006 (Toronto Star)
87 One neighbourhood, three schools, and a world of difference for students - June 23, 2006 - {Globe and Mail)
Students get lesson about perils of life on the hustle - January 17, 2006 - (Globe and Mail)
He's ready to fight for teenagers in trouble - January 14, 2006 - (Globe and Mail)
That crime and violence is the most heavily reported theme or subject (see
Appendix B) underscores claims of a negative image or representation of the community in the print media. As well, even in cases of the other topics covered, there is an association or link with crime; for example, the articles do not address policy in general but government policy on crime. Other subjects covered in the headlines, though to a lesser extent, were culture, sports,
(stereotyping) and other low-income communities. Themes were repeated for the Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star, though the latter had more stories on Jane-Finch overall. It can be sufficiently argued that persons reading both newspapers would get the same 'articulation' of the Jane-Finch community.
A wider period was selected for the Share (1988 - 2006) as there were fewer articles on Jane-Finch than on other issues in the Share newspaper over the
June 2005 to July 2006 period selected for the other newspapers. A scan of the table in Appendix C will show that the Share newspaper articles, in comparison to articles from the Globe and the Star, were focused on improving the position of people in the Jane-Finch neighbourhood. The articles 88 consisted of outcries against the negative labeling of the community
(representation) and focused on culture and achievement of Jane-Finch youth, rather than crime and violence and unruly youth - topics which received much more focus from the mainstream newspapers. Examples of headlines of articles found in Share included:
Jane-Finch area "unfairly labelled" - November 2, 1988 (Share)
Striving to enhance position of Blacks (Jane Finch Concerned Citizens Organization) - June 28, 1989 (Share)
JFCCO says concerns ignored (Jane-Finch Concerned Citizens Organization) - March 11, 1993 (Share)
Students' scores impress Weston: lieutenant governor visits Jane- Finch's Brookview School - October 23, 1997 (Share)
Jane-Finch pastor gets YWCA award [Women of Distinction Religion & Community Leadership] - May 27, 1999 (Share)
Jane-Finch students honoured - August 3, 2006 (Share)
Even a glance at the categories associated with headlines in the mainstream newspapers will show that crime and violence coverage is prevalent and persistent. This suggests a negative pattern of coverage of the Jane-Finch area by mainstream newspapers. This negative pattern of coverage though is not the same for the alternative newspaper, Share. In fact the headlines of articles found in the Share newspapers are decidedly positive as even when there is reference to crime, it is about crime rates going down. In fact, in the
Share coverage between 1988 and 2006, there is only one article referring to 89 crime explicitly - Crime down in Jane-Finch area-study (published on May 5,
2005). Though in comparing the newspapers, however, we must bear in mind that the Share newspaper is not published daily and is merely a weekly community newspaper compared to mainstream newspapers, which would have much more space and resources to provide daily coverage on Jane-
Finch if they wanted. Yet questions can still be raised as to whether mainstream coverage is biased by looking at the lexical choices or words used in some of the headlines in the Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star such as,
Recurring motif: gang shootouts and innocent victims, first summer of the gun was entering its gruesome final stretch; T O. 's mean streets. The use of first summer of the gun suggests that the reporter or the newspaper expects a second or even third summer of a gun; recurring motif suggests a theme of gang shootouts and innocent victims associated with the community and
Toronto mean's streets suggests Jane-Finch is notoriously violent and mean.
List-of-Frames
The textual analysis in this research also consists of a list-of-frames approach
(Tankard, 2001), van Dijk's (1991) macrostructural analysis and van Gorp's
(2007) frame reconstruction. These three approaches are merged to get a deeper and richer textual analysis.
90 Tankard's (2001) systematic approach to frame analysis is modified for use in this study. Tankard (2001) recommends a list of frames approach whereby a
range of possible frames is made explicit (from a scan of the literature or other
sources), placed in a manifest list and keywords, catchphrases and symbols developed to help determine each frame.
This research study borrows from Tankard's (2001) suggested approach to
create a list of frames (so as to create more objectivity in the frame analysis)
by browsing the literature related to the subject matter (see Tankard, 2001).
The study applies the first part of Tankard's (2001) recommended method
(developing an explicit list of frames from the literature), but not the second
part of his approach. The second part of Tankard's method was not used
because it was too lengthy for the scope of the thesis and deemed
unnecessary seeing that van Dijk and van Gorp's methods were already being
used for textual analysis. There is much value in the first part of Tankard's
method because it allows for a scan of the literature for findings to investigate
how low-income communities, the poor, immigrants, inner cities and cities in
general are described in society and in the media generally. After identifying
these various ways, one can then look within the corpus of news articles to
determine similarities or even differences.
91 What the Literature Reveals
The literature we will rely on to derive a possible list of frames will be articles and studies looking at the inner cities of Western countries, literature on media and minorities in Canada and any articles on low-income communities in
Toronto. If one were to look within the literature and find that the same frames are reflected in coverage of Jane-Finch, the question that arises is why these frames persist? Both framing and critical discourse analysis methodology look towards socio-cultural influences to find answers as to why frames and discourses persist.
Scholars agree that typically the cities of North America (especially their inner city corridors) are painted negatively and that the media has a complicit role in creating the negative images held by these locations (see Dreier, 2005;
Macek, 2006). The effects of this portrayal are evident, as Dreier (2005) sums up:
the drumbeat of negativism has its political consequences. Many Americans have concluded that problems such as poverty and crime may be intractable. Media coverage of our cities contributes to public cynicism about government in general and about society's capacity to solve urban problems....the way the media frames urban issues compounds the obstacles to building a majoritarian coalition for metropolitan reform. (194)
92 No doubt, similarly if Jane-Finch is constantly portrayed negatively, political and other far-reaching consequences (such as bias, lowered housing prices, discrimination, etc.) are likely to follow. In following Tankard's approach to identify a probable list of frames, below is a list of frames likely to be applied to the low-income community of Jane-Finch during media coverage.
Urban Social Pathology Frame
North American cities, especially their poorer inner city corridors, are 'painted' as pathological under the urban pathology perspective. The urban pathology perspective sees inner cities and their insiders as depraved and abnormal.
Macek (2006) confirms that this trend began in the industrial age:
from the beginning of the industrial age onward, elites viewed the rise of the working-class slum, and later the immigrant and black ghetto, with an apprehension bordering on hysteria. In these densely settled, often squalid, desperately impoverished neighbourhoods, which could be found in every major city in the capitalist world, successive generations of bourgeois social explorers, reformers and uplifters confronted, surveyed and tried to come to grips with their worst nightmares: the human detritus cast off by the exploitative economic system on which their comfortable lifestyles depended. (43)
In addition, cities and their slums have been the scourge of society historically, particularly stemming from the puritan ideals of the Victorian age. Fear of the city can also be traced back to the Judeo-Christian tradition and the bible.
Macek (2006) points out "the bible frequently treats the city as "unnatural" and
93 an abomination in the eyes of God (witness the rough treatment of the biblical deity of such splendid cities as Babel and Sodom and Gomorrah) (41)." As well, it is argued the current negativity surrounding cities and their urban areas is really signs of a moral panic, "an outburst of cultural anxiety typical of advanced industrialized nations (Macek, 2006, xiii)." As he defines it, moral panic is "any upsurge of public concern over, or alarm about, a condition or group socially defined as 'threatening' or 'dangerous' (Macek, 2006, xiii). The corporate media plays a key role in creating and sustaining the 'moral panic' around urban areas, as Dreier (2005) avers:
the way the major news media frame coverage of our cities reinforces an overwhelmingly negative and misleading view of urban America. The images from the nightly news, newsweeklies, and daily newspapers are an unrelenting story of social pathology - mounting crime, gangs, drug wars, racial tension, homelessness, teenage pregnancy, AIDS, inadequate schools and slum housing (193).
Similarly, Macek (2006) notes "it is circulation through the media that gives elite diagnoses and interpretations of the threatening group's influence and social weight (xiv)." This thesis may prove Jane-Finch's representation in
Toronto's media could be responsible for the community's poor reputation and the feeling of moral panic generated around the community. Further, it is important to note that the elements associated with the panic are social constructions that are often blown out of proportion and "produced by social agents in particular contexts for specific purposes (Macek, 2006, xiv)."
94 Canadian researchers also point to media-generated moral panic in Canada related to Chinese boat people and to blacks and crime (see Henry and Tator,
2002).
Victorian Ideals - Aligning the Poor with 'Dirt'
Throughout history, society has negated the poor and viewed them as immoral and degenerate. Macek (2006) identifies a theory of urban degeneracy that:
enjoyed widespread support in the late-nineteenth-century Britain, (claiming) the deleterious influence of the slum environment stunted the mental, physical and moral growth of its inhabitants and rendered them "hereditarily unfit" for decent jobs. (44)
According to this scholar, "for the nineteenth-century bourgeois reformers, the step from the statement, "the poor are forced to live in dirt" to the statement
"the poor are inherently dirty, both morally and physically" was thus "a short one to take (44)." This historical negation of the poor has continued on to the present day. Within low-income communities, where a large percentage of the people are poor, it is no surprise that the community would receive widespread societal negation. Negative feelings and portrayals of the poor are perpetuated to this day throughout the media and elsewhere in society (Kendall, 2005;
Dreier, 2005).
95 Government Policy or Program Frame
It is true that governments take a vested interest in providing programs and developing policies for the betterment of low-income communities. The media also covers what government does quite closely (see Hackett & Gruneau,
1999) because of the convenience, that is government departments have regular press conferences and public affairs departments that are willing and ready to speak with the press. Within the literature therefore, it is no surprise to discover that another news angle or frame that is often applied to underprivileged areas is the government policy or program frame.
The findings of the headline analysis, reported above, show that government and other programs and policies appear often in the coverage on Jane-Finch.
Dreier (2005), for instance, argues that "a standard news story focuses on one policy initiative (i.e., federal, enterprise zones, welfare, community policing, subsidized housing) and proclaims that despite government's best efforts poverty and crime persist (194)." This kind of framing implies that the individual is responsible for the situation they have found themselves in and that they can do better but choose not to. It also implies that low-income communities and their people are beyond help, so the effort is worthless, as in the story on council support for the Jane-Finch community (to be analysed in
96 the next chapter), which demonstrates this standard news story example very well.
Blame the Victim or Anti-poverty Frame
Another frame applied is the poverty frame whereby the poor are portrayed as
responsible for their own plight. Dreier (2005) underscores that "media
portrayals of the urban poor overemphasize the so-called non-deserving poor
and contribute to misleading racial stereotypes about the poor (195)." This
kind of framing ignores the structural and contextual factors that may have
contributed to the plight of the poor and instead blame the poor for their plight.
In her research, Kendall (2005) shows that the poor are ignored by the media:
"when they do appear in what we read and watch ... they are portrayed often
in a negative light that ignores larger community and societal conditions that
may have contributed to or exacerbated their current condition (94)." Kendall
(2005) also notes that "most articles and stories about people on the bottom
rungs of society either treat them as mere statistics or have a critical edge,
portraying the poor as losers, welfare dependents, mentally ill persons or
criminals (94)." The media is immediately 'suspect' for perpetuating the-poor-
as-guilty perspective because of their penchant to present stories without
providing context (see Kendall, 2005). The reasons given for lack of context in
97 news stories are usually space limitations and cost difficulties (seen as filters affecting news) (Hackett & Gruneau, 1999).
This anti-poverty stance is also a reflection of capitalist discourse, where an
individualistic paradigm is championed; the individuals who are 'well-off' are
heralded as success stories and the poor disdained as failures. Of
significance is Kendall's (2005) finding that "articles and stories about the
upper class appear frequently in newspapers and on television, but the poor
are invisible, except when they are presented as faceless statistics or when they are shown to be "problems" to be dealt with in a community (94)."
Researchers also found that within the capitalist structure the media reports
more on business or capital rather than other issues. In fact, business is
showcased in a favourable manner. Hackett and Gruneau (2000) point out:
our research suggests that the business community gets consistently better press - or less critical attention - than several other major institutions, notably government and organized labour. Problems such as environmental degradation or poor working conditions (two of our blind spots) may be covered, but rarely are they interpreted as consequences of a market-driven business system. (223)
Crime Coverage Disproportionate to Crimes Committed
A fact uncovered by the literature is that crime coverage is usually
disproportionate to the actual number crimes committed. Dreier (2005) points
to research showing that "the extent of news coverage of crime typically has 98 little to do with actual crime rates. The decline in urban violent crime rates in the 1990s did not result in a proportionate decline in news coverage (194)."
This focus by the media can be explained by both the 'moral panic' argument as well as the argument that the media has degenerated into focusing only on
profits to the extent that media discourse (including news) tends to emphasize the sensational or what is more appealing to make profits (see Bagdikian,
2000; Bennett, 2007). The media tends to report more on what is considered deviance or deviant behaviour than on ordinary run-of-the-mill issues - crime is
covered more than other issues because of the emphasis on the sensational
in the media. As well, crime reporting is more convenient for news
organizations (see Hackett & Gruneau, 1999) because the police do most of the information gathering and police new reports are readily available.
Bad News Frame
News originating from poor communities, especially black neighbourhoods, is
often based on the bad news frame. The media tends not to focus (or focus
less) on the positive aspects or positive news emanating from these
communities. Dreier (2005) points out "media coverage of urban blacks is typically framed as bad news. For example, news coverage of urban
neighbourhoods, particularly low-income black neighbourhoods, focuses on
problems rather than strengths, institutions, and assets (195)." The 99 assessment of headlines over the period June 2005 - July 2006 shows that much negative news was reported on Jane-Finch. If one were to compare the amount of positive to negative news, the negative outweighs the positive.
Public Housing Stigma
Government-subsidized housing constitutes some of the Jane-Finch neighbourhood and some would argue this might be the reason for its negative stigma. According to Dreier (2005):
the public housing program was generally reported sympathetically from the 1950s through the mid-1960s, since 1965, media coverage has been consistently negative, focusing on the anti-social behaviours (crime, drug use, gang membership) of its residents and presenting a misleading portrayal of public-housing developments as high rise slums ....the public still has misleading and stereotyped views about government-subsidized housing (the projects) ... (197)
Though Dreir (2005) refers, in particular, to the United States the public housing stigma in the media is also relevant to Canada (see Purdy, 2005). In his research, Purdy looked at the Regent Park community and the stigma associated with the community because of its public housing status.
Construction of Blacks as Criminals
Culturally and historically in North America, blacks have been criminalized in various forms of media. The literature finds that not only is there an 100 association between crime and race, but that minorities are constructed as violent criminals. Dreier (2005) cites specific research showing that "news coverage over-represents minorities as violent criminals (194)." Other researchers have pointed to a disproportionate representation of blacks as criminals in news reports on television compared to whites, which reinforces the link between blacks and crime (see Stabile, 2006; Entman and Rojecki,
2000). In a recent study of crime news and how it intersects with race and gender, Stabile (2006) concludes, for example:
...crime narratives have long understood black people as a group to be uniquely criminal that the producers of these narratives have historically refused to acknowledge the victimization of black people and that the perspective from which these narratives have been produced has been one that views crime and deviance through a prism that has reproduced the most harmful of ideologies of race and gender. (175)
Though Jane-Finch is a mixed immigrant community, the community is considered to be composed of blacks and, as such, there is a kind of social expectation that Jane-Finch would be a criminal community. As the Jane-
Finch community is perceived publicly as predominantly black the extent to which this perception influences the type of coverage received is worthy of analysis.
Stabile (2006) points to research that "suggests that 'fear of crime' is consistently racialized by informants and geographically projected onto
101 predominantly African American neighbourhoods (180)." That is to say, geographically crime is expected to be in certain areas and not in others; as well criminals are expected to pathologically originate from certain places and cultures and races and not from others. Do media viewpoints and frames assist in geographic maligning (negative labeling) of certain communities?
From their research on the Canadian media, Henry and Tator (2002) confirm that blacks, in particular, are stigmatized in the mainstream Canadian media as criminals. They note:
the media in general produce negative images of people of colour; (and point out that) a book on racism in Ontario's criminal justice system reveals that for at least a century, the media have played an important role in racializing crime. (41)
This seems a general North American trend for negative representation of blacks and for associating blacks with criminal behaviour, or subtly suggesting a pathology correlated with race. Stabile (2006) stands firm in her argument that:
African Americans have been singled out, identified and criminalized by virtue of skin colour in ways that other racial groups simply have not been over the course of US history. Blackness more than any other type of identity has lain at the centre of threat constructions. (7)
Of the United States, Dreier (2005) notes "it comes as no surprise that even people who live in communities with little crime or drug problems think they are in the middle of a crime wave perpetrated primarily by black males." The
102 same moral panic may hold true for Canada given the media portrayals of blacks in Canada (see Henry and Tator, 2002) and the spillover of popular culture from the United States.
Stereotypes about Minorities
(i) Racial Stereotypes
Other frames that may arise about Jane-Finch could be associated with racial stereotyping and even stereotypes about minorities. Perpetuating negative stereotypes about blacks and other minorities more than likely brings political consequences and an impact on political decision-making. Squires (2002) points to:
A large body of empirical and historical research (which) suggests that mainstream media are sources for stereotypical and racist information and images about Black Americans and that these images - particularly those generated in the news - exacerbate racial divides over public policy. (48)
Racial stereotypes could portray blacks as criminally depraved, or as only good at sports, or cultural festivals.
(ii) Welfare Queens
The welfare queen is a strong stereotype applied to the North American black women (Littlefield, 2008) especially those in low-income communities who are
103 often criminalized as scamming the system and as lazy, prone to teenage pregnancies and having more children than they can care for adequately.
There is a persistent stereotype of an undeserving welfare 'queen' who is forever dependent on the system or the government or society and this may be another way that Jane-Finch community members are characterized in the
Canadian media, even though the 'welfare queen label is more predominant in the United States, there is still some evidence of this portrayal in Canadian media (see the analysis in this thesis) and of the welfare queen being a narrative in the Canadian society.
Immigrant Xenophobia
Jane-Finch is an immigrant community. Literature points regularly to immigrants feeling unwelcomed even in a multicultural Canada whether it is because of racism or xenophobia. Though she speaks of the US, Stabile
(2006) notes, "at different historical junctures, various immigrant groups were isolated as public health hazards or criminal threats (7). As far as immigration, there may be similarities in Canada, as writing on how to manage diversity in
Canada and Canadian immigration, Helly (2004) also advises:
The government's discourse and the public measures against racism and xenophobia are crucial to the recognition and acceptance of immigrants and ethnic minorities.... It is not by chance that an anti- immigration lobby consolidated itself during the 1990s in Western Canada at the same time that the federal state was according less 104 importance and smaller means to the policy of multiculturalism. This situation has definitely contributed to the Islamophobobia demonstrated by one part of the media in the English-speaking provinces. (5)
Though research such as Helly's has pointed to Canadian xenophobia, recently pollster Michael Adams made strong claims that Canadians are more accepting of immigrants and that Canadian pluralism is working. Last year
(2007) Adams published his findings in the book, Unlikely Utopia: The
Surprising Triumph of Canadian Pluralism. Underscoring his findings in a
Toronto Star article, Adams (2007) stated:
Have Canadians become xenophobic overnight? Between 2005 and 2006, the proportion of Canadians believing that "too many immigrants do not adopt Canadian values" jumped from 58 per cent to 65 per cent. So, yes, public opinion polling has shown a spasm of concern about the integration of newcomers.
Canadian attitudes, however, remain overwhelmingly positive. Canada has the highest immigration rate in the world, but when asked if this country accepts too many immigrants, most of us say no....
Are Canadians experiencing some anxiety about the single most ambitious immigration program in the world? Yes. Is Canada giving up on diversity, becoming a hotbed of xenophobia overnight? No
The extent to which xenophobia contributes to media coverage of Jane-Finch is therefore questionable. It seems Adams though is not denying existence of some xenophobia; he admits there is anxiety, but really stresses Canadians are not as xenophobic as some (like the media) would make it out to be.
105 In the next chapter, part two of the textual analysis will be presented. Part two includes a branding analysis of the newspaper articles to determine whether branding of Jane-Finch can occur through news media representations.
106 CHAPTER FOUR Branding Analysis
Textual Analysis - Part 2
In this chapter, we continue with Part two of the textual analysis started in
Chapter 3. Here the textual analysis includes a branding analysis followed by a contextual analysis where the elements of the text are linked to the social dimension.
Scope of Analysis
The limited time to complete a thesis paper would not allow for full analysis of one year's worth of articles paragraph by paragraph. The scope of the paper is thus limited. As well, bearing this limited scope in mind, the method used to select the articles was random sampling, which allows for articles to be selected from the 'general population' of articles, with each item getting an equal chance for selection. The use of random sampling would not negate the findings of this research in determining the persistence of a certain type of coverage. Persistent negative coverage in mainstream newspapers is fully shown by the headline analysis conducted in the section above, even if one puts the rest of the analysis aside.
107 The articles analysed in this section were randomly selected from The Toronto
Star during the period January to July 1989 and from a set of articles in the
Globe and Mail written with the intention of reporting on the Jane-Finch
community in a manner that was different from the norm, according to the
Globe. Below is the paragraph the Globe attaches to the end of its articles to
indicate its Jane-Finch coverage with a difference:
The intersection of Jane Street and Finch Avenue in northwest Toronto draws reporters all too often for stories of gun and violence, but less is told about ordinary life here. To the dismay of residents, 'Jane-Finch' has become a catch-all phrase that suggests poverty, gangs and racial division. Those who live here say the stereotypes obscure a complex, resilient community struggling to emerge from years of neglect. To understand the neighbourhood behind the name, The Globe and Mail's Joe Friesen is reporting regularly from Jane-Finch.
The analysis relies on van Dijk's (1988) framework to assess the newspaper
articles (see Appendix A) and to fulfill the text dimension of Fairclough's
framework. Analysis of all news articles begins with a look at van Dijk's
summary, i.e., the headline and lead. The analysis then moves on to look at
the background of the article (main events, context, history) and verbal
comments interspersed throughout the article. After applying van Dijk's
analytical outline, the study proceeds to identify the frame package in each
article using van Gorp's (2007) method.
108 Article 1 Council Support for Jane-Finch centre weakens - The Toronto Star, April 11,1989 van Dijk's analysis starts with the headline and the lead, the two elements of the article that Teo (1999) correctly asserts "orient the reader to process the text in a predetermined direction (13)." In looking at the headline, Council
Support for Jane-Finch Centre Weakens, the proposition (the "conceptual meaning structure of a clause," - van Dijk, 1991) is that Council support has weakened though it may have been strong in the past. Essential to looking at the proposition is determining what sort of meaning it conjures up in the reader's mind - "why has council support weakened, or why is there council support in the first place?" This is what the reader would be hoping to uncover in reading this article. Additionally, the fact that Jane-Finch is being
'supported' or not by Council suggests Jane-Finch is a community of need, a dependent community or a community requiring some kind of governmental support.
Article 1 - Lead Paragraphs
In the first paragraph, the journalist for this piece builds local coherence for the reader by explaining why council support has weakened. The explanation is that Jane - Finch is taking too much money, "millions of dollars", in fact, whilst other communities with similar needs are missing out and will "suffer". Jane - 109 Finch is established as a community of need in North York amongst others, but a community that is taking too much.
Others say several North York communities have similar needs and if millions of dollars are spent in Jane-Finch, other areas of North York will suffer.
"There are other areas just as bad off as Jane-Finch, "said Councillor Don Yuill, adding that he won't support the project. "A community centre is not going to solve the problem of drugs, break-ins and murders. It's just for playing basketball."
Parks commissioner Gord Hutchinson said he expects the centre to cost between $6 and $48 million. But other councillors say the price tag could reach $20 million.
There is confirmation (or extension) of the first proposition that the community is taking too much and taking away from other communities from an official source given Councillor Yuill's statement in the second paragraph. The
Councillor states "there are other areas as bad off as Jane-Finch." Here it is confirmed for the reader that Jane-Finch is "bad off". The use of the adjective
'bad' is noteworthy because of its negative connotations. The Councillor adds he "won't support the project because, as the reader learns from him, the community centre 7s not going to solve the problems of drugs, break-ins and murders." The Centre would be "just for playing basketball" and therefore would not make a difference. His statements give the impression the community is 'problematic' and its problems would not be helped by this intervention. One could also point to stereotyping from his reference to
110 basketball, a sport, which is usually associated with black youth; all they do is play basketball, it seems that he is saying. Yet the reader will learn in subsequent paragraphs that the community centre is a super resource centre which would host a library, indoor swimming pool, meeting rooms, gymnasium
and multipurpose room and is not just for playing basketball. However, the
reader might not make it to that paragraph to learn this fact, as research
shows most people read the headline and the first paragraph or two before
moving on to other articles (Brookes, 1995).
So far from the analysis of this article, the specific references made about
Jane - Finch all have negative connotations - solve the problems of drugs,
break-ins and murder and it's-taking-too-much.
Article 1- Background (Main Events, Context, History)
The background to the assertions in Article 1 can be found in the fifth
paragraph. The reader learns Jane - Finch is a "densely populated area of
North York" and that "Metro police have identified it as a high-crime area and
home to a large percentage of Metro's single-parent families." Again the journalist uses an official source (the police) to name the community. All the
significations and names are negative connotations - large percentage of
Metro's single-parent families suggests a breakdown in family and the home;
111 high-crime area suggests people in the community are criminals and densely populated suggests overcrowding, unhealthy conditions. Further, the author gives history and context to the situation in the story by informing the reader that five months prior to this event, the mayor of North York, Mel Lastman,
asked for council support to build 'the largest community centre ever
undertaken by our city' in the Jane - Finch Area. In the article, quotations are
placed around the phrase the largest community centre ever undertaken by
our city. In placing these quotations, there may be a suggestion on the part of
the news media's that Jane-Finch is undeserving of the largest centre ever
built by the City of North York and or prompting the reader to raise questions
about why Jane-Finch is receiving the largest community centre. The
quotations further build coherence around the idea Jane-Finch is taking too
much.
The mayor ...was shocked to hear last week that some councillors claim the planning for the project has been a secret.
He said he invited the councillors from Ward 1, 3 and 5 to attend a meeting with area residents last year before the elections and no one showed up.
"There is some underlying problem (with the politicians) out there," he said. "They are trying to kill it (the centre) and it is so desperately needed."
Above, there are propositions that the Councillors are neither interested in
developing the Jane-Finch area nor in meeting with area resident. It is evident
112 that the Mayor thinks the politicians are trying to kill the centre that is so
"desperately needed" and here again Jane-Finch is portrayed as a desperate and needy area. The municipal politicians are portrayed as frustrated at the community's continuous dependence.
Lastman said, "what do they (the councillors) want, for the kids to play in the malls and get into trouble? Is that the message they want to send out?"
He said he has met with Premier David Peterson and Peterson is looking at putting up as much as 50 per cent of the costs of the resource centre because Jane-Finch is a special needs area
This above paragraph comes only at the end disallowing readers who do not
read through the article from discovering that 50% of the money to be
allocated will come from the provincial government and not all the money will
come from the municipal government. The news article initially gave the
impression the municipality bore the bill. Unlike other kids, the kids from Jane-
Finch are likely to play in malls and get into trouble; this suggests a breakdown
in family structure as well as stereotyping.
Overall, the article ascribes the characteristic of a special needs area to Jane-
Finch. The article buys into the social script of low-income communities
depending on too much tax dollars or taxpayers' money.
113 Article 1 - Frame Analysis
Below are the manifest frames (direct quotations) excerpted from News Article
1 (see Appendix C for a more detailed analysis of manifest and latent frames in this article):
Other communities have similar needs; ...expects the centre to cost between $6 and $8 million. But other councillors say the price tag could reach $20 million ...if million of dollars are spent in Jane-Finch, other areas of North York will suffer
a community centre is not going to solve the problems of drugs, break- ins and murders
It (the centre) is just for playing basketball
Metro police have identified it as a high-crime area; the super resource centre complete with library, indoor swimming pool, meeting rooms, gymnasium and multipurpose rooms would represent a new lease on life for thousands of our residents...it is so desperately needed
What do they want for the kids to play in the malls and get into trouble
Underneath these manifest frames are buried latent inferences (see Appendix
C for a more detailed analysis). The latent frames (inferences) in this news article are: Jane-Finch is not deserving of all these handouts other areas have needs too (parasitic frame); the community is taking too much taxpayers' money when compared to other communities (parasitic frame); the community cannot be saved or helped no matter what (pathological); basketball is all they do (stereotyping); police is an authority figure and credible source so we should believe when they identify that Jane - Finch is
114 home to a large percentage of Metro's single-parent families and has a high crime rate (use of credible source and authority figure to frame breakdown of familial structure); crime is high, not average; people in this community are criminals (criminal depravity); the kids of other neighborhoods do not get into trouble only these ones (unruly kids and breakdown in family structure); presenting the program as salvation (new lease on life) - the government steps in to do something to save the community (governmental program frame)
Article 1 - Frame package
Unruly Parasitic Pathological Basketball Criminal Familial Governmental kids Community Frame Stereotype Depravity Structure Program
Frame Frame Frame Frame Breakdown Frame
Frame
The frame package associated with Article 1 is that Jane-Finch community is parasitic in nature, receives too much governmental attention, handouts, funding and possesses an underlying pathological nature (both because of its unruly kids and adult criminals) that is not easily solved.
115 Article 2 Media blamed for Poor Image of Jane-Finch area - The Toronto Star, April 25,1989
The proposition in this headline, Media Blamed for Poor Image of Jane-Finch
Area, is that the media is at fault for the poor image bestowed upon Jane-
Finch. The reader is not told who is blaming the media, however. In
assessing the lead paragraphs, we see that the proposition embedded in the
headline is expanded in the first paragraphs with claims that the media has the
area under a microscope and the media is making the area a scapegoat by
pinning anything that happens anywhere near the intersection on the
community. The interpretation is that Jane-Finch is being afflicted by media
portrayal and is fighting back. Jane-Finch is indeed an intersection of two
streets and is not a community per se however the communities surrounding
the intersection are regularly referred to as Jane - Finch community in the
media and elsewhere.
Residents claim the media has the area under a microscope and anything that happens anywhere near the intersection is pinned on the community
Ward 3 councillor Peter Li Preti says hundreds of residents are gearing up to air their beefs
Li Preti, the councillor for the area proposes that the city assists the
community financially in a legal fight with any media that slanders or libels the
community or residents in the area.
116 Li Preti recently introduced a motion at council asking the city to match every dollar raised by the community to be used in a legal fight with any media that slanders or libels the community or residents in the area.
This is a case of the community fighting back and being helped by a politician,
however it is unclear as to whether this motion will pass and whether a poor,
low-income community would be able to generate funds for fighting against big
media corporations is another uncertainty.
The motion also asks council to "condemn and abhor the sensationalised press coverage of the area" And it seeks to have Metro change the name of the streets forming the intersection
The reader gets further details on the Motion from Li Preti where the press is
accused of sensationalised press coverage of the area that should be
condemned and abhorred. The streets of the intersection should also be re
named.
The news article reads more like a political speech from Li Preti to convince
the community of his support rather than a motion that one expects to be
passed given the social context. What we know today in the year 2008 is that
the streets of the intersection were not renamed and that Jane-Finch launched
no lawsuits against these media organizations.
117 Article 2 - Background - (Main Events, Context, History)
In the background to the news item which comes in later paragraphs, the
reader learns that Li Preti held a press conference the week prior at which he
asked "reporters not to paint the area as either crime-ridden and drug-infested
because it is simply not true."
Li Preti's statements reveal some of the characteristics that abound about
Jane-Finch within the media and part of the shared social script within Toronto
itself; that the area is crime-ridden and drug-infested.
Li Preti said while the community has high unemployment, high density development and a large number of single mothers, other areas in the Metro have higher crime rates
"Give us a chance," he pleaded
Several other elements of the media and social script on Jane-Finch show up
in Li Preti's statement - high unemployment, high-density development, a large
number of single mothers.
Li Preti says residents have launched a door-to-door campaign to raise money and be ready to press slander and libel lawsuits against any unfair media reporting of the area
"Maybe our chances are remote," but it's the community's way of fighting back,
he said. This news release gives a perspective of what residents in Jane-Finch
118 may feel about media coverage of their area and how they believe they can fight back.
Below are examples of the manifest frames (direct quotations) excerpted from
news article 2 (see Appendix A for a more detailed analysis of manifest and
latent frames in this article):
Area under microscope
Anything that happens anywhere near the intersection is pinned on the community
Low crime rate (heading) ...Li Preti asked reporters not to paint the area as either crime-ridden and drug-infested because it is simply not true
Li Preti says while the community has high unemployment, high-density development and a large number of single mothers (manifest)
Underneath these manifest frames are buried latent inferences (see Appendix
C for a more detailed analysis). The latent frames (inferences) in this news
article are:
We are being made scapegoats; possibly discrimination or increased attention
because of who we are - race, poor, and so on (Discrimination / Bias Frame);
They are begging the city for money or asking for government help again
(Government Help and Parasitic (dependence) Frame); These are lies about
us - (media distortion/lies); We have our problems associated with income but 119 we are not depraved - (Single Mother /Family breakdown frame /Low income
community frame); We wont take media libel lying down; (Community Fights
Back Frame); Other communities with higher crime rate are not faced with this
media bias, which suggests there is an agenda for this type of media attention
(We are not Criminals Frame).
The frame package associated with the Article 2 is that there is discrimination
or bias being undertaken by the media against the Jane-Finch community and
even within this article, a frame that persists is that Jane-Finch is a community with high unemployment, high density development and a large number of
single mothers.
Article 2 - Frame Package
Media Parasitic Pathological Low Media Black Community
Bias Community Frame Income Lies / Familial Fights
Frame Frame Community Distortion Structure Back
Frame Frame Breakdown Frame
Frame
120 Article 3 An odd use for a bad neighbourhood image - The Toronto Star, May 12, 1989
The proposition buried within this headline would give the reader an immediate impression that the neighbourhood to be discussed in the article has a bad image and that someone is using this bad image in a questionable way.
In the article's starting paragraph, the writer confirms that Jane-Finch has a negative image and infers that Jane-Finch is viewed socially as a community with a negative image and /or that it is known that Jane-Finch has a negative image.
It should be noted, I think, that Li Preti has also attempted to use the negative image of Jane-Finch to get taxes lowered for constituents on a neighbourhood street.
David Lewis Stein, the journalist who wrote the piece starts with "it should be noted..." making his article and what is to come next almost a 'hear-ye or a proclamation' or a legal argument before a court. He suggests what he has to share needs to be noted because of its weightiness as if talking to a jury that he is sure will agree with him.
His use of also in this paragraph - "Li Preti has also attempted to use" implies that this atrocious act is but only one of the things Li Preti has done. He wants
121 his readers to be convinced that Li Preti by passing his motion is being exploitative. Stein's tone is incredulous and full of ridicule for Li Preti, as if he is saying "imagine the gall".
Below he describes the way Li Preti begun his motion to purvey the ridiculous nature of it.
Li Preti's motion for Wednesday night begins, "Whereas a section of the City of North York continues to be harassed by irresponsible media coverage;"
It goes on to cite stories in The Star, The Sun and The Globe, and to complain that "other media continue to make general reference to this intersection rather than to specific locations where the incident may occur..."
The "how dare you" tone is evident in this news piece in the above two paragraphs and throughout the article. Stein also calls Li Preti's motion a complaint.
Li Preti wants North York to withhold ads from publications that do not mend their ways and to consider legal action. He even wants Metro Council to consider changing the name of Jane-Finch to something else
The disdain for Li Preti and the motion is obvious with Stein's words Li Preti wants ... and he even wants ... implying that he wants too much. Below are examples of the manifest frames (direct quotations) excerpted from news article 3 (see Appendix C for a more detailed analysis of manifest and latent frames):
122 It should be noted ... use the negative image of Jane-Finch to get taxes lowered for constituents
Li Preti's motion ...begins, whereas a section of the city of North York continues to be harassed by irresponsible media coverage;"...
The area bound by Finch Avenue on the north, Oakdale Road on the west, Jane Street on the east and Firgrove Crescent on the south is known for drug related problems and violence...(note the journalist's ellipsis here). Documented evidence from news clippings can speak for themselves.... The submission goes on for 20 pages quoting various newspaper stories. Most are about crime or social problems and all mention Jane -Finch in the headline
He wants Metro Council to consider changing the name of Jane-Finch to something else
Li Preti is in Italy at the moment...He explained that the Jane-Finch media image was just one of the reasons why he thought taxes should be reduced on Blaney Crescent. The street has other problems
Underneath these manifest frames are buried latent inferences (see Appendix
C for a more detailed analysis of how the manifest and latent frames are linked). Some of the latent frames (inferences) in news article 3 are:
All Li Preti does is complain and seek to exploit (Ridiculous Media Blaming;
Waste of Time and Government Resources; Scam Politician); Exploitative, the community has a negative image because it is a negative, bad community and now we should consider this (Parasitism frame - seeking tax reduction for being 'bad'); It- is- the- truth- the media- not- making- this -up; It is documented that the area has drug-related problems and violence, which you admit is true then what is all the fuss about...the evidence is there - in fact, 20 123 pages worth; after all, most of the stories mention Jane-Finch in the headline
(Pathology / Bad Community frame; Crime and Violence). The journalist's statement "I hope so too" suggests that Jane-Finch people cannot be restrained (pathology); It is good and right that the Municipal Board denied Li
Preti (Waste of government resources and time frame)
Article 3 - Frame package
Parasitic Pathological Scam Politician/ Government Problematic
Community Frame Waste of Dependence community
Frame government time /Help
and resources
The frame package associated with Article 3 is that Jane-Finch is a violent, crime-prone community with scam politicians who seek to exploit, be parasitic and unethically blame the media for their problems. The article reaffirms the social script that Jane-Finch is a problem area and the image that the community has earned for itself is now being used ironically to lower their taxes.
The news article overall endorses and re-affirms the image that Jane - Finch
(and thus its inhabitants are criminal, drug infested, pathological and hard-to- 124 restrain). Re-affirmation that the community is problematic comes from the
Councillor himself who sits in a position of authority and thus strongly
believable. In asking for a reduction of taxes and having a politician who wastes government resources with trivial motions such as media
responsibility, the community is portrayed as parasitic. The community is also
portrayed as blaming the media for its problems. In fact it is not the community
that is being made a scapegoat but the media that is being made a scapegoat,
David Lewis Stein, the journalist who wrote this piece seems to be saying; all
these criminal acts are documented, he painstakingly points out.
Article 4 Taking aim at Jane-Finch: Young kids are using grant money and mentors to learn about filmmaking, and more broadly life's plentiful possibilities. Recurring motif: gang shootouts and innocent victim, The Toronto Star.
In looking at the headline, it is obvious that it has several propositions.
Propositions contribute to local coherence and global coherence according to
van Dijk (1988). As noted, local coherence has to do with how the
propositions within the text are linked to cause it to make sense, van Dijk
(1988) notes "one of the major conditions of such local coherence of texts is
that their propositions refer to facts that are related, for instance, by relations
of time, condition, cause and consequence." The use of "Taking aim at Jane-
Finch..." implies the use of the gun in Jane-Finch and contributes to both the 125 local coherence of the story and the global coherence (Jane-Finch is understood globally within the Toronto context as being associated with guns).
The use of "Recurring motif: gang shootouts and innocent victims" also implies that gang shootouts and innocent victims are ongoing themes in Jane-Finch.
Even though the story is in actuality a positive story in that this young man,
Michael Melville, is producing and directing a film aimed at quelling violence, the headline does not give that impression. What is interesting is that this headline is also unconventionally long and could have done without the first proposition (Taking aim at Jane-Finch) and the last proposition (Recurring
Motif: gang shootouts and innocent victims) to capture the nature of the story.
Ironically, they are both at the start of the headline and the end of the headline; as if to say, even with grant money targeting the youth, Jane-Finch will always be gun- and violence-prone.
Without these two propositions, the news article would have been left with the headline "Young kids are using grant money and mentors to learn about filmmaking and more broadly life's plentiful possibilities". This headline would have offered a much more distinctly positive 'spin'. However, with the longer headline, the reader is already painting a negative picture of Jane-Finch, as certain themes are already observable in this headline, even before the reader skims the story itself. The themes of crime and violence, and the involvement
126 of the young, as well as funding to offer this negative behaviour are already being highlighted in this story. Another aspect of this headline is also worth commenting on - "young kids are using grant money and mentors" - almost suggests it is negative, this 'using' of grant money. It leaves one to ask questions about whether the use of grant money to help youth in Jane-Finch is disdained or whether there is the suggestion that grant money is better spent elsewhere.
According to van Dijk (1988), propositions can be part of a shared social script. He notes that "our shared social knowledge of such scripts provides the numerous missing links between the concepts and propositions of the text
(112)." It can therefore be asserted that the journalist who wrote this headline is tapping into these social scripts on Jane-Finch - the social scripts, s/he knows, this newspaper's readership has, in order to continue a certain narrative on Jane-Finch. It can be safely asserted that in tapping into these social scripts a kind of negative branding of the area of Jane-Finch is still being undertaken by this journalist and this particular news report even though the film project is a positive event.
Van Dijk (1988) notes that:
propositions can also be functionally coherent: for instance, when the second proposition has the function of a Specification, Paraphrase, 127 Contrast or Example. Proposition in news reports are often connected by a relation of Specification: more general propositions are followed by more specific ones that give further details (112).
In this particular news item, the lead (first part) of the story gives further details on the propositions outlined in the headline. In the lead, the journalist Murray
Whyte continues with the negative 'spin':
Michael Melville, 14, held the semi-automatic pistol in his right hand, then twirled it on his middle finger. He fiddled with the safety, turning it on and off with practiced ease, then amused himself by popping the ammunition clip in and out, before passing the gun to Glen Gaetan.
"If I put something in here, will it come shooting out?" asked Gaetan, also 14, fingering the barrel with interest.
"No Glen. It's a replica," said Sudz Sutherland, tall and lean, his dark African-Canadian face set behind chunky black-framed glasses. "But people still use those to commit crimes, you know."
"Really?" Gaetan replied, grinning in happy fascination as he stared into the barrel. "Sick!"
Like it or not, a young teenager's interest in firearms is something of a given now, when crime dramas and real-life shootings and gang violence dominate evening television from the 6 o'clock news onward.
The fascination in this squat, grey block of social housing not far from the crime and violence plagued Jane-Finch corridor however is of a different sort.
The reader of this article is being given further details related to the 'negative' proposition in the headline. After reading the headline, the reader will learn that Michael Melville, a 14-year old boy (presumably from Jane-Finch, as 128 implied in the headline) is fascinated with and practiced in gun use. In the headline and the first two paragraphs (arguably van Dijk's headline and lead category), the readers of this piece do not learn that what Melville holds is a replica of a gun, nor do they learn this is actually a film set or location, and only thus acting, until further down in the newspaper article. At the very beginning of the article, they only learn that Melville is twirling "the gun on his middle finger", "turning it on and off with practiced ease" and is "amusing himself by popping the ammunition clip in and out." It does not matter (nor is it specified) whether this practiced ease was actually achieved by practising for the film role. One could question why the journalist sought to give all these details of the young man handling the gun before indicating that this was part of an act. Though this could be interpreted as the journalist trying to make the news story interesting - if that is the case, the consequences of the journalist embellishing the story in this way are not necessarily positive, judging from this analysis.
The journalist also depicts Gaetan another 14 year old (possibly an accomplice) "fingering the barrel with interest" and asking whether if he puts something (anything) in there if it would come shooting out; the journalist is already here painting a picture of Jane-Finch youth as fascinated with guns.
Sudz Sutherland is not really painted positively here either - in fact, the reader
129 hears irrelevant details about him, such as "tall and lean", "dark African -
Canadian face" and he is positioned as an enabler of these young ones handing them this replica to play with and even telling them that some people use it to commit crimes. Van Dijk (1991) notes that "many ideological implications follow not only because too little is being said, but also because too many, irrelevant things are being said about news actors. The well-known example in news reports about minorities is the use of irrelevant ethnic or racial labels in crime stories (114)." He calls this a "strategic use of irrelevance."
Gaetan in his response to Sutherland is also shown to be happy and fascinated that the gun can be used to commit crimes and his response is
"sick". The use of 'sick' here is ambiguous and possibly purposefully ambiguous. In current street parlance, "sick" actually means "wicked" or "cool", but in non-colloquial usage, sick could actually mean disgusting. Ambiguity is another feature that discourse analysts look out for and here one can question, does the writer of this article need 'sick' to remain ambiguous. Even though, in ending this lead section, the journalist states, the fascination in this squat, grey block of social housing not far from the crime and violence plagued
Jane-Finch corridor however is of a different sort, it can be strongly argued that the reader is not going to believe that this is a different fascination indeed;
130 the reader is likely to conclude differently, given the propositions and the details given at the start of this news piece.
Young Melville is the writer of the script we will learn, as we read the article further, and as the journalist states:
His film, he said, is 'about gun violence, and making bad choices.' And there is no shortage of either in the neighbourhood he and his classmates call home. Gang activity in Jane-Finch is a simple fact of life. Large housing projects brimming with impoverished new immigrants have been a breeding ground for drug trafficking and the violence that goes with it
Here again the journalist reiterates the social script on Jane-Finch that "there is no shortage of (gun violence) in the neighbourhood" and "gang activity is a simple fact of life." He also implies that immigrants are the problem in the statement that follows: "Large housing projects brimming with impoverished new immigrants have been a breeding ground for drug trafficking and the violence that goes with it."
In the statement below, the writer of this article is still tapping into and confirming the social script on Jane-Finch. The writer notes:
the other films are equally telling. Caine described one on peer pressure, where a boy, goaded by friends, robs a convenience store at gunpoint. He comes out firing, inadvertently hitting his mother. In another, a young girl - a strong student and good kid - gets involved with a gang member. Sitting in the car waiting for him to do a shooting, she gets caught in the crossfire 131 In saying, "the other films are equally telling," s/he indicates to the reader that the other films being written by the youth of Jane-Finch for this film project are also about crime and violence because that is all they (the youth there) know.
In my perspective, the rest of the story given by the writer of this article sheds a negative light on Jane-Finch and immigrant communities even though this film project story is really a positive one. For example, the writer continues:
Sutherland, who is of Jamaican descent and grew up in Scarborough, was unflinching in portraying Caribbean posses as culprits.
Again, the writer firmly points the finger at immigrants as the cause of the problem and solidifies his conclusion by saying to the reader even Sutherland who is an immigrant knows this. Moreover, the writer's use of the word
'unflinching' and "Jamaican" gives a certain certainty and surety to this conclusion that "Caribbean posses are the culprit." Here there is also strategic use of irrelevance - for instance is it relevant for the readers to know Sullivan's descent and that he grew up in Scarborough; unless there is an agenda. The writer however makes reference to these elements because he wants to show how Sutherland is an 'expert' in these matters of crime. The Jane-Finch community is also affiliated with Jamaicans - Henry and Tator (2002) in their
132 analysis of criminalization of race in print media show that Jamaicans also have a negative image as a result of the association to crime and Jane-Finch.
Article 4 - Frame package
The frame package associated with the article is that Jane-Finch is a violent, gang-, gun- and crime-prone community with a focus on crime reification that extends to its youth, suggesting a distinct pathology.
Below are examples of the manifest frames (direct quotations) excerpted from
news article 4 (see Appendix C for a more detailed analysis of manifest and
latent frames related to this article):
Taking aim at Jane-Finch
Recurring motif: gang shootouts and innocent victims
Young kids are using grant money and mentors
She secured the necessary grants from the Ontario Arts Council and non-profit Innoversity Creativity Summit
held the semi-automatic pistol in his right hand, then twirled it on his middle finger. He fiddled with the safety, turning it on and off with practised ease, then amused himself by popping the ammunition clip in and out, in and out, before passing the gun to Glen Gaetan
Underneath these manifest frames are buried latent inferences (see Appendix
C for a more detailed analysis). Some of the latent frames (inferences) in this
news article are: 133 Characterizing Jane-Finch as gun-prone and violence - "no shortage of either"; Characterizing Jane - Finch as an immigrant community - brimming with impoverished new immigrants; Breeding ground for drug trafficking and violence (Gun, Gang and Violence Frame; Pathology Frame; Social
Housing; Immigrant, Poor Frame; Moral Panic Frame); Morbid fascination
with guns amongst young black youth -'amused himself by popping the ammunition clip in and out, in and out" 'Twirled it on his middle finger"; "with practised ease" - young blacks are practiced in the use of gun (Pathology frame); "secured the necessary grants"; Always getting handouts; the word
'using' suggests exploitation (Parasitism frame; Government Handouts);
Seems sarcastic 'show...students the possibilities' "show-not tell' how to hold and shoot the replica of a gun that can be used in crime; older black men
mentoring young men - latent (Gun, Gang and Violence Frame)
Article 4 - Frame Package
Social Gun and Patho Parasi Govern Problem Cause Housing Gang logical tism ment atic com of Immi violence Frame Frame Depen munity Moral grant, Frame dence / Panic Poor Handouts Frame Frame
134 Article 5 Welfare mothers given chance to break the cycle; Participants in new program get free daycare for their children, help with education and career planning - Globe and Mail, July 24, 2006
The news article, Welfare mothers given chance to break the cycle;
Participants in new program get free daycare for their children, help with education and career planning, appeared in The Globe and Mail on July 24,
2006. At the end of the article, the reader is told that this forms part of a series by the newspaper to present Jane-Finch in a more positive light. It would be interesting to see if the Globe and Mail, through this news article, lends itself to deepening some of the stereotypes they are trying to offset through the series they launched.
By using van Dijk's framework to analyse the headline, one will identify two propositions.
Proposition I: "welfare mothers given chance to break cycle" - welfare mothers are caught in a cycle
Proposition II: "participants in new program get free daycare for their children help with education and career planning" - New program that gives free daycare, help with education and career planning will help break this cycle
On reading the article further, the reader will know the article is focused on
Jane-Finch, and thus there is the proposition that within Jane-Finch there are welfare mothers caught in a cycle. In fact, the writer has already set the tone
135 by labeling these women welfare mothers instead of single mothers. Of course, negative concerns about welfare and the poor being parasitic of society are well-known. Using van Dijk's framework to analyze the text, one could assert here that being caught in a cycle implies a continuous circle of welfare moms within this community, which confirms a 'social script' about this community and low income communities in general. As well, the fact that this is a story about a program (funding), reinforces the image of a community constantly in need of help or tax dollars (funding and other programs). This would be another part of the social script about low income communities such as Jane-Finch. My assertion here on social scripts would be my interpretation of the text after applying van Dijk's framework, van Dijk's framework asserts that social scripts are constantly used as reference points in news articles.
This aspect of his framework is particularly evident here in this article in his identification of local coherence and global coherence; whereby to create coherence, reporters draw on social (world) knowledge to write stories and, in turn, readers draw on social (world) knowledge to interpret news stories.
The use of 'cycle' within this particular interpretation could be viewed as having negative implications. Admittedly, 'cycle' here is ambiguous, as to whether it offers a positive or negative connotation. A positive reading of the term 'cycle' implies an untold story about those on welfare; that being on
136 welfare is not really their fault and that they are indeed 'caught' in a cycle.
Often times, stories on poor communities such as Jane-Finch omit the socio economic realities of communities and omit focusing on the 'whys' of the situation in which community members are embroiled. These socio-economic realities are possibly what have contributed to this 'vicious cycle' and though this is unsaid, it could be inferred from the headline. As van Dijk (1991) notes:
words, clauses and other textual expressions may imply concepts or propositions which may be inferred on the basis of background knowledge. This feature of discourse and communication has important ideological dimensions. The analysis of the 'unsaid' is sometimes more revealing than the study of what is actually expressed in the text. (114)
However because 'cycle' is ambiguous and negative social scripts abound about welfare we can safely presume that the negative win out here.
In the article, it seems that 'welfare mother' Anna Kay herself confirms that welfare is a persistent element of the Jane-Finch community, again endorsing this social script for the reader who is given no socio-political and socio economic analysis or explanation as to why low-income communities such as
Jane-Finch exist.
I want to keep my promise. I don't want her to go through what I go through. I don't want her to grow up and say, Mummy you've been on welfare for all the days of your life; I can do that too. I want her to look on a different life and sees that Mummy has a job
137 The article focuses on three welfare mothers with similar backgrounds and similar stories in this community. As the women's stories are so alike it gives the impression that this community has other people who are also like these ones highlighted and that they are a sample of what is there in that community.
In addition, the article leaves an image of these mothers in Jane-Finch. The image given of welfare mothers in this community are that they have abusive, cheating boyfriends who do not contribute financially.
And while she spent the day at the hospital, Ms Daley heard that her boyfriend was cheating on her. They had a confrontation at the hospital and someone overheard Ms Daley's boyfriend threaten to hit her. A nurse had called the Children's Aid Society.
As well, in the article, it is indicated (as evidenced below) these women come from broken homes often single parents households and they seem to be now perpetuating the trend.
Ms Daley was the third of six children, not all of them by the same father. Ms Daley's father left shortly after she was born....she hasn't seen her father, who also lives in Toronto, since she was 11
Lina Loder, a 21-year old mother of two and Jameelah Henry, 26, who has a four-year old daughter, are Ms Daley's classmates at Women Moving Forward.
They too grew up in single-parent homes, born to young mothers and are now single mothers themselves.
138 As a child Ms Loder grew up on welfare in a public housing project. She was on welfare when she had her daughter at 17, and had a son two years later.
She doesn't want to see the cycle repeated with her own children.
In fact, less attention is given to the positive aspects of the story (the program to help single mothers) and more to what could be considered the negative aspects outlined above. The stories of these women can be considered accurate seeing it is coming from them. Indeed accuracy is not being contested; rather what is being questioned are the 'gaps' or the 'silences' in the story (what is left unsaid). The news article has not addressed the 'whys' - why are welfare mothers solely immigrants or blacks, for instance? Or, why is it that this cycle still holds, since there exists a cycle?
Van Dijk's (1991) framework also allows for a look at the context, history and background presented by the news. Friesen, also the journalist for this story, gives the reader a brief context and background by talking about the new program. The story is really focused on a new program called "Women
Moving Forward" being launched in the community by the Jane Finch
Community and Family Centre. However, as noted above this is a limited background as no substantial details are given as to what has caused black young women (with immigrant parents) to be stuck in a cycle in a Toronto community. 139 Overall, Friesen's story, though it forms part of the Globe and Mail series aimed at battling the stereotypes associated with Jane-Finch, still manages to perpetuate some of these stereotypes even more. His use of statistics highlights negatives: "According to Toronto public health statistics, in the five years up to 2002 about 30 per cent of babies in Jane-Finch area were born to teenage mothers" and "only 7 per cent of the population (in the neighbourhood) have a university degree compared to the citywide average of
25 per cent." Though arguably news often relies on shock value (such as shocking statistics) to attract readers, the labels for this community emanating from the statistical background and data Friesen gives are obvious - i.e., high rates of teenage pregnancies, and uneducated, welfare mothers are plentiful in Jane-Finch.
Another aspect that can be analysed in van Dijk's framework is verbal reactions selected by journalists for placement in the news story. Journalist
Joe Friesen relies on persons from the community to be his sources for this story and in this way, seems to be tapping into voices from the community, van Dijk in his case studies analysed right wing press coverage of minorities and immigrants; however, his findings are still relevant and applicable here.
For instance, van Dijk shows where "information in the verbal reactions category is often limited to negative reactions (115). Friesen seems to be
140 making an effort to make the community speak for itself. Of course, though he taps into community voices, the perspective is still negative. We hear from the mothers on welfare and from Tonika Morgan, program director at the Jane
Finch Community and Family Centre. Friesen paraphrases what she says in this statement below:
She says although it's easier to capture the public's imagination with violence-prevention programs for troubled neigbourhoods, most of the problems facing young people in these areas can be traced to their upbringing.
In his paraphrase, we learn that Jane-Finch is a "troubled neighbourhood" though we are not sure Tonika Morgan is the person who categorised the community in that way (as it is Friesen's paraphrase); we also learn that
Tonika Morgan thinks the problem is an internal problem stemming from upbringing. Again, external factors remain unseen and silenced.
Overall, though Friesen's series is meant to offset the negative image bestowed on Jane-Finch, his article still manages to add to that negative image. The question to be asked here is whether low-income communities can be portrayed in a positive light at all by news writers if they are tapping into already prepared social scripts about these communities.
141 Below are examples of the manifest frames (direct quotations) excerpted from news article 5 (see Appendix C for a more detailed analysis of manifest and latent frames related to this article):
Participants in new program get free daycare for their children
A week before, Ms. Daley hadn't even known she was pregnant. She had given birth to her first child only a year earlier,
And while she spent day and night at the hospital, Ms. Daley heard that her boyfriend was cheating on her. They had a confrontation at the hospital, and someone overheard Ms. Daley's boyfriend threaten to hit her.
Most of the problems facing young people in these areas can be traced to their upbringing. "A lot of issues that come up in the newspaper, such as violence, school suspensions, dropouts, I think start in the home,"
They trade stories of their "babyfathers" and how difficult it is to get them to contribute financially. They describe annoying welfare workers always asking questions about their babyfathers, and how pointless it is to reveal anything
Underneath these manifest frames are buried latent inferences (see Appendix
C for a more detailed analysis). Some of the latent frames (inferences) in this news article are:
Free daycare - another handout (Parasitism Frame, program frame);
Fathers are absent; Women are liars (scammers, welfare dependency frame); Lack of family planning, constantly pregnant (Promiscuous black woman frame; Breakdown of the black family frame Teenage
142 pregnancies frame); Violence and dropouts result from the black home or family structure (breakdown of black family structure; Troubled neighbourhood frame)
Article 5 - Frame package
The frame package associated with the article is Jane-Finch is a parasitic community with high rates of teenage pregnancies, promiscuous, women and teenage girls, broken families and a cycle of welfare dependency.
Promis Welfare Scam- Parasi Govern Break Troubled cuous queen / mers tism ment -down Neigh Black depen Frame Frame Depen of bourhood women dency dence / Black Handouts family
Article 6 Where clothes don't always make the man; thug-style attire a fashion statement for many law abiding youth, Globe and Mail, July 27, 2006
Another news item appearing in The Globe and Mail is entitled, Where clothes don't always make the man; thug-style attire a fashion statement for many law abiding youth. The item, written by Joe Friesen, is also part of the series mentioned above. Ironically, here again is another supposed positive news item on Jane-Finch, where reference is made implicitly to crime and violence through the use of the phrase "thug-style attire" in the headline. This headline 143 seems to propose that even supposed law abiding youth in Jane-Finch support and glorify the 'thug' life? In one of his lead paragraphs, Friesen notes, "their dress and their mannerisms give the impression they are thugs.
They know that, and they celebrate it. But they are not what they seem." He adds, "they describe their style as gangsta, thug or hood, although many of them still go shopping with their mothers." In discourse analysis, there is always reason for adding a thought, a term or an idea. Ironically, here Friesen, in adding 'go shopping with their mothers', could be seen as saying their very mothers are supporting this questionable mode of dress (i.e, what type of mothers are these), though arguably this statement could be interpreted otherwise. As well, the hip-hop fashion, Friesen talks about, with respect to
Jane-Finch has permeated youth culture at all levels of society, even the suburbs - would those in this type of fashion in the suburbs be described as
'thug-styled' and even if they were, would this reference be embedded with the stereotype associated with black youth?
Again the question arises, is this endorsement of the crime and violence image bestowed upon Jane-Finch why Friesen chooses to write about thug- style clothing rather than something else, such as how church-loving families are in Jane-Finch? One could ask, would not a positive article on Jane-Finch
144 focus more on youth who are high achievers in school despite coming from a low income neighbourhood or youth who are excelling in sports?
Below are examples of the manifest frames (direct quotations) excerpted from news article 6 (see Appendix C for a more detailed analysis of manifest and latent frames:
Mr. Soussan says his customers are attracted to the dangerous lifestyle evoked by the clothes
They describe their style as gangsta, thug or hood, although many of them still go shopping with their mothers
Justice (his street name) is the 15-year-old son of Ghanaian immigrants the baggy work-wear trend came out of the prisons, where inmates couldn't wear belts so they let their pants sag
Their dress and their mannerisms give the impression they are thugs. They know that, and they celebrate it.
He and his friends call themselves Bloods, which stems from their block's long-standing affiliation with the street gang. They dress mainly in black and red, and tend to avoid blue.
It also sells 'Stop Snitching' T-shirts, but doesn't keep many in stock. The T-shirts, which advocate not speaking to police, were the subject of controversy in Boston last year
Underneath these manifest frames are buried latent inferences (see Appendix
C for a more detailed analysis). Some of the latent frames (inferences) in this news article are: Glorification of crime and drugs through wares sold in the community - (Gun, Gang Violence Frame or reification); Portrays a
145 pathology or questions the community that supports a store selling these kinds of wares (reification of crime); Priorities misplaced; money hungry; Use of word 'longstanding' suggests entrenched Gang affiliation by black youth; Use of phrase 'he and his friends' suggests that most if not all youth are like Justice
(Troubled and Misguided Youth frame); Gang warfare, affiliation and turf protection (gang); Immigrants being portrayed again as troublesome and with questionable ideals; Use of 'street name' implicit reference to gangsterhood;
Showing that the mothers incredulously endorse these styles (Breakdown of
Familial structure and values; Pathology of black family Frame)
Article 6 - Frame package
Gun, Trou Patho Parasitism Basket- Break Troubled GangV bled -logy Frame bail, down of Neigh io- Mis Sports- Black bourhood lence guided centric family Frame Youth
The frame package associated with the article is Jane-Finch is a community that reifies, gun, crime and gangster culture so much so it extends to clothing; is a community with youth of little substance and values who are troubled and a community with questionable family values.
146 Article 7 An Angel earns his wings, Globe and Mail, - July 29, 2006
As this article is not entirely focused on Jane-Finch and only mentions the community later in the article, this article is handled somewhat differently with a shorter analysis. It focuses on the group the Guardian Angels, a crime- fighting citizen group that originated in the United States who was presently in
Toronto to patrol the streets. Kaplan joined the group undercover and meets
"Canada One, Little Bear and Scorpio, learns how to gouge an eye out - and wonders whether he is prepared to meet the mean streets." The article gives details about Kaplan's experiences with the group and only mentions Jane-
Finch towards the end when Scorpio, Director of Training and Personnel for
Canada's Guardian Angels is quoted as saying, "We'll inevitably do Jane-
Finch but it's too volatile now," he adds. "I don't want to outfit everybody in
Kevlar. We don't even have the budget for lunch." Here Jane-Finch takes on the vicious mean image that is often affiliated with the community.
Below are examples of the manifest frames (direct quotations) excerpted from news article 7 (see Appendix C for a more detailed analysis of manifest and latent frames in this article:
learns how to gouge an eye out - and wonders whether he's prepared to hit the mean streets
147 It's early April, and I've come here for an interview after responding to the Guardian Angels' call for volunteers to patrol Toronto's worst streets
Most of the potential recruits regurgitate the same "I want to do my part to clean up the streets" line, which they seem to sincerely believe:
"Toronto isn't New York. Unfortunately, it's worse.
Underneath these manifest frames are buried latent inferences (see Appendix
C for a more detailed analysis). The latent frames (inferences) in this news article are:
Toronto's crime rates do not match New York yet this is proposed (Crime and
Violence Frame; Gangs); Jane-Finch is the worse of the lot - volunteers have to be outfitted in Kevlar (Low income community pathology frame;
Crime and Violence Frame); Toronto streets so dangerous we are in need of the vigilante group, Guardian Angels. Use of "learns how to gouge an eye out" suggests the streets are mean and dangerous; Clean up the streets suggests streets are really dirty' (Moral panic frame; crime and violence)
Article 7 - Frame package
Pathology Low Crime & Parasitism Breakdown Troubled Income Violence Frame of Black Neigh Community family bourhood
148 The frame package associated with the article is Jane-Finch is the worst of
Toronto's street and is a threat to the gentle, peaceful place Toronto once was so much so a group of vigilantes have to be trained to return Toronto to peace.
Table 8: Frames Identified in News Articles
Criminal and violent substantially government-assisted, parasitic dependent on government handouts pathological and programs scammers of the system made up of welfare queens and suffers from a breakdown of the promiscuous black women black family moral panic about the community is a has high rate of teenage given pregnancies social housing and low income has unruly and troubled kids/youth community stigma sports-centric
The Framing Cross Analysis table below again shows the crime and violence
subject and frame rates prominently across the news articles selected. Of
seven news articles, five articles were framed from the perspective of crime
and violence. Articles framing the community as pathological were also
predominant. Of the seven articles, five framed the community and its people
as pathological. Two other strong frames in the articles were the government
assistance and the parasitic community frames. Five of the seven articles also
used frames suggesting a breakdown in the black family structure. 149 Table 9: Framing Cross-Analysis Table
Article 1 Article 2 Article 3 Article 4 Article 5 Article 6 Article 7 Frames Frames Frames Frames Frames Frames Frames Crime Crime Crime Crime Crime and and and and and violence Violence Violence Violence Violence (criminal (but we - (gun & (gun & depravity are-not- gang) gang) ) criminals) Patho Patho Patho Patho Patho logy logy logy logy logy Parasitic, Parasitic, Govern Parasitic Govern Govern Govern ment Govern ment ment ment Program ment Program Program Program /Help Program /Help /Help /Help /Help Break Break Break down of down of down of Black Black Black Family Family Family structure structure structure Sports Sports (basket (basket ball) ball) Stereotyp Stereotyp ing ing Moral Moral Panic Panic Low income Commu nity Teenage Pregnan cies Promis cuous Black women
150 Article 1 Article 2 Article 3 Article 4 Article 5 Article 6 Article 7 Frames Frames Frames Frames Frames Frames Frames Discrimi Media is nation / unbiased News (speaks Bias& the truth) Distortion Scam / Scam- Waste of ming the govern System ment re sources Immi grant Welfare queens
Commu nity fights back Unruly Problem Troubled, kids atic Misguide (troubled) d Youth commu nity Social housing
Linking the Frames to the Social Dimension or Socio-cultural Context
From assessing the articles the frames identified were parasitic, pathological, scammers of the system, government assisted, dependent on government handouts and programs, breakdown of the black family, welfare queens, promiscuous black women, low income community, teenage pregnancies, cause of moral panic, unruly and troubled kids/youth, sports stereotyping,
151 crime and violence and social housing area. Crime and violence as a theme or subject also figured prominently in the news articles.
Table 10: Linking frames to the social dimension
FRAMES IDENTIFIED SOCIO-CULTURAL DIMENSION Pathology Pathology associated with the black race or with immigrant others. This can be associated with a racist discourse or a xenophobic discourse Parasitism, Government- Parasitism associated with poverty could Dependence stem from a capitalist discourse Or associated with blacks thus with a racist discourse Scammers Of The System associated with a racist discourse Black Familial Structure associated with a racist discourse which Breakdown says this causes all the problems in the black community Welfare Queens, Promiscuous associated with a racist discourse Black Women, Teenage Pregnancies Low-Income Community, Disdain for the poor and blame the victim associated with a capitalist discourse Cause Of Moral Panic Associated with a racist discourse and a capitalist discourse (related to inner cities and the poor) Crime And Violence Associated with a racist discourse Unruly And Troubled Associated with a racist discourse Kids/Youth Sports-Centric Associated with a racist discourse Sports Stereotyping
From linking the frames with dominant discourse or facets of the socio-cultural context within Canada, the streams of dominant discourse running through are discourses related to capitalism, xenophobia and racism. CHAPTER FIVE Brand Jane-Finch
This next section looks at how these frames and propositions in the news articles become attributes and associations potentially powerful at branding
Jane-Finch overtime. It should also be underscored that branding is even more effective and sustained if these negative frames are consistently portrayed overtime again in the news. We discovered that Jane-Finch is framed negatively in the news and even of more consequence is consistently and continually framed negatively as criminal and violent particularly when one considers the headline analysis (see Appendix B for headlines from The
Toronto Star and Globe and Mail).
Branding is, of course, a business process that organizations willingly take to market and sell themselves to consumers. This thesis asserts that branding of the community of Jane-Finch occurs without the community's knowledge or participation (i.e., a kind of external branding). A main aim is to uncover whether negative news coverage can enable a kind of branding-from-without.
The branding from without that is put in effect could have political and economic consequences not only for the community on a whole but also its residents. It argues that Jane-Finch is a product of the Canadian society.
153 In looking at brands and branding, we embrace Danesi's (2006) understanding of branding as "a semiotic act that transforms products into mental phenomena (8)."
Branding is so ubiquitous to individuals in the twenty first century, we can safely assert that individuals think in brands (or soundbites or slogans or logos). Danesi (2006) avers, for instance, that "it seems that there is no place where branding is not taking place (3)." It is not far-fetched either to study branding of locations and communities now. As a community, it is possible for
Jane-Finch to be branded. If the media continually speaks about the community in set ways or associates certain characters (actors) with the community each time, it is not unreasonable to claim a certain thought process or sustained value is being put in motion in the reader's mind. With this, one can argue that as a result of this sustained thought process branding, Jane-
Finch as a community is 'valued' in a particular way. As Runyan & Huddleston
(2006) underscore branding "influences a thought process in the mind of an audience and creates value. Therefore corporations, universities, countries or an individual can be considered as a brand (49)." Media images contribute to branding nations (see O'Shaugnessy and O'Shaughnessy, 2000) and in a similar sense, media images and portrayals can influence how communities like Jane-Finch are perceived. These authors contend "contemporary media
154 image creates a condensed snapshot" of the nation; newspaper readers likewise get a condensed snapshot of Jane-Finch from the newspaper articles they read.
Relating Corporate Branding to the Branding of Jane-Finch
Corporate branding entails developing a brand strategy, developing a brand identity and ultimately undertaking brand management.
Relating the steps of corporate branding to the unwitting branding of Jane-
Finch is fairly straightforward - in a society such as Canada, where racism and discrimination are prominent features (see Galabuzi, 2006; Fleras & Kunz,
2001, Fleras, 1999). A strategy of sorts (whether planned or unplanned) to keep 'unaccepted' segments of the population in their place is thus a given.
This
Table 11: Steps to Corporate Branding
Brand Strategy - bears in mind the characteristics of the consumer of the product, the company's business and cultural values and the marketplace on a whole
Brand Identity - the characteristics of the brand
Brand Management - undertaking steps to implement and manage the strategy
155 strategy would be the brand strategy (see table above), which would incorporate the societal makeup and characteristics of Canada and its cultural values (the marketplace). It is a strategy that would be foundational to maintaining the brand and the dominance of its important features, for example, as in maintaining a 'White Canada'. It would also be a strategy that is managed and that comes with a clear, strong and consistent message.
Language can be applied to successfully 'lock out' minorities or to portray them in a certain way in order to paint them as 'the other' or to maintain power relations (see Brookes, 1995).
Jane-Finch as a Product
Jane-Finch is a product of Canadian society and is a 'brandable' product. As a product, the name "Jane-Finch" itself is a semiotically loaded sign, conjuring up all sorts of images, thoughts and associations. As Danesi (2006) notes:
a product with a name has the capacity, as a lexical item, to tap into the brain's memory reservoir. It is easier to remember things as words than to remember the things themselves. A word classifies something, keeps it distinct from other things, and above all else bestows socially relevant meaning to it. The name Ivory, for example evokes an image of something "ultra-white" ...Such suggestive images stick in the mind in the same way that the meanings of ordinary words do. They become a part of our semantic memory system. (14)
What are the 'images' that the name 'Jane-Finch' summons in the mind of
Toronto residents or Canadians? The use of the term 'images' in this case is 156 not related to a 'logo' or 'picture', rather images are associations, which may even be words, thoughts associated with a product (O'Shaugnessy and
O'Shaughnessy, 2000). If one were to assess the 'images' represented in the print media, what role should we grant the print media as far as the semantic memory system on Jane-Finch ingrained in the reader's mind? Our headline and article analysis in Chapter three shows that the media consistently presents the community negatively- as crime-prone, parasitic and pathological.
In branding, naming has an identification function and is a cultural act, according to Danesi (2006). Naming "brings the product into the realm of cultural significance where it links up with a constellation of culture-specific meanings that are associated with the product (19)."
As a product of the Canadian environment, the images, associations, values, attributes and brand equity (reputational capital accumulated by the brand overtime) cast upon Jane-Finch stem from the ideologies, cultural biases, beliefs and values of the Canadian society and environment. The name Jane-
Finch embodies culture specific meanings that have cultural significance. We can also parallel the naming function to the media's act of consistently reporting on Jane-Finch in biased ways, or to actions (textual or otherwise) by
157 others, who are ideologically powerful in society, and who have the privilege to
'name'. It is in this way that the branding function is carried out.
Naming evokes a "cultural extension of meaning", as Danesi posits, and is often an unconscious process, and summons forth a "signification system" for the product. The cultural extension of meaning embedded in 'Jane-Finch' may be related to the number of blacks living in Jane-Finch, its public housing affiliation, or even the number of immigrants residing in the community. The media by constantly representing Jane-Finch in non-neutral, biased ways (by relying on cultural schema or discourses of power) extends the Jane-Finch's
'signification system'.
Danesi (2006) posits "like every name a brand is a sign. As such, it has both an identification function, known as its "denotative" function and a cultural function known as its "connotative" function. The latter generally evokes unconscious associations of meaning that are built into the name itself (20)."
Jane-Finch's identification function is its physical location (i.e., the intersection and associated communities); however, its connotative function is the extended cultural meanings and unconscious associations the name embodies. One can decipher these culturally extended meanings by looking at print media discourse (chapter three gives insights into these culturally
158 extended meanings such as guns, gangs, crime). Brand Jane-Finch therefore has to be understood as both a physical object (denotative) and a mental object (connotative).
To apply the semiotic processes involved in branding (see Danesi, 2006) to newspaper articles, would be to mark the 'facts' of news (the who, what, when, where) as the denotations (straightforward indicating) and the associations made or the images conjured up throughout the news piece as the connotations (second-order). Denotations would then be the 'physical' and connotations the 'mental' construct involved in the process of branding.
Danesi (2006) points out:
...objects of everyday life take on "second-order" or "connotative" meanings. As such the semiotic act that such objects must embody comprises a process of denotation (straightforward indicating) and connotations (associations). Yet what Barthes makes clear in Mythologies is that connotation even though it is "second-order," generally happens first in signs - i.e., connotations or associations are so strong because they draw on the massive power of the social and ideological worlds. What denotation does is to naturalize them into a myth. These connotations that border on the outrageous or unbelievable are rendered credible by virtue of being part of a system of denotation... (24)
The connotations around Jane-Finch can be drawn from headline themes and frames identified in the articles. These negative connotations include parasitism, pathology, scammers of the system, government-assisted, 159 dependent on government handouts and programs, breakdown of the black family structure, welfare queens, promiscuous black women, low income community, teenage pregnancies, cause for moral panic, unruly and troubled kids/youth, sports-centric, crime and violence prone.
The expanse of images, often unconsciously evoked by the sign, are part of the signification system surrounding the sign. Danesi (2006) identifies the signification system as the:
set of culture-specific meanings and mental constructs that are evoked by the brand. These systems are established because a brand, being a sign, enters into relations with other signs in a culture gaining its "value" from them. (29)
Jane-Finch, as a sign, has gained its value from other signs in the Canadian society that denote blackness, or being an immigrant as lesser than the standard.
To Danesi (2006), branding products is a social act:
It "reifies" the product, service or company inserting it as an element in the web of meanings that constitute a culture - "reification" is the term used in philosophy referring to the actualizing of something that is conceptual in real ways. It is equivalent to the process of bringing human beings in to the social order by giving them a name. (33)
Jane-Finch and its residents have through branding been given a name, created socially from culture and inserted into the web of meanings that 160 constitute the Canadian culture. Danesi's assertion that branding is a social act resonates with CDA and framing theory's assertions that discourse and frames arise out of and are influenced by the social context.
The interest of this research study lies in the connotative function or mental constructs of the brand, as this is where the power of the textual (the discursive) is fully demonstrated. Of importance is that the brand is powerful enough to conjure up culturally influenced imagery and an entire signification system on a sustained basis. As noted, "the cultural meanings of brands ....
(are) mental constructs" "defined simply as the culturally shaped images that come to mind in relation to a specific brand (Danesi, 2006, 22)." The
cultural meaning (or second-order meaning) of Brand Jane-Finch (depravity,
parasitism, 'the others' and so on) is fully indicated in the print media
discourse examined earlier.
Brand Jane-Finch interestingly morphs into becoming one-and-the-same with
its connotations (associations). Danesi (2006) indicates to us, "perhaps the
most important aspect to note about the sign is that the connection between
the sign and the physical form once established is bidirectional - one implies the other (28)." As well, the associations or the sign is generally what comes first to the mind of the audience before the denotation (see Danesi, 2006).
161 Another point of interest to this study is that the brand generates a connotative index (CI). Danesi (2006) has developed a connotative index related to connotations generated by a brand that can be used to "evaluate the psychological power of brand names (38)"-
the higher the number of connotations a brand generates, the greater its psychological force. The greater the number, the greater its "connotative index" (CI), as it may be called. This is not a mathematical index, rather it refers to the number of connotations - high, average, low-that a brand tends to produce The CI can thus be conceived to be a continuum, with zero connotation (pure denotative or informational content) at one end and a maximum connotation point (open-ended, ambivalent, ambiguous content) at the other. (37 - 38)
The CI of Brand Jane-Finch would be notably high because of the number of connotations (which are substantially negative, as demonstrated by the headline and framing analysis conducted earlier) rather than denotations
(physical location of the area) that would be generated from the term 'Jane-
Finch'.
The Elements of Branding
Now that the discursive power of branding has been examined, this section looks at the elements of corporate branding. Elements of branding such as attributes and associations, brand identity, and brand personality are very applicable to Brand Jane-Finch. All these elements eventually add up to
162 constitute brand equity or reputational capital which are also applicable to
Jane-Finch.
Attributes
Juergen Gnoth (2002), in his analysis of nation branding, points out, "it will always be easier to brand individual products than nations for the well-argued reason that the image of a product brand is limited to a controlled number of attributes (263)." He further adds, "the same rules for developing a product brand apply to a country brand: attributes need to be selected, developed and managed (263)."
One might be able to assert, for instance, that only certain kinds of stories on
Jane-Finch might be selected and developed (such as Friesen's thug-style attire article), instead of articles on youth's scholastic or sports achievements.
Though on a broad level, one can parallel news process to branding in this manner, it is even more critical to determine the attributes aligned with the community of Jane-Finch itself in the news articles selected for this study to get a sense of the type of branding possible.
The attributes afforded to a brand are critical and it is possible that through news reporting (media discourse) and other discourses, a set number of 163 attributes are always assigned to Jane-Finch. Take, for instance, the story written by Friesen in the Globe and Mail that speaks about thug style attire - though in this journalist's mind, the story is cast as positive, we have seen it is not necessarily positive because of what is selected and highlighted in the story. What is selected is important consideration in determining what is being used, to signify, or, as an attribute for Jane-Finch.
Not only did all the analysed news articles mainly portray Jane-Finch negatively they also revealed common attributes. Table 12 and Table 13 below identify the attributes found in each article. Attributes have more to do with the characteristics ascribed to the community and to its people rather than solely the angle of a news article (framing). As noted above, attributes eventually become fused as one-and-the-same with the object in question.
Within the article, Council Support for Jane - Finch Centre Weakens, the attributes identified are high-crime area, drugs, guns, break-ins and government-supported community amongst others (see Table 15 for more).
Even as far as the article, Media blamed for poor image of Jane-Finch, the fact that the community feels the media is biased and slanderous when it comes to its portrayal is a giveaway as to the negative press it receives. In the article, An odd use for a bad neighbourhood image, Jane-Finch is explicitly identified as a bad neighbourhood - the community is portrayed as problematic
164 "I have never denied that we have problems but I don't think they are more severe than other areas in Metro" and parasitic and even pathological.
Table 12: Branding Attributes found in News Articles
News Article Attributes to Community and its people Council Support for Jane - Finch high-crime area, drugs, guns, break- Weakens ins (pathological community, criminal depravity) single-parent families (breakdown of the familial structure), densely populated (unhealthy, overcrowded) needy community, government-supported community (parasitic, depending on handouts, taxpayers money), unruly youth, basketball-centric Media blamed for poor image of drug- infested and crime-ridden Jane-Finch high unemployment, high density and single-mothers. An odd use for a bad neighbourhood bad neighbourhood image a negative image problematic dependent on handouts from the government, wasteful of government resources parasitic (requesting special lowered taxes), 'notorious' and 'untrustworthy' community members "unrestrained' community - a pathological ethos, depravity
Taking aim at Jane-Finch: Young kids gun violence and bad choices- no are using grant money and mentors to shortage of either in Jane-Finch learn about filmmaking, and more gang shootouts are a recurring motif broadly life's plentiful possibilities. community gets handouts/grants Recurring motif: gang shootouts and youth gets morbid pleasure out of innocent victims handling guns pathological, depravity ethos 165 News Article Attributes to Community and its people crime and violence large housing projects brimming with impoverished new immigrants; breeding ground for drug trafficking and the violence that goes with it.
The article, Taking aim at Jane-Finch: Young kids are using grant money and mentors to learn about filmmaking, and more broadly life's plentiful possibilities. Recurring motif: gang shootouts and innocent victims contains many negative attributes, what with its emphasis on guns and gangs in the headline and throughout the article. The crime and violence theme as an attribute of the community is strongly woven throughout this article. A string of attributes can be taken from the news article. These attributes are gun violence and bad choices; no shortage of either in Jane-Finch; gang-activity is a simple fact of life; large housing projects brimming with impoverished new immigrants; breeding ground for drug trafficking and the violence that goes with it.
Less-than-positive attributes are also predominant in the article, Welfare
Mothers given chance to break the cycle; participants in new program get free daycare for their children, help with education and planning. These attributes include immediately identifying single mothers in Jane-Finch as 'welfare
166 mothers' in the headline; this tag taps into the held social script about young single mothers in Jane-Finch. Other single mothers, who are not black, who live outside of Jane-Finch and are on welfare would never be tagged as
'welfare mothers' by the media. The article, Where clothes don't always make the man; thug-style attire a fashion statement for many law abiding youth, has negative references or attributes as well. The article subtly hints the gun, gang, crime culture is so prevalent that it permeates even clothing and style and is fully endorsed by families; a pathology in the black family and neighbourhood is registered. The attributes are that the youth in Jane-Finch support and glorify the gangster lifestyle, they dress like gangsters, talk like gangsters and name themselves like gangsters. Their mothers also endorse this gangster fetishism or gangster worship - a suggestion of dysfunction and questionable family values. The youth of Jane-Finch are presented as troubled and misguided. The article, An Angel earns his wings, is also negative in terms of its attributes. The crime and violence theme is a strong attribute throughout the article. Jane-Finch is also cast with other low-income communities, but is seemingly the worst of the lot.
Attributes associated with an area can also be stereotypes (see
O'Shaugnessy and O'Shaughnessy, 2000). Stereotypes are "biased, (usually prejudicial) view of a group or class of people - a view that is resistant to
167 change or correction from countervailing evidence (O'Shaugnessy and
O'Shaughnessy, 2000, 57)." Various stereotypes were also picked up in the news article (e.g., welfare queen, basketball and sports stereotypes).
Table 13: Branding Attributes found in news articles
News Article Attributes to Community and its people Welfare Mothers given chance to Welfare-dependent; persistent welfare break the cycle; participants in new cycle program get free daycare for their single mothers in Jane-Finch are children, help with education and identified as 'welfare mothers' planning handout, paratisism - 'program' and daycare is 'free' instability and a continuous dysfunctional familial atmosphere for Jane-Finch families and children men are abusive cheaters who neither contribute financially nor know how to be good fathers. the community is 'troubled' uneducated populace high rates of teenage mothers compared to the rest of the Greater Toronto Area. Where clothes don't always make the gangster fetishism or gangster man; thug-style attire a fashion worship statement for many law abiding youth gun, gang, crime culture permeates even clothing and style and is fully endorsed by families youth are troubled and misguided; glorify the gangster lifestyle, youth dress like gangsters, talk like gangsters and name themselves like gangsters. Dysfunctional families and questionable family values; a pathology in the black family and neighbourhood 168 News Article Attributes to Community and its people An Angel earns his wings crime and violence prominent moral panic around the community Jane-Finch is Toronto's worst streets, and projected as being worse than New York City. Jane-Finch is cast with other low income communities but is the worst of the lot.
Associations
Associations or affiliations are also integral to defining the brand. Danesi
(2006) asserts "when a product-commodity becomes a brand, its use value is
supplemented by a number of further associations (3)." These associations
can elevate the product to a superior position or an inferior position when
compared to other products. Any association made with the community of
Jane-Finch can make the community either an attractive site or an unattractive
site. In a prior chapter, we already noted that in a search using the terms
'Jane-Finch' in the Factiva database, articles on other low-income
communities showed up in the search.
Associations eventually become one and the same with the brand if one is to
thing of the brand as a sign. The brand embodies its attributes and its
associations and becomes a sign or a brand in its sign function. Danesi (2006) explains "the generating of associations that is stimulated by brands is absolutely central to understanding what a brand (in its sign function) is (4)."
He notes:
in considering the ubiquity of brands, it is worth keeping in mind the semiotic nature of the movement through product-commodity to brand. Undoubtedly, it is a movement that involves the expansion of associations that accrue to an item, featuring no perception of something, followed by an increasing knowledge of something, culminating in an immersion in the imputed sign function of that something. As such, it is analogous to the important distinction between "thing," "object," and sign in semiotics....(4)
Most interestingly, discourse analysts look for patterns of association in analyzing discourse (see Tonkiss, 2004 for instance) and this incorporates very well with branding theory. What do people associate with Jane-Finch and what is the news media's role in enacting and prolonging these associations?
O'Shaugnessy and O'Shaughnessy (2000) rightly claim "if X and Y are closely associated, the image that one will rub off on the other or that both images will become fused is well established in psychology. Such association influences perceptions (60)." To underscore how association is strongly correlated with perception, these theorists point to a study where subjects refused to eat sugar labeled "sodium cyanide" despite "the fact that they had seen the sugar being poured from a sugar box and arbitrarily labeled with the name sodium cyanide (60)." They add "the image arising from the negative associations generated an emotional reaction that the known facts (true beliefs) did not
170 overcome (60)." For instance, within the community, it is often said a significant number of educated, hardworking individuals reside in Jane-Finch and that the area is not as criminal-infested as broadcast, yet these negative attributes associated with the community remain stable. Attributes identified with Jane-Finch in the news articles, especially if they are applied on a consistent basis, lead to Jane-Finch and the community members in Jane-
Finch become one and the same (fused) with these attributes because of the strong correlation between association and perception.
Brand Identity (image) of Jane-Finch
A series of associations often conjoin to create a brand identity. Aaker (1996) defines brand identity as "a unique set of brand associations that the brand strategist aspires to create or maintain. (68)" In this regard, one can look at the unique set of associations brought out on Jane-Finch in news coverage.
These associations are what readers would normally have in their head when one mentions Jane-Finch and eventually these merge into a brand identity.
From our assessment of headlines and the news articles, it is obvious these associations would have to do with guns, gangs, crime, violence, troubled and misguided youth, dysfunctional families and a kind of pathological ethos.
Again it is worth noting here that the type of branding being investigated here is a type of 'external branding', one bestowed on the community by outsiders. 171 Brand identity is the image affiliated with a brand; image does not necessarily mean pictures but a conceptualization of what the object represents; for instance, the name "Walmart" is associated with lower prices (see executive summary, Runyan & Huddleson, 2006). Defining brand identity, Runyan and
Huddleson (2006) point out that brand identity is "the image that a downtown has, that differentiates it from other community shopping areas or other competing downtowns. (49)." Though they speak explicitly of downtown locations, their definition can also be used when thinking of Jane-Finch. To extend their conceptualization to Jane-Finch, one can ask what is the image of
Jane-Finch when compared to other locations or communities? Well if one were to take into consideration the type-of-news-coverage received by Jane-
Finch the 'brand identity' of Jane-Finch is definitely negative. As noted, brand identity is essentially image. According to studies, people use propositional representations (what has been proposed, beliefs and assertions) and imagery representations to generate an image (O'Shaugnessy and O'Shaughnessy,
2000). Mind you, an image does not have to be like a picture; "images lack many of the properties of pictures as unlike a picture, images are constructed from previously processed information. An image unlike a picture is interpreted by the "mind's eye," not by the human eye (O'Shaugnessy and
O'Shaughnessy, 2000, 57)." The assertions made about the Jane-Finch community in newspaper articles can be used to determine the possible image
172 in the readers' minds. In this case, from our analysis we can guess that the impressions in readers' minds would be overall a negative impression.
Aaker (1996) also talks about brand identity being divided into two segments: core identity and extended identity. The core identity "contains the associations that are most likely to remain constant (86)" whilst the extended brand identity includes elements that provide texture and completeness. It fills in the picture adding details that help portray what the brand stands for (87)."
Newspaper stories, it can be argued, help to prolong the core identity of Jane-
Finch as a low income immigrant community brimming with criminally depraved pathological beings as well as the extended identity of Jane -Finch by filling in the gaps and painting the picture through regular news reports of this nature.
Brand Personality (Persona)
In addition to brand identity, brand personality is another element necessary for building strong brands. A brand personality is defined as:
the set of human characteristics associated with a certain brand. Thus it includes such characteristics as gender, age and socioeconomic class as well as such classic human personality traits as warmth, concern and sentimentality. (Aaker, 1996, 141)
173 The brand personality of a product involves affixing human characteristics to that product. News stories, of course, paint a picture of actors on the social scene including the characters who live in Jane-Finch. One can look at the characteristics afforded to the actors in the news articles on Jane-Finch assessed in this study. In the article on thug-style fashion, these traits are identifiable amongst the youth and their mothers. For example, a glorification and celebration of thug life, prison-life-and-fashion amongst the youth (and endorsed by their mothers) in this neighbourhood. We should also bear in mind every line written in a news article (or any other form of written communication) is placed there for a particular reason such as these below:
they describe their style as gangsta, thug or hood, although many of them still go shopping with their mothers. They buy their pants four size too large and wear their baseball caps loose with a flat brim....their t- shirts go on forever, often billowing below the knee. Their dress and their mannerisms give the impressions they are thugs. They know that and they celebrate it
a wholesaler from the United States... says the baggy work-wear trend came out of the prisons, where inmates couldn't wear belts so they let their pants sag.
Interestingly, it is not only Jane-Finch teens who wear the 'hip-hop' fashion being described. In this same story, the real name of the individual who is the highlight of the story is not mentioned only his so-called street name (implying he is a gangster). Justice is also portrayed as ridiculous and without substance:
174 Justice (his street name) is the 15-year old son of Ghanaian immigrants and lives in a Jane street apartment. He owns 13 pairs of sneakers. About half are Nike, some are Reebok and others are Adidas.
He's working hard this summer, pushing mops and paintbrushes in his job as a janitor's assistant. He's trying to save for a set of diamond grills, which are custom-moulded, jewel-encrusted plates worn over the teeth. He also wants a gold necklace spelling out his name, a gold ring and a belt buckle. In all, the jewellery will cost nearly $500.
The writer aims to present the irony of working a janitor's job with the ultimate aim of buying "jewel-encrusted plates worn over the teeth". There is no investigation of why this might be the case for persons such as Justice; nor did the writer try to find other young people of similar age in Jane-Finch, who were expending their energies and money elsewhere. Though Friesen aims to present the other side of Jane-Finch to Globe and Mail readers, in fact, he perpetuates what they would expect. Friesen did not choose to focus on high achievers in sports or scholarly activity from the Jane-Finch community. It seems he is tapping into the discourse about what happens in low income communities like Jane-Finch and re-presenting it to newsreaders.
A part of discourse analysis involves looking for inconsistencies in the piece you are analyzing. Though the writer seemed as if he were trying to convince
us at the start that he believes Justice and the others who dress like him are
law-abiding, later in the text he informs 'they' are affiliated to a gang - 'he and his friends call themselves Bloods'. The reader is left believing that those who 175 dress like 'Justice' and are so-called 'law-abiding' are in essence gangsters.
This is what discourse analysts call an 'inconsistency'.
He and his friends call themselves Bloods, which stems from their block's long-standing affiliation with the street gang. They dress mainly in black and red, and tend to avoid blue.
Likewise, in the article on welfare mothers, it is arguable these traits below
about the characters in Jane-Finch would be left as remnants in the reader's
mind: black welfare mothers caught in a cycle are aplenty in Jane-Finch;
inability to have happy, functional traditional families what with broken families
and single parent homes; cheating, abusive boyfriends; missing baby fathers
who do not contribute financially; people who lie to welfare workers to stay on
the program; school drop outs; whole generation of families on welfare; high
rates of teenage pregnancies; under-educated members
The article sheds a more positive light on the program being implemented to
assist welfare patrons than the persons who make up the neighbourhood of
Jane-Finch. Often, these news articles on funding and program take this
orientation. In addition, the article does not provide commentary on social
conditions that contribute to keeping these persons in the conditions and
circumstances they find themselves in, such as racial discrimination in
schools, limited job choices, refusal to hire immigrants and systemic racism.
176 Persons reading this news article would not get the 'inside story', so to speak, or the relevant contextual social issues.
In concluding this section on brand personality, as O'Shaugnessy and
O'Shaughnessy (2000), indicate "if a nation is commonly perceived as having attributes that carry over into everything done there, then the country of origin becomes a factor in the image of any product from that country (56)." Likewise we can think of the products of Jane-Finch as its people and expect them to have a certain image or subjectivity placed upon them after such branding is carried out in the news.
The End Result of Branding - Reputational Capital
Branding is in actuality reputation-building and reputation management.
Reputational capital is accumulated overtime by a brand from elements such as brand attributes, associations, personality and identity. How has the media built and contributed to Jane-Finch's reputational capital? News articles on
Jane-Finch carry a series of propositions that of a necessity must contribute to the reputational capital of Jane-Finch. If one is to look at the news articles analysed, one could argue Jane-Finch's reputational capital is significantly negative. Reputational capital also has to do with the sole, dominant image affiliated with a product or a place. For example, a multitude of images can be 177 assigned to a place, however theorists assert that even amongst the diversity of images that can be associated with a location, there is usually one dominant image (see O'Shaugnessy and O'Shaughnessy, 2000). In assessing this sample of news articles, the dominant image associated with Jane-Finch would be a negative one - crime-ridden, welfare-loving, thug-dressers - and these would be some of the elements constituting Jane-Finch's reputational capital.
The Consequences of Brand Jane-Finch
The political and economic consequences of Brand Jane-Finch, as a result of its brand equity and reputational capital, are also worthy of note. In being branded as notorious and pathological, many shun the community. The significance is reflected, for instance, in the value of real estate. Housing prices in Jane-Finch are lower than other areas in Greater Toronto Area because of the image bestowed upon the community. Even in one of the news articles selected for this study there is evidence of this fact whereby the councillor complained of low housing prices and argued for lower taxes because of the community's negative image (see article entitled, An Odd Use for a Bad Neighbourhood Image). Mortgaged houses in Jane-Finch area are not likely to appreciate at the same level of houses in other neighbourhoods of the GTA. Thus neighbourhood brand equity has a direct correlation with equity 178 on homes. In addition, there is a long standing perception that employers who want to avoid employing residents of Jane-Finch tend to use the postal code system to screen out applicants whose mailing addresses originate from the
Jane-Finch area. While this perception has not been verified by any known research or investigation, the perception in itself adds up to the negative brand equity of the Jane-Finch community.
179 CHAPTER SIX Conclusions and Discussion
This thesis is based on the well-founded proposition that mainstream newspaper articles directed at audiences can serve to 'brand' communities and that the branding of low-income communities - and perhaps all communities - stems not from the self-definition of those communities, but rather from the stereotypes imposed upon them by the wider community, reflected and to a large extent driven by representations in the mainstream media.
The thesis finds that branding of communities through newspaper articles and headlines is a distinct possibility. It also shows that elements of branding theory are applicable to the characterization of low-income communities. With the perpetuation of a certain image and representation, a kind of 'brand management' is enacted and 'branding' ensues. It is worth noting here again that this branding is not internally driven, but externally instilled, stemming from the operation of discourses. The analysis presented here is based on a consensus within the literature that the brand attached to a community has considerable influence not only on the self-perceptions of residents of the community but also on how it is viewed by others (see for instance,
Kavaratziz, & Ashworth 2005, Tschirhart (online resource), Gnoth 2002). 180 These external perceptions influence not only the ways in which residents are treated by others - in terms of access to job or educational opportunities, for example - but also the policy process in relation to the community and its opportunities for development. In short, the consequences of branding go far beyond issues of representations to influence and reflect fundamental issues of economic and social power.
In applying discourse analysis in this thesis, one was able to look at how discourses operated within the structure of news and most importantly, to determine the characterization of a community overtime within news discourse. By critically analyzing the news articles, the thesis finds that the social context (from typical treatment afforded minorities in the media to the dominant discourses in the Canadian society) could have influenced Jane-
Finch's depiction. One can agree with McGregor (2003) that "oppression, repression and marginalization go unchallenged, if the text is not critically analysed to reveal power relations and dominance (3). The news articles and news headlines on Jane-Finch reveal these power relations and are an example of how dominance is subtly enacted and sustained. Analysis of the texts make it clear that the people of Jane-Finch are marginalized and repressed within their social environs and this marginalization and repression is enacted through words, branding and the media, even though, unwittingly.
181 The result is that the way Jane-Finch is portrayed, even unknowingly, maintains an 'othering' discourse and helps perpetuate a skewed perspective of immigrants and minorities generally and those living in the community in particular.
The negative branding of Jane-Finch would have pressing consequences on the community and its people not only in terms of their subjectivity (see
Graddol & Boyd-Barrett, 1994; Fleras, 2003), but also because it deflects attention from the real political issues at hand, such as highlighting the structural factors that cause poverty, addressing issues of racism and issues of incorporating immigrants into the Canadian society more seamlessly. The media in their various stories do not often address these critical contextual issues and the audience is left with a gap in knowledge about the real underlying reasons contributing to the creation and longevity of communities like Jane-Finch and about the dilemmas facing families and the young who live in these poor communities. Pressing social issues remain unaddressed because attention is deflected on to ethnicity of individuals and groups as the source of instability. This is perhaps the most important finding of this study - that the media are frequently guilty of fundamental attribution error, implying
(sometimes even stating) that the social problems identified with the Jane-
Finch community are the result of ethnicity or immigration status, rather than of
182 poverty and other structural factors. McGregor's (2003) statement below reflects how discourse is leveled in this way against Jane-Finch and deflects attention from the real systemic situations:
Discourse and language can be used to make unbalanced power relations and portrayals of social groups appear to be commonsense, normal and natural when in fact the reality is prejudice, injustice and inequities. Using just words those in power, or wishing to be so, can misdirect our concerns for persistent, larger, systemic issues of class, gender, age religion and culture seem petty or nonexistent. (McGregor, 3)
It is in this unwitting way that power operates unnoticed and perpetuates itself.
Additionally, the application of all three theoretical frameworks and the resultant creation of a variant framework to analyse news headlines and articles on Jane-Finch was beneficial because it allowed us to prove a uniformity of coverage when it comes to news on Jane-Finch in the mainstream press. The discourse on Jane-Finch that it is crime-plagued and violent, that a pathological ethos exists in its inhabitants, that it is parasitic and government-dependent, is uniform across the papers. There is a high possibility this uniformity is a reflection of the wider society's discourse and narratives on Jane-Finch. That the Share headlines are different from the headlines of the mainstream print media may also be telling about the perspective received and the news items focused on by mainstream papers.
Headlines found in the Share newspaper include TO magazine in hot water over Jane-Finch article; Jane Finch area "unfairly labeled', Jane Finch Mall 183 hosts anti-racism celebration; Jane Finch celebrates its hundred cultures and
Striving to enhance position of Blacks (Jane Finch Concerned Citizens
Organization). Whilst headlines in The Toronto Star include: Board adds monitor to curb violence - New safety team for public schools. Measures will
cost up to $3.5 million; Man dies in volley of bullets; Police boost presence to
combat violence and Two killed within 24 hours 'A good, respectable guy'.
Man charged in landlord's stabbing Second dies in fight between tenants (see
more headlines in Appendix B).
The question then is, if so, why is this kind of discourse emanating from the
mainstream? Here we must go beyond the texts themselves to look for
answers and these answers may very well lie in looking at the social context
(which also takes into consideration the media context). Bearing in mind the
description of Canada's social dimension undertaken at the end of Chapter 2,
this section seeks to link the elements of Canada's social dimensions to the
text. Filtering the text through the social dimension is integral to framing and
the CDA methodology being applied in the research. Both framing
methodology (van Gorp, 2007) and CDA methodology rely on sifting through
the social environment to bring a deeper understanding to the text. As Teo
(2000) points out, "CDA has its roots in critical linguistics, which is a branch of
discourse analysis that goes beyond the description of discourse to an
184 explanation of how and why particular discourses are produced (11)." It is in examining the social dimension that one can comfortably respond to the 'how' and 'why' questions. CDA designates the social dimension as the discursive climate and in framing theory, exploration of the social dimension comes with identifying the particular interpretive societal schema, which journalists themselves use to communicate the news story or use to help their audiences understand the news story. To my mind, the interpretive societal schema and the discursive climate are one-and-essentially the same and are really different ways of saying the same thing within different theories.
Analysis of the social dimension enables the textual analyst to draw more solid and substantiated conclusions about the text. This is because the social environment may reveal why certain conclusions are drawn in the text, or why certain associations and inferences are being made in the text. It may also reveal clues as to why particular frames are constant within news stories and about the dominant discourses within the Canadian society and allow for an interpretation of whether journalists are tapping into these dominant discourses or not. There is a sound basis for making these linkages, as Henry and Tator (2002) note "journalists often select information and construct their stories by linking news events to broader social narratives (75)."
185 In moving on to address the question of why such a discourse on Jane-Finch is possible we can first take a look at the Canadian media context to see if it offers up any clues. Despite growing diversity, the Canadian news media industry, historically and currently, is still predominantly white (see Miller,
1998; Lorimer & Gasher, 2004). The culture and operations of the news media of necessity are derived from this history and status. Another noteworthy issue that affects news output is that in order to secure advertising dollars the news media have to cater news to continually attract a mainstream media audience, the audience most desirable to advertisers. This audience is not usually made up of those who are poor. These are factors that would shape the lenses and perspectives determining news selection and presentation. For instance, one could argue that what is being presented on Jane-Finch would therefore be shaped mainly by a white ideological frame or discourse that
resonates with the dominant culture.
Another explanation for why Jane-Finch is presented this way is the 'ever
present' discourse of Otherness found in media presentations. This prevalent discourse is even evident in the news articles and headlines analyzed in this thesis. Henry and Tator (2002) describe this discourse of Otherness in the
media:
the ubiquitous we represents the White dominant culture or the culture of the organization (i.e., the newspaper, or the radio station, or in other 186 contexts the courts, the police, the schools, the museums); they refers to the communities that are the other, and that possess 'different' (i.e., undesirable) values, beliefs, and norms. (231)
Media researchers have also found an "us" versus "them" polarization in the news coverage where the non-white minority (immigrants, ethnics) are portrayed negatively and as different from than the white majority (see van
Dijk, 1991; Teo, 1999; Brookes, 1995). This is a discourse of 'othering'.
Brookes (1995) argues, "these discourses construct a stereotypical distortion of other groups as different, deviant, threatening and inferior. This ...continues to the ideological myth of superiority and uniqueness... (487)." In several of the news articles, the values, beliefs and norms presented are 'different' or
'odd' from what is mainstream, which is what makes them newsworthy.
Brookes (1995) argues in her analysis that "the way the media functions is also likely to produce a highly uniform discourse" because of Western stereotypical ideological frameworks being tapped into and "journalistic practices involving the selection of news subjects and the formulation of headlines" about what is newsworthy. A uniform discourse on Jane-Finch is also evident across newspapers.
Highly relevant in looking at the Canadian media context to determine its influence on the depiction of Jane-Finch is to review research on how the media presents minorities. The pertinent questions are to what extent the 187 representations of minorities in the media are reflective of deeper hierarchies and inequalities within the Canadian cultural landscape and whether this general minority representation is reflected in Jane-Finch coverage.
Relevant to Jane-Finch representation is the finding that the Canadian media often presents minorities as disruptive and problematic. Fleras and Kunz
(2001) state:
minority men and women are usually "denounced as social problems and outsiders that are eroding Canada's social fabric and ... criticized as freeloading "other" in contrast with hardworking and law-abiding white Canadians. (79)
Research by Henry and Tator (2002) also confirms their analysis.
The Invisible Minority
In addition, not only are minorities presented as problems, but the literature
suggests that minorities to some extent are invisible from the face of the
Canadian media (Fleras & Kunz, 2001; Henry & Tator, 2002). As Fleras and
Kunz (2001) highlight:
visible minorities are reduced to an invisible status through "underrepresentation," newsworthy only as entertainers, athletes or villains and subject to treatment as problems. Minority concerns and contributions to Canadian society are rarely addressed by the mainstream media, in effect, further invisibilizing those most visible in our society. (78)
188 In addition, the claim the Canadian news media give minorities the shallows and rapids treatment is well made by Fleras and Kunz (2001):
Under normal circumstances, minorities are ignored or rendered irrelevant by the mainstream press ("shallows"). Coverage however is situated within the context of crisis or calamity, involving natural catastrophes, civil wars and colourful insurgents ("rapids"). When the crisis subsides mainstream media interest diminishes accordingly until the next crisis comes along. (79)
What this means is that when minorities are covered in the press and on television, more often than not, the framing or angle is negative and one can see how this leads to constant misrepresentation. There is the high
probability that the 'shallows and rapid' treatment is what Jane-Finch gets; that
is, it is only when there is negative news that Jane-Finch is covered by the
Press.
Racialization of Crime
As noted, researchers also find the media plays a role in the racialization of
crime. From their research, Henry and Tator (2002) found the media produced
negative images of people of colour. They also indicated book on racism in
Ontario's criminal justice system reveals that for at least a century, the media
have played an important role in racializing crime (41)." A factor in
racialization is the over-reporting of crimes alleged to be committed by blacks
(see Henry and Tator, 2002). In actuality, the criminalization of blacks is
189 widespread. Studies found both the media in North America and the UK guilty of criminalizing blacks:
largely responsible for implanting the idea that young Black males were enemies of society rather than the products of depressed socio economic conditions. Most working class crime develops from such conditions. (Commenting on Hall's well known study in his book Policing the Crisis, Henry and Tator, 2002, p164)
These researchers also found a "general agreement that media reporting produces, reproduces and reinforces racist stereotyping (167)."
Dominant Discourses Uncovered in the Texts
Thinking back to the description of the social dimension in Chapter 2, we can project that a number of factors, such as dominant discourses, could contribute to the presentation of Jane-Finch in the articles and headlines examined.
A discourse related to racism is a likely factor in Jane-Finch's portrayal. Race has figured prominently in the Canadian reality since the birth of Canada.
Historically the racial divide was a marked feature of the Canadian reality and was even legally mandated. Galabuzi (2006) points out:
racial hierarchies (were) codified in law through the establishment of such instruments as the Indian Act of 1867, the imposition of the Chinese head tax under the Chinese Immigration Act of 1885, and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923, which banned Chinese immigration until 190 1947. There were also various prohibitions against South Asian immigration, the immigration of freed African slaves from the United States, the segregated school systems in Ontario, the denial of voting rights to Chinese immigrants in British Columbia, the differential wage rates for South Asian and Chinese workers in British Columbia and the internment of Japanese Canadian during the world war. (29)
Race has emerged as "a key constitutive feature of socio-stratification in
Canada (and) has prompted debate about a colour-coded mosaic (Galabuzi,
2006, 32)." It is no surprise then that race being of such import historically and even now within the current Canadian climate that it would also be factored into the discursive realm.
Henry and Tator (2002) provide an apt description of racist ideology useful to this discussion:
racist ideology provides the conceptual framework for the political, social and cultural structures of inequality and for systems of dominance based on race. It also provides the processes for excluding and marginalizing people of colour that characterize Canadian society In sum, racist ideology organizes, preserves, and perpetuates a society's power structures. It creates and preserves a system of dominance based on race, and it is communicated and reproduced through agencies of socialization and cultural transmission racist ideology is reflected and regenerated in the very language that people read, write and speak. (21)
In their study of the issue of racism in the media, these authors conclude that
"racialized discourse works silently within the cognitive make-up of individual
191 journalists and editors, and within the collective culture and professional norms and values of media organizations (226)."
In reading these news articles (and even the headlines alone) one would receive a consistently negative view of people who reside in Jane-Finch, a community viewed as predominantly Black. The articles generate several possible components of a racist discourse - blacks are portrayed as parasitic, pathological, criminally depraved and stereotyped as gangsters and young hooligans who are obsessed with sports, particularly basketball players. The parasitism discourse is a strong, probable subset of the discourse on racism.
The Jane-Finch community is portrayed as constantly getting handouts or government subsidies and young women are viewed as welfare queens and scam artistes. The youth of Jane-Finch are portrayed as 'fickle' and concentrated on trivialities (such as collecting many pairs of basketball shoes) or as involved in gun crimes. Additionally, the news articles consistently depict a breakdown in the black familial structure. There is the suggestion that blacks are incapable of upholding the traditional family structure and that basic family values are amiss. Further Jane-Finch, viewed as predominantly black, is painted as a community that is very dependent on government and taxpayers money. News shows the community as regular recipients of handouts through a number of government and social programs.
192 A discourse of moral panic (see Macek, 2006), associated with this discourse of racism, is also probable. The articles demonstrate media's potential
(through constant negative coverage) to influence, generate and sustain moral panic. As Macek (2006) notes moral panic is "any upsurge of public concern over, or alarm about, a condition or group socially defined as 'threatening' or
'dangerous' (Macek, 2006, xiii). The media's constant negative representation of Jane-Finch could engender moral panic within the mainstream community around minorities and the status of the community as a low-income community.
Canada still holds on to the imaginary of being a 'white nation' (see Galabuzi,
2006), despite efforts to promote a multicultural Canada. It is obvious that the discourse on Jane-Finch, viewed through all of the frameworks used in the analysis, (branding theory, framing theory or Fairclough's and van Dijk's discourse analysis) is of the same 'ilk' (uniform), and this in itself is a strong statement that the presentation of Jane-Finch is tied in with the social. As noted, Brookes (1995), gets similar findings of a uniform discourse on Africa and how it is represented in Western newspapers. In response to her findings, she asks two questions which are also relevant to the Jane-Finch case: "What makes such a uniform discourse possible and what are its social functions?
(487)."
193 A discourse related to xenophobia could also influence the presentation of
Jane-Finch. In North America, immigrants have always been portrayed as threats to social stability. Stabile (2006) notes the tensions in the United States related not only to race but also immigrants:
On one side of the line stood victims, native-born white people; while on the other was a mix of immigrant groups rendered threatening in their proximity with a small black population that loomed large in the andocentric imagination. (12)
Hier and Greenberg (2002), in an analysis of Canadian print media texts, found moral panic generated from the relationship made between crime and immigration as well as health and immigration. The media can portray immigrants in a negative light.
A discourse related to capitalism could also influence the presentation of the poor and low-income communities. Themes of capitalism can be seen in portrayal of the poor as blameworthy rather than victims of structural
inequalities and mothers disadvantaged by structural inequalities are portrayed as parasites and criminals. The fact as alluded to in our first chapter
is that many more low income communities like Jane-Finch exist in Western countries where there are huge gaps between the rich and the poor brought on by capitalism, yet they are not portrayed as 'the outcasts of the capitalist system' but as lazy and to be blamed for their status.
194 From the overall research, we can conclude a fundamental attribution error
(FAE) occurs in journalistic writings on Jane-Finch presented in mainstream
newspapers. Jane -Finch is plagued with the typical problems faced by most
low income communities in North America, however, Jane-Finch is definitely
not depraved, pathological, 'lost' as presented in the articles. Jane-Finch is a
neighbourhood where many respectable, law-abiding families live (including white families). The media however attributes the problem faced by the
neighbourhood to race and immigration and ignores issues such as.
discrimination, poverty and structural constraints and joblessness. The
negative presentation in the articles overshadows and ignores the 'real' Jane-
Finch, made worse by the resultant branding effect. As expected, constant
negative representation would bring some consequences affecting property
values, economic development, jobs and educational opportunities. It is also
more difficult to design effective community and policy responses because
there is misrecognition of the problem.
From looking at the Canadian social dimension and the various dominant
discourses reflected in the news articles (pinpointed above), one gets a clear
picture of the probable influences on the writings of journalists who derive
stories on Jane-Finch. These dominant discourses embody the social
narratives and scripts journalists pull from to 'ground' their stories and 'make
195 sense' to the Canadian audience. The argument that journalists are heavily influenced by the social dimension supports our claims of a fundamental attribution error occurring in journalistic presentations on Jane-Finch; because even though there may be 'good news' stories on Jane-Finch, (or no need for the moral panic angle within journalistic writings) these are overpowered by the discourses of the dominant culture.
As well, the analysis in this paper reveals what theorists such as Fleras (2003) have found in Canadian media coverage of minorities. Fleras (2003) in his research points to media miscasting and 'othering' of minorities by the media.
What this thesis research proves is this 'othering' extends even to the communities where minorities live or are concentrated. Fleras (2003) argues:
The cumulative impact of media miscasting bodes badly for Canada. The rhetoric of othering minorities as different and undeserving of equal treatment has resulted in the marginalizing of minority women and men. Biases and irresponsibility in press coverage result in the stereotyping, criminalizing and dehumanizing of minority youth. (296)
Unfortunately this media portrayal results in negative psychological effects on minorities and especially their young. As Fleras (2003) underscores:
Media portrayals play a powerful role in shaping Canadian minority identities. Children of colour learn to dislike who they are because of these depictions. Stereotyping becomes internalized and contributes to an identity that negatively affects people's view of themselves, their opportunities and their choices Exclusion of minority women and men inflicts a degree of symbolic and psychological violence through internalization of such hateful images. Any sense of self-worth plunges 196 because of images that devalue minorities to the level of the 'other' - to be pitied, despised or shunned as outsiders or barbarians (297)
The negative portrayal of minorities therefore has deep psychological impact on minorities.
Limitations and Considerations for Further Research
First, this research has its limitations, as one cannot fully claim the audiences would interpret the news articles in the same way as in the analysis. An analysis of the effect of the news content on audiences is missing from a textual analysis. To accurately assess the effect of the content on audiences, the researcher would need to conduct audience research (interviewing, surveys, ethnographic studies), not done in this thesis. As well, focusing on the text by way of a textual analysis would not give insight into the operations of the news organizations or the intent of journalists. This research therefore is not making a claim that the angle and framing of news stories were deliberate on the part of journalists who wrote them. As Fleras (2003) aptly notes:
neglect of minorities in the media may occur for a variety of reasons, spanning the spectrum from hardboiled business decisions that reflect market forces, to a lack of cultural awareness and deep-seated prejudice among media personnel, to a bias so systemic and 'normal' that it escapes detection or scrutiny except by its victims. (297)
197 Second, many of what is to be suggested for future research on this topic was outside the scope of this research because of time limitations. For instance, in order to get a broader picture of the coverage afforded to Jane-Finch, future research on this topic should incorporate a multimodal type of analysis so as to include news photographs and images used with the selected articles. In this type of research, the placement of the newspaper articles and the prominence of headlines could be assessed. The researcher would have to access the real newspaper articles instead of relying on electronic databases which may add to length of time expended on the research as well as increased cost.
For future research, consideration should be given to applying a similar analysis to the headlines of news articles focused on Toronto communities not considered to be low-income communities (such as Forest Hill, High Park,
Yorkville), and/or even other Toronto communities affiliated with crime (such as the Malvern community), or other low-income communities in other provinces to obtain a more thorough look at the community's status and how it correlates to the type of coverage received. In this way, a broader comparison can be made of the type of coverage afforded low-income versus middle- and high-income communities.
198 This resultant branding effect also speaks to the subjectivity of persons living in Jane-Finch who themselves become labeled or stereotyped. This subjectivity would operate in the same way the product made by a certain company is labeled as being better (or as having better reputational capital) than the product created by another company. Subjectivity was not a focus of this thesis; however, this is an area worth looking at in a more expansive study.
This research can also be extended by looking at the discourse practice aspect of Fairclough's theoretical framework where he asserts that discourse analysis should take into consideration text production and text consumption
(essentially, the journalist's input and the audience's reaction). A framework put forward by P.R.R. White (2006), an Australian theorist, can be effectively applied in looking at the discourse practice aspect. White's (2006) framework addresses a huge gap in discourse analysis - it is often criticized as paying more attention to the textual dimension than to the other two dimensions of production and consumption (the audience). White (2006) proposes a method that investigates ways the journalist uses language to cause the audience to evaluate actors in the news positively or negatively. White's method lends itself well to looking at discourse practice (the media production and text consumption aspect). His perspective allows a look at the 'political' use of
199 language from the reporter / journalist angle. He offers a way to assess the ideological effects of news by analyzing what he calls "evaluative semantics and ideological positioning". White (2006) claims through news articles certain
"attitudinal positions can be conveyed ... by which the reader can be positioned to favour or disfavour a particular viewpoint (38)" or a particular actor in the news. In this regard, news articles can create disfavour or favour towards actors (humans, communities, and other features). That is to say, news articles through word choice and semantics can generate different kinds of evaluations of actors in the news on the part of the audience.
Recommendations for Change
The ultimate aim of critical discourse analysis is to influence or lead change.
This section outlines my recommendations for what we need to focus on to achieve change, given our findings. In the news media discourse on Jane-
Finch, the thesis finds a fundamental attribution error overall in the depiction of
Jane-Finch. A fundamental attribution error occurs when internal factors are overestimated and external factors underestimated when explaining the behaviours of others. As academia is always an arena for championing change and given that the evidence of a fundamental attribution error is a significant finding, the academic environment can help lead change. Within academia, we should make efforts to research this phenomenon further to 200 assess not only if this error occurs in representations of similar low-income communities with similar make-up but also how it can be countered. These research studies should also seek to compare if fundamental attribution error occurs in presentation of wealthier communities in the news media. The findings of further research can help determine proper kinds of solutions to temper the occurrence of errors if only from the perspective of the 'underdog' groups living in these communities.
Achieving change in how low income communities are presented in the news media requires that a more balanced view of these communities be offered in the media. We accept that a certain stigma will be attached to these communities because of their low-income status, therefore newsrooms and journalists have to make a concerted effort to present other sides of these communities and not only visit these communities when a crime occurs.
Newsrooms need to avoid the 'shallows and rapids treatment' (see Henry and
Tator, 2002). The news media and journalists themselves should take on a distinct responsibility when presenting stories on low-income communities such as Jane-Finch. The Globe and Mail made efforts to present the other side of Jane-Finch. However, even in the analysis, one sees that their efforts still resonated with the dominant view of Jane-Finch as composed of gangster fetishist and a perpetual cycle of welfare moms. Despite the Globe and Mail's
201 attempt, the social narratives and dominant discourses upheld within mainstream Canadian society were re-affirmed in the newspaper's presentation of Jane-Finch.
Journalism schools also have a responsibility to sensitize students to issues confronting the poor and where they live (low-income communities) as well as issues confronting immigrants and minorities. Diversity training should be a part of the training given to Canadian journalists as well as training on social justice issues. With an increasing immigrant population, journalists have to be sensitized to the issues facing immigrants and how ethically these issues should be presented for instance by giving both sides of the story.
News organizations should pay more attention to structural factors affecting low income communities such as Jane-Finch, and particularly issues facing youth. In the articles, youth are constantly presented as troubled, yet the news media fails to give an in-depth analysis of the structural factors affecting these youth. There is instead an implication within news articles that these youth are troubled because of their race. From a corporate social responsibility perspective, the news media has a responsibility to offer in-depth analyses, particularly when it comes to the disenfranchised to make sure their presentation is as unbiased as possible, and to be self-reflexive in their work
202 on the disadvantaged. The media also has a responsibility to present diverse, social justice perspectives. In the analysis of these selected news articles, a
'diversity' (or social justice) perspective seems to be missing.
This media responsibility argument is also relevant in the arena of policymaking to assist communities such as Jane-Finch. Given that our thrust so far in this paper is to assert a fundamental attribution error that places responsibility on internal factors such as race, the corollary argument is that this error moves us away from looking at contributing structural issues
(joblessness, discrimination) and from finding substantive policy solutions
(other than adding more police and legislating more stringent crime measures) for factors contributing to the 'troubled youth' syndrome for instance in these communities. Hackett and Gruneau (2000) are correct in asserting that:
the press (and other media) have the ability to focus public attention on some people, events or issues, and away from others. By doing that, the mainstream media help to set the agenda for both public discussion and government's policy decision. (220) Using the perspectives presented on Jane-Finch (from the analysis of the articles) as the basis of policy decisions, would mean missing the big picture and getting only a skewed view of the situation.
As in France, Canadians may also want to implement similar legislative press policy that seeks to promote greater diversity in press content. France has a
203 right-of-reply legislature, which "mandates the press to provide space for groups it has attacked (Hackett and Gruneau, 2000, 232)." A similar policy
(though not the same) can be arranged so that minority groups, representatives or organizations (as the subaltern) would have a space in the newspaper to counter or even to air their views. This would help in some way to give back minority men, women and youth some control over how they are represented.
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218 Appendix A: Newspaper Articles
Council support for Jane-Finch centre weakens By Royson James Toronto Star 507 words 11 April 1989
Others say several North York communities have similar needs and, if millions of dollars are spent in Jane-Finch, other areas of North York will suffer.
"There are other areas just as bad off as Jane-Finch," said Councillor Don
Yuill, adding that he won't support the project. "A community centre is not going to solve the problems of drugs, break-ins and murders. It's just for playing basketball."
Parks Comissioner Gord Hutchinson said he expects the centre to cost between $6 and $8 million. But other councillors say the price tag could reach
$20 million.
The west-end neighborhood of Jane-Finch - roughly from Highway 400 east to
Tobermory Drive, Eddystone Ave. north to Shoreham Drive - is a densely populated area of North York.
219 Metro police have identified it as a high-crime area and home to a large percentage of Metro's single-parent families.
Last December Lastman asked for council's help in building "the largest community centre ever undertaken by our city" in the Jane-Finch area.
The "super resource centre," complete with a library, indoor swimming pool, meeting rooms, gymnasium and multipurpose rooms, would "represent a new lease on life for thousands of our residents who have paid their dues," he said.
The mayor, back on the job after weeks off because of surgery, was shocked to hear last week that some councillors claim the planning for the project has been a secret.
He said he invited the councillors from Wards 1, 3, and 5 to attend a meeting with area residents last year before the election and not one showed up.
After the election, Councillors Mario Sergio, Anthony Perruzza and Peter Li
Preti, who represents Jane-Finch, met with a steering committee in the communty, Lastman said.
220 "There is some underlying problem (with the politicians) out there," he said.
"They are trying to kill it (the centre) and it's so desperately needed."
Perruzza gave unqualified support to the centre at last week's parks and recreation committee meeting. Sergio complained about the shortage of community centres in his ward, but will likely support it. And Li Preti has said he wants the centre built.
The centre idea stems from a meeting with community members who complained of poor facilities, Lastman said. "What do they (the councillors) want, for the kids to play in the malls and get into trouble? Is that the message they want to send out?"
The mayor agreed he must work with the parks and recreation committee, but said someone has to take the initiative.
He said he has met with Premier David Peterson and Peterson is looking at picking up as much as 50 per cent of the costs of the resource centre because
Jane-Finch is a special needs area.
221 Parks and recreation has set aside $200,000 in the 1989 budget for architectural and consultancy fees for the project. The budget will be considered by council next week.
Media blamed for poor image of Jane-Finch area By Royson James Toronto Star
305 words 25 April 1989
Residents claim the media has the area under a microscope and anything that
happens anywhere near the intersection is pinned on the community.
Ward 3 Councillor Peter Li Preti says hundreds of residents are gearing up to
air their beefs.
Li Preti recently introduced a motion at council asking the city to match every
dollar raised by the commmunity to be used in a legal fight with any media that
slanders or libels the community or residents in the area.
The motion also asks council to "condemn and abhor the sensationalized"
press coverage of the area.
And it seeks to have Metro change the name of the streets forming the
intersection. 222 Low crime rate
At an impromptu news conference last week, Li Preti asked reporters not to paint the area as either crime-ridden and drug-infested because that is simply not true.
Li Preti said while the communty has high unemployment, high density development and a large number of single mothers, other areas in Metro have higher crime rates.
"Give us a chance," he pleaded.
He provided Metro police statistics from January 1988 to July 1988 that show
31 Division, which includes Jane-Finch, had among the lowest number of criminal offences for the period.
Aside from traffic offences, 31 Division reported 6,973 criminal offences.
Division 52, covering the downtown Toronto area had 14,252 offences while
Division 41 and 42 in Scarborough had over 8,000 offences each.
Li Preti said residents have launched a door-to-door campaign to raise money and be ready to press slander and libel lawsuits against any unfair media reporting of the area.
223 "Maybe our chances are remote," but it's the community's way of fighting back, he said.
An odd use for a bad neighborhood image By David Lewis Stein Toronto Star
724 words 12 May 1989
It should be noted, I think, that Li Preti, has also attempted to use the negative image of Jane-Finch to get taxes lowered for constituents on a neighborhood street.
Li Preti's motion for Wednesday night begins, "Whereas a section of The City of North York continues to be harassed by irresponsible media coverage;"
It goes on to cite stories in The Star, The Sun and The Globe, and to complain that "other media continue to make general reference to this intersection rather than to specific locations where incidents may occur..."
Li Preti wants North York to withhold ads from publications that do not mend their ways and to consider legal action. He even wants Metro Council to consider changing the name of Jane-Finch to something else.
224 When he was talking to the Ontario Municipal Board last fall, Li Preti attempted to make use of the negative image.
Homeowners on five streets in North York's Ward 3 had cited difficulties on their blocks and managed to convince an assessment review board to lower their taxes by about 10 per cent. The provincial assessment department appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board.
Li Preti, who is the councillor for Ward 3, helped some homeowners prepare for the hearing and when it came to Blaney Crescent, Li Preti appeared himself. The written opening remarks he submitted begin: "The area bound by
Finch Avenue on the north, Oakdale Road on the west, Jane Street on the east and Firgrove Crescent on the south is known for drug related problems and violence . . .
"Documented evidence from news clippings can speak for themselves (See attachments of news clippings).
"And yet this was never the case! You have heard residents earlier in the
hearing stating that Jane-Finch was a beautiful area."
225 The submission goes on for 20 pages quoting various newspaper stories.
Most are about crime or social problems and all mention Jane-Finch in the headline or copy.
Li Preti is in Italy at the moment, attending with other North York Councillors
World War II commemorative services in the community of Cassino. I left a message with his secretary and he called.
He explained that the Jane-Finch media image was just one of the reasons why he thought taxes should be reduced on Blaney Crescent. The street has other problems too.
The media arguments were really a test case. He felt that people in the area he described were having trouble selling their houses for what they were really worth.
Real estate agents, he said, told people that if their houses were anywhere else in the city, they would be selling for $400,000 but in Jane-Finch, they would bring much less.
226 "The image that has been portrayed in the media is that of an area that is full of problems, difficulties, crimes and a number of other negative factors," Li
Preti said.
"I have never denied that we have problems but I don't think they are more severe than any other area in Metro.
"I do concede that we have difficulties. If you have the letter (complaining to the Ontario Press Council about The Star's coverage) that I have with statistics in comparing 31 Division to any other division we are not, by far, number one. Whether we compare Criminal Code offences, or whether we compare minor offences, we're not proud of our statistics but we're not that bad.
"Every time Jane-Finch is mentioned, (it's) particularly because of two problem areas ..."
I asked him what the two problem areas were and he said that, as a councillor,
he didn't "want to point the finger at some pockets in the community. It's not fair." However people in the community could identify them.
227 I asked if the community people would identify these problem areas
Wednesday night and Li Preti said he hoped people would be "restrained."
I hope so too.
The municipal board ruled on only three appeals and did not accept Li Preti's arguments that taxes on Blaney should be reduced because of Jane-Finch's bad image.
On Wednesday night people will, I hope, ask Li Preti some tough questions about what he was doing at the municipal board.
TAKING AIM AT JANE-FINCH; Young kids are using grant money and mentors to learn about filmmaking and, more broadly, life's plentiful possibilities. Recurring motif: gang shootouts and innocent victims. By Murray Whyte Toronto Star 1375 words 23 July 2006
Michael Melville, 14, held the semi-automatic pistol in his right hand, then twirled it on his middle finger. He fiddled with the safety, turning it on and off with practised ease, then amused himself by popping the ammunition clip in and out, in and out, before passing the gun to Glen Gaetan.
"If I put something in here, will it come shooting out?" asked Gaetan, also 14, fingering the barrel with interest.
228 "No, Glen. It's a replica," said Sudz Sutherland, tall and lean, his dark African-
Canadian face set behind chunky black-framed glasses. "But people still use those to commit crimes, you know."
"Really?" Gaetan replied, grinning in happy fascination as he stared into the barrel. "Sick!"
Like it or not, a young teenager's interest in firearms is something of a given now, when crime dramas and real-life shootings and gang violence dominate evening television from the 6 o'clock news onward.
The fascination in this squat, grey block of social housing not far from the crime and violence-plagued Jane-Finch corridor, however, is of a different sort.
Melville, a lanky, soft-spoken boy with tight black curls, is the youthful auteur - writer, director and performer - of a short film called Stop the Violence.
Gaetan, olive-skinned and wiry, his head shorn to black stubble, is his lead actor.
And Sutherland, 36, the director of such films as Doomstown and Love, Sex and Eating the Bones, is the mentor for their debut film experience. It's part of a project called Through Our Eyes, involving seven short films to be created by groups of kids at Elia Middle School.
229 Sutherland's wife, filmmaker Jennifer Holness, is the project's producer. She secured the necessary grants from the Ontario Arts Council and non-profit
Innoversity Creativity Summit, which will screen the films in October. Charles
Street Video, a post-production house, donated editing time and Telus, also a sponsor, will eventually offer the films on cellphones.
Everyone involved, from Holness and Sutherland to Mark Caine, the Elia teacher who recruited Sutherland to head up a summer film program, agreed there's more at stake than filmmaking instruction.
"Most people don't understand the importance of these things for communities like that," Holness said.
Her own childhood was spent in a bleak housing project at Lawrence and
Bathurst, where the drift into crime and violence was all too common. "Where I grew up, there was nothing," she said. "A lot of kids with nothing to do, and nowhere to go."
Through Our Eyes gives the kids something to believe in: Themselves.
Even if they never do anything further in film, I want them to walk away from this experience with the real sense they can accomplish something," Holness said.
230 "A lot of these kids have a hard time imagining a future for themselves," added
Sutherland. He's keen to show the kids, most of whom come from immigrant and minority backgrounds, that the world is no less accessible to them, help them "make better choices - or think about them more, at least."
Caine, with the blessing of his principal Rose Clarke, prevailed on Sutherland when the latter went to speak at Elia earlier this year. "You don't see a lot of black filmmakers in Canada," Caine said. "I asked if he'd be willing to show some of these kids how it's done."
Sutherland was a frequent speaker at schools, but this was the first time he had been asked to take on a more detailed project. From the start, he had a notion to bring in filmmakers of colour to show - not tell - students the possibilities.
Thus Rhett Morita, his cinematographer on Doomstown, has been spending time with the students, both mentoring and shooting a documentary on the
Through Our Eyes project. "That was the first time they had seen anyone like that," Sutherland said of Morita, a Japanese-Canadian. "They have no context for him at all, and they should."
231 On this day, on location, the young filmmaker Melville was conferring about a scene with Debra Felstead, an actor/director recruited as a mentor.
Melville listened to her intently, then said, "So, we have from when his aunt gets shot, to outside, and that's it?"
"No, we also have him running outside, remember?" Felstead said.
"Right," Melville said, and consulted with his producer, Larissa Pondapaty, 13.
"Everything's coming together," he assured her.
His film, he said, is "about gun violence, and making bad choices." And there is no shortage of either in the neighbourhood he and his classmates call home. Gang activity in Jane-Finch is a simple fact of life. Large housing projects brimming with impoverished new immigrants have been a breeding ground for drug trafficking and the violence that goes with it.
"When we read his script, we were blown away," Sutherland said. "Here's a kid who wants to make a piece that says something: Stop the Violence. And he's 14 years old."
The other films are equally telling. Caine described one on peer pressure, where a boy, goaded by friends, robs a convenience store at gunpoint. He
232 comes out firing, inadvertently hitting his mother. In another, a young girl - a strong student and good kid - gets involved with a gang member. Sitting in the car waiting for him to do a shooting, she gets caught in the crossfire.
"This is not fiction," Caine said. "This is their daily life. Movies tend to glamorize this violent gang life, but there's no glamour to it, and these kids know it."
(One film that saw no glamour in gang life was Sutherland's Doomstown, which aired on CTV last month. It addressed the short life spans occasioned by drugs and gangs. Sutherland, who is of Jamaican descent and grew up in
Scarborough, was unflinching in portraying Caribbean posses as culprits.)
On the set, Melville and Romario Ashley, 16, both of whom came to Canada from Jamaica as young children, prepared for the scene as the camera operator, Mekseb Araya, 12, checked her lens. The boys wandered outside the backyard fence, gun tucked in Ashley's pants. Melville called "action" and the pair strode into the yard towards the door with purpose.
"As soon as the door opens, we start shooting," Ashley told a stern-faced
Melville, as they approached. "Then we run, all right?" Melville nodded, silent.
233 Ashley knocked on the door, unexpectedly opened by their rival gang member's aunt (played by Melville's mother Melissa). But the script has Ashley open fire without looking first, and an innocent elder gets gunned down.
"Oh, my God," Ashley said, staring at her splayed form on the threshold, before the two turned and ran out the gate. Melville yelled "cut." They would run the scene again, from different angles, no less than a dozen times.
The climactic scene has the boys running from the scene of the crime. They burst through the gate, almost knocking over Gaetan, returning home from a shooting he was bullied into doing by gang members.
As he enters his yard, he sees the result: His aunt lying dead in the doorway, the victim of a cycle of revenge he initiated. He cradles her head in his lap as the camera rolls. "It should have been me," he whispers.
Afterwards, Ashley paused to reflect. "I've known a lot of people who have done stupid things and it's come back to haunt them," he said. "My mom brought me to Canada from Jamaica when I was 8 to get away from all that. If you get involved with gangs, you're not just hurting yourself, you're hurting the people you care about."
234 Welfare mothers given chance to break the cycle; Participants in new program get free daycare for their children, help with education and career planning
JOE FRIESEN The Globe and Mail 24 July 2006 1633 words
Anna Kay Daley's dreams of a happy family started unravelling while she kept vigil at her daughter's hospital bedside.
A week before, Ms. Daley hadn't even known she was pregnant. She had given birth to her first child only a year earlier, in 2003, and her stomach had showed no sign of swelling.
Her daughter Akelia was born three months premature in a friend's bathroom.
She emerged still in the placenta, and weighed just 800 grams.
Akelia lay in intensive care with tubes running in and out of her limbs. She had to have fat pumped into her chest because she couldn't produce enough on her own.
"Every time you touched her it looked like she was going to pop," Ms. Daley said.
235 And while she spent day and night at the hospital, Ms. Daley heard that her boyfriend was cheating on her. They had a confrontation at the hospital, and someone overheard Ms. Daley's boyfriend threaten to hit her. A nurse called the Children's Aid Society.
It was a moment that changed Ms. Daley's life.
"I made a promise to [Akelia] that if she pulled through, then by the time she was 10 I would go to school and get enough money to buy a house," Ms.
Daley said.
"I want to keep my promise. I don't want her to go through what I go through. I don't want her to grow up and say, 'Mummy, you've been on welfare for all the days of your life; I can do that too.' I want her to look on a different life, and see that mummy has a job."
Ms. Daley, 23, is one of nine women enrolled in a new program called Women
Moving Forward, launched by the Jane Finch Community and Family Centre.
The program is designed to help single mothers on welfare improve their education and find work.
236 Participants get free daycare for their children and are given the opportunity to do career planning, learn life skills and further their education.
Tonika Morgan is the program director. She says although it's easier to capture the public's imagination with violence-prevention programs for troubled neighbourhoods, most of the problems facing young people in these areas can be traced to their upbringing.
"A lot of issues that come up in the newspaper, such as violence, school suspensions, dropouts, I think start in the home," Ms. Morgan said. "The issues that single moms face are the elephant in the room, but there are so many layers to it that people often ignore it."
According to Toronto public health statistics, in the five years up to 2002 about
30 per cent of babies in the Jane-Finch area were born to mothers aged 15 to
19, almost twice the city average for teen mothers.
In a neighbourhood where only 7 per cent of the population have a university degree, compared to the citywide average of 25 per cent, and where only 55 per cent have a high-school diploma, education is a major barrier to finding work that pays more than minimum wage.
237 "The irony of Jane-Finch is that York University is right in the backyard, but it's incredibly hard to get there from here," Ms. Morgan says. "A lot of the women think the idea is almost far-fetched."
Her goal is to get them to think differently.
Ms. Daley is in the first phase of the five-year program, and needs to complete some courses from high school before she can move on to college or university. She hopes to become a nurse.
She was born in Jamaica in 1983. Her mother had her first child at 18, and Ms.
Daley was the third of six children, not all of them by the same father. Ms.
Daley's father left shortly after she was born. She and her mother moved to
Toronto's Jane-Lawrence area when she was nine, and she hasn't seen her father, who also lives in Toronto, since she was 11.
"We didn't really have much but we worked with whatever we had, and [in
Jamaica] there's always somebody supporting you. Whereas here, if you have nothing, everybody just looks down on you," she said.
238 When she was 16, she says, her mother kicked her out of the house. She ended up at Covenant House, a shelter for homeless teens. "It was hell," she said. She lived in the shelter for six or seven months, sharing a room, having her things stolen and struggling to get by.
She dropped out of school, having completed Grade 10.
She found work as a waitress and later as a labourer in a factory, earning $11 an hour at her peak, and sometimes working several jobs simultaneously.
Now she lives with her two children in a small Jane Street apartment a few hundred metres from where she grew up. The neighbourhood is poor and dotted with money-transfer outlets and discount grocery stores.
The walls of her apartment are decorated with photos, mounted religious phrases, and inspirational poems with titles such as "Don't Quit." The most prominent pieces are two framed certificates from USC Education Savings
Plans, which she hopes will one day pay for her daughters to go to university.
Ms. Daley stands over the stove, up to her wrists in raw meat parts. She's making curried goat for her elder daughter's third birthday party. The table is laid with pink and purple paper plates, cone-shaped hats and ribbons. Later,
239 she points at the party favours and a pile of toys and says, "Those are the things I never had."
She was pregnant with her first baby, Kayla, at 19. She and her boyfriend had talked about having children, but Ms. Daley wanted to be sure they wouldn't grow up the way she had. She wanted to know that her boyfriend wouldn't leave his children without a father. He promised he wouldn't, because he grew up without a father, too.
"I'm pretty much going through all the things I told him I didn't want to happen.
But it's okay," she said. "I don't want my kids to grow up thinking that's the way to treat a woman."
But Ms. Daley also wanted to prove something to her mother.
"I always wanted to have a child young. It sounds stupid, but I wanted to show my mom. I wanted to show her that I can be a better mom and stick with my kid no matter what," she said. "She always said, 'You're never going to become nothing,' so I always said I'd go to school and prove her wrong."
Linda Loder, a 21-year-old mother of two, and Jameelah Henry, 26, who has a four-year-old daughter, are Ms. Daley's classmates at Women Moving
Forward.
240 They, too, grew up in single-parent homes, born to young mothers, and are now single mothers themselves. As they sit down for lunch with a few other students during a break from the program, they talk about their lives.
They trade stories of their "babyfathers" and how difficult it is to get them to contribute financially. They describe annoying welfare workers always asking questions about their babyfathers, and how pointless it is to reveal anything.
Another woman in the program says: "I have a relationship with the father of my child. Most of the time he sleeps at my apartment. But I cannot tell my welfare worker. I just say he's not in my life, because otherwise it's more of a hassle for me. They say I have to get support from him. It's hard enough. He doesn't want to give me $20. That's just not going to happen. And then I'm going to be penalized. So I keep my mouth shut. I just say he's not in my life and I don't know where he is."
The women receive slightly more than $1,000 a month in social assistance.
Ms. Daley, for example, pays $795 a month for rent, utilities, and her contributions to life insurance and the education savings plans. That leaves about $200 a month for everything else.
241 Ms. Loder's mother had her first child at 18, and Linda at 22. By the time Linda was 10, her mother decided to start a new life, leaving the children in the care of her estranged husband. As a child, Ms. Loder grew up on welfare in a public-housing project. She was on welfare when she had her daughter at 17, and had a son two years later.
She doesn't want to see the cycle repeated with her own children
"I'm trying to get out of that system," Ms. Loder said. "I've got to break the cycle. It started with my mom and my dad, and now I've got to change it."
About the series
The intersection of Jane Street and Finch Avenue in northwest Toronto draws reporters all too often for stories of guns and violence, but less is told about ordinary life here. To the dismay of residents, 'Jane-Finch' has become a catch-all phrase that suggests poverty, gangs and racial division. Those who live here say the stereotypes obscure a complex, resilient community struggling to emerge from years of neglect. To understand the neighbourhood behind the name, The Globe and Mail's Joe Friesen is reporting regularly from
Jane-Finch.
242 Where clothes don't always make the man; Thug-style attire a fashion statement for many good, law-abiding youth JOE FRIESEN The Globe and Mail
1141 words 27 July 2006
They buy their pants four sizes too large and wear their baseball caps loose with a flat brim. Their T-shirts go on forever, often billowing below the knee.
This is how many of the young men of Jane-Finch present themselves to the world.
Their dress and their mannerisms give the impression they are thugs. They know that, and they celebrate it. But they are not what they seem. The layers of fabric that bunch at the ankles or make round, adolescent shoulders seem square are practically a uniform, and very few dare stray from its codes.
"For the guys, the bigger the clothes, the better," says Cathy, who works at
Foxx men's store in the Yorkgate Mall. "The smallest size we carry in this store is large, and we go as high as 5XL."
A wholesaler from the United States, who was making a delivery to Foxx this month, says the baggy work-wear trend came out of the prisons, where inmates couldn't wear belts so they let their pants sag.
243 For teenagers like Justice and his friends, their fashion has no origin. To them, it's just a natural process, although they admit they're influenced by what they see on Black Entertainment Television.
They describe their style as gangsta, thug or hood, although many of them still go shopping with their mothers. Most are good, law-abiding citizens, but they're prepared to spend a lot to look dangerous.
Justice (his street name) is the 15-year-old son of Ghanaian immigrants and lives in a Jane Street apartment tower. He owns 13 pairs of sneakers. About half are Nike, some are Reebok and others are Adidas. He owns four pairs of
Nike Air Force Ones in different colours. But his prized possession is a pair of
$180 Air Jordan XII Is in red and black, which he wears only on special occasions, and rarely to play basketball.
He's working hard this summer, pushing mops and paintbrushes in his job as a janitor's assistant. He's trying to save for a set of diamond grills, which are custom-moulded, jewel-encrusted plates worn over the teeth. He also wants a gold necklace spelling out his name, a gold ring and a belt buckle. In all, the jewellery will cost nearly $500.
244 "The favourite thing that I rock is my picture T-shirts and my Dickie pants,"
Justice says, referring to the brand of blue-collar clothing that's de rigueur in the neighbourhood.
He says he wears his picture T-shirts, the ones with images of the late Tupac
Shakur and other rappers, to impress his friends. His jewellery and more up market clothes, such as his long-sleeved Sean John shirts, are for impressing girls.
He and his friends call themselves Bloods, which stems from their block's long-standing affiliation with the street gang. They dress mainly in black and red, and tend to avoid blue.
As they sat outside their apartment complex this week, a young man walked by dressed in blue from head to toe.
After looking him up and down, they said, "What's with the blue?" The young man smiled and kept walking. He's a Crip, they explained. But they didn't treat his presence as any great affront.
Most members of the group carry either a red or black bandana in their back pocket, to signal affiliation with the Bloods.
245 "If you rock the rag, you've got to follow the code," Justice says. "Red on the right, or blue on the left."
Dressing like a dangerous gangster is expensive, and Justice spends a lot of time thinking about how to get more money to buy more things, but he won't turn to crime. He works. He gambles on dice games with his friends; he says he wins more than he loses. And, like many of his friends, whenever something of value comes into his possession, such as free food, tickets to an event or a T-shirt, he tries to sell it.
Shlomo Soussan owns Foxx clothing. He started the business in Jane-Finch
17 years ago, aiming for the middle-of-the-road men's fashion market. Four years in, he realized the market was strongest for hip-hop clothing, and that's what he's sold ever since.
He says the growth in the industry has been phenomenal.
"In my lifetime, denim in the urban market reached $200," he said. "It's not catering to the guy who inspired the fashion."
Since many parents can't afford the high-priced designer items, Foxx carries no-name brands that sell for less than $20.
246 It also sells 'Stop Snitching' T-shirts, but doesn't keep many in stock. The T- shirts, which advocate not speaking to police, were the subject of controversy in Boston last year after the mayor threatened to ban them.
Other popular T-shirts borrow from the logos of famous corporations:
Blockbuster becomes 'Block Hustler,' Burger King becomes 'Murder King,' and then there's 'Ho Depot,' modelled after Home Depot. And there are shirts that feature the 'Snitch Motel,' where snitches check in but don't check out.
Mr. Soussan says his customers are attracted to the dangerous lifestyle evoked by the clothes, even though most are law-abiding citizens.
"All these things are part of their daily life to them, and there are people in business who are smart enough to take advantage and cash in," he said. "Kids like it. As long as there's no crime involved and people can make a living, then it's okay. It's a happening thing. They'll go through it and tomorrow it's something else."
Tomorrow's trend appears to be tighter-fitting clothes. Pants are getting narrower and starting to look more European in cut, according to Cathy, Mr.
Soussan's employee.
247 "The more mature guys are getting out of the thug image," she said, "and a lot of it has to do with partying downtown, where they won't let you in if you dress all gangster."
About the series
The intersection of Jane Street and Finch Avenue in northwest Toronto draws reporters all too often for stories of guns and violence, but less is told about ordinary life here. To the dismay of residents, "Jane-Finch" has become a catch-all phrase that suggests poverty, gangs and racial division. Those who live here say the stereotypes obscure a complex, resilient community struggling to emerge from years of neglect. To understand the neighbourhood behind the name, The Globe and Mail's Joe Friesen is reporting regularly from
Jane and Finch.
248 An Angel earns his wings; When the Guardian Angels announced their return to Toronto, joined the group undercover. In the first of a two-part series, he meets Canada One, Little Bear and Scorpio, learns how to gouge an eye out — and wonders whether he's prepared to hit the mean streets
BEN KAPLAN SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL 2371 words 29 July 2006 The Globe and Mail
Marching down George Street, we're assaulted from all sides.
Between Jarvis and Sherbourne, just north of Dundas Street East below Allan
Gardens, a kid with a shaved head darts toward us on a silver dirt bike. "Get out of here, you fucking rats!" he hisses.
"Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil!" salutes an inmate at Seaton House, earning cheers from the other guys who line the block-long shelter, smoking cigarettes on concrete benches.
Residents on balconies applaud as we pass. A woman with scars on her legs sits in a lawn chair drinking Lakeport. A man with a yellow stain in the centre of his Santa Claus beard follows us down the street. People gather in clusters to scream at our colourful costume parade: 18 Guardian Angels in red jackets and berets. Somebody on the other side of the road flashes the barrel of his gun.
249 Streetcars honk their approval while we're patrolling, and couples thank us over their draught beers on Dundas Street East patios. The mayor, however, doesn't want us in the city. Neither does Chief of Police Bill Blair.
A man named Biji has led us here. He wants us to do something about the neighbourhood he lives in, but it's our first night on patrol, and I'm still just trying to make sense of what we're doing here.
"What are you fucking looking at?" says a man standing in front of the barred windows of his row home, blowing cigarette smoke in my face. I'm in formation beside Rose, who wears her red beret like it's knight's armour, while I cower, like it's a clown nose, in mine.
Later that night, Tues., July 11, after our patrol disbands, Kemar Brown, 22, the city's 35th homicide, is shot twice in the chest at Dundas and Church.
At the Twin Dragon kung-fu studio at Dufferin and St. Clair, duct tape holds the punching bags together. Someone has opened the door behind the kickboxing ring in a failed attempt to circulate the stale air.
It's early April, and I've come here for an interview after responding to the
Guardian Angels' call for volunteers to patrol Toronto's worst streets. When I arrive, there are already six other potential recruits lined up on folding chairs
250 beside the ring. The vibe in the room suggests a nervous theatre troupe before the opening night of a show — a nervous theatre troupe with tattoos, fanny packs, beer bellies and pony tails. I feel out of place.
I'm also the smallest guy here. Except, that is, for Lou Hoffer, the national director of Guardian Angels Canada. Pacing back and forth in front of us in the group's trademark red beret and jacket, he's tugging on his goatee, making some point absolutely clear into his cellphone.
As we wait our turn for Lou or Stephen Paquette, the assistant national director, to call us to the front of the room, we don't talk to each other. We just stare, eyes forward, as if in any moment we might be called upon to thwart crime.
But we can hear each other's interviews. Most of the potential recruits regurgitate the same "I want to do my part to clean up the streets" line, which they seem to sincerely believe. Most already do some kind of community service and appear to have a military or policing background.
The man being interviewed before me describes his field experience as a peace officer in Calgary, his work overseas and his familiarity with night vision,
251 GPS tracking, topography and weapons. To a newcomer like me, he sounds like the perfect recruit for the Angels' latest attempt to launch a Toronto chapter.
The last two times they tried to set up shop here, the Angels were asked by local communities, not so politely, to leave. But last year's record number of gun deaths in Toronto prompted Lou to invite Curtis Sliwa, who founded the organization in New York in 1978, to visit the city in January to drum up support for another go. It's up to Lou to get the operation going.
A former constable with 33 Division turned home renovator, Lou quit his job to revive the Toronto chapter. The Orthodox Jewish 39-year-old — his code name is Canada One, but the guys call him Hollywood because he likes to play to the media spotlight — has personally invested $10,000 into Canada's flagship chapter. He has three kids and a mortgage in Thomhill. His mother works in the office; his wife sells T-shirts at fundraising events. Unimposing, anxious and high-strung, he's not the type of guy you might think would be leading the Guardian Angels.
252 As the interviews progress, Lou never addresses us as a group. The closest he comes to a spiel is when he describes the Angels as "the world's largest neighbourhood watch" to me during my six-minute slot.
He looks at my application — my real name and address, a fake telephone number and job — under his Yankees cap while he chats on the phone.
I tell him I moved here from New York.
"They say Toronto is nowhere near New York, but look at Boxing Day," Lou says, referring to the Yonge Street shooting that left high school student Jane
Creba dead. "Toronto isn't New York. Unfortunately, it's worse." He hangs up the phone and holsters it back to his hip.
"Have you ever had to defend yourself?" he asks.
"In sixth grade, a kid named Kenny Boho told me I had killed Christ," I say. "I defended myself, but it was only because I had no other choice."
Lou nods. He says he originally wanted to bring the Angels to Toronto in response to synagogues and Jewish cemeteries being defaced.
"How would you feel about becoming a patrol leader?" he asks me.
A skinny Jewish 32-year-old newspaper reporter, how would I feel about becoming a patrol leader?
Terrified for the patrol, I guess.
253 I survive my interview, as I believe most do, and Lou's mother checks my references — my brother-in-law and my fiance. I also have to produce a letter from the Toronto Police Service that says I've never been convicted of a felony. This, I gather later from Lou, dissuades more applicants than his questioning.
By the middle of April, I am officially an Angel in training, which will entail 16 hours of CPR training and a handful of kung-fu classes at Twin Dragon, where
I gradually get to know my fellow recruits. But I won't see Lou or Stephen
Paquette, a.k.a. Little Bear, for another two months.
Some of the volunteers seem to have arrived at the Guardian Angels much like how members of Alcoholics Anonymous arrive at a church — the
Guardian Angels is a rung on their way back up. Their belief and zeal are matched by their outward appearance of having lived through hard times.
When I meet Big Daddy, he's grunting "broken jaw, broken jaw" each time his right hand hits the punching bag. Both of his forearms are embroidered with tattooed flames. TNT's ink jobs read "Fear No Man" and "Death before
Dishonour." J-Guy, a UPS man, carries a Bible and complains that he is not being given a chance to lead.
254 There's Rainbow, who does home health care, and Moondog, who owns a record store in the Annex. Captain Hook operates a tow truck. Diamond, a member of the 1992 patrol that was kicked out of Parkdale, giggles as her push-ups become an opportunity to lie on the ground.
We've chosen our code names ourselves. I pick Boho, I tell Lou, because it reminds me of what I'm fighting for.
I'm not sure about the team I have supporting me. I feel like I might want protection from some of those who have signed on to protect. Others I'm not sure are up to the job of protecting.
I meet Rose in early June, at a recruitment drive we've been asked to staff at the Parliament Street Public Library, a few blocks from my house.
She and another recruit exchange their stories as we spread out the folding chairs.
"My boyfriend used to drag me by my hair through our apartment, with the door open for the whole building to see," the other woman says as we arrange the library's second floor meeting room.
255 Rose can relate. "I don't want to come up missing," she says. "I have a stalker, and in case I come up missing, I thought I'd better notify the police. This way someone would notice I was gone."
But the police haven't responded to her report, and her stalker, a crack dealer
and addict, won't leave her alone. He has tormented her for months, the 43-
year-old massage therapist says — loitering in front of her building, following
her, waiting at the bus station for her to return home late at night from work.
Eventually he was arrested, but released quickly, and returned to the Bay and
Dundas area, where she says his job is to lure people from the bus station to
the crack houses in her neighbourhood.
Rose has a resigned but persistent smile. She picked her name for the colour
of her hair. She wears her pants up high and is constantly adjusting the slope
of my beret.
We're moments from starting our meeting, which Lou promoted in an interview
on CFRB.
"They're going to be here soon," he says. It's the first time I've seen him since
my interview. It's hard to say whether he's more excited by the prospect of
fresh recruits or more media exposure.
256 Not counting the journalists, six people have turned out tonight. Two will leave laughing halfway through the session.
Rose and I changed into our berets before the meeting, behind the library.
This is our first time in the Angels uniform. I feel like a target. But these are only loaners — after a brief photo-op, we have to give them back to Lou.
"Are you the pizza guy?" a woman asks when we walk through the library's front door.
"No, we're the Guardian Angels!" Lou responds. "We're helping the
neighbourhood take back the streets!"
"Oh," the woman says. "I thought you were delivering food."
By the beginning of July, we've been training for a month and a half. We've
practised flying kicks, attempted push-ups on our knuckles, punched each other in the kickboxing ring, and learned how to gouge an eye out, but what we haven't really learned is the Angels doctrine. We don't get to powwow with
Lou or Little Bear.
There's one last step before graduation. Apart from one recruit who is kicked
out because he "just wanted to go out there and kill someone," everyone is enrolled in "basic training" at a Legion hall in South Etobicoke with Edd
Scorpio, director of training and personnel for Canada's Guardian Angels.
257 "The last training," he declares, "before all hell breaks loose."
Scorpio wears a skull bandana over his long dreadlocks when he's not wearing his red beret. He's worked K-9 and in night clubs, and had two fingers reattached to his hand. Like Little Bear, he was a member of the original 1982
Angels.
The instructions come hard and fast.
"Don't put the boots to someone, at least try not to."
"Be nice, until it's time not to be nice" — a quote from the late-1980s action movie Road House. "I'll let you know when that is."
The rules, according to Scorpio, are as follows: We have the same rights as security guards, but can't carry weapons or handcuffs. We must arrive for patrol in our street clothes. As a group, we don the "colours": red beret and jacket, T-shirt, black pants and shoes. Once in our colours, we go nowhere, not even a Tim Horton's bathroom, alone. Before every patrol, we are frisked.
We carry plastic gloves, a First Aid kit, notebooks, water, pamphlets, cell phones and watches with odometers, mostly dangling from our belts.
"When someone pulls a gun, don't everyone approach him, let that person talk to him," he says, and teaches us the two-by-two formations and hand signs —
258 a fist means stop, bouncing palm means slow down, arms outstretched signals us to fan out.
Our initial patrols will span east from Yonge Street to Parliament, north from
Dundas to Bloor. "Crackville," Scorpio says. "A neighbourhood I unfortunately know a little too well."
"We'll inevitably do Jane-Finch, but it's too volatile now," he adds. "I don't want to outfit everybody in Kevlar. We don't even have the budget for lunch."
Scorpio talks for about four hours about everything from face-down take downs to expecting beer bottles hurled down at us from Regent Park roofs. He then leads us on a practice patrol through a small south Etobicoke park. Along the way, he helpfully decodes Anarchy signs and tags for Nirvana under a bridge.
I don't feel very reassured. I believe there's a real chance that someone, either one of us or a resident or a drug dealer or a cop, might really get hurt.
"After surviving this, you'll be prepared for anything on the streets," Lou says after the final session.
"I wouldn't go that far," counters Little Bear.
259 Next week: It's graduation day for the Angels in training — and time to begin patrolling the streets. Appendix B: News Headline Analysis
GLOBE AND MAIL HEADLINES Date Headline and Caption Category 30-Mar-05 Schulich to McGuinty: Spend boldly or begone other issue Crime and 28-Apr-05 Jane-Finch crime plunging, expert says Violence A brand new way; The United Way is no longer just about handouts. Now it's lending a hand to extend social-service networks beyond downtown to the increasingly poor inner suburbs Other Next on God's agenda: smog; A prayer group at City Hall calls for divine intervention in urban issues — from clean 11-Jun-05 air and crime to budget talks Finders, keepers? Not in T.O. In a completely unscientific study, JAN WONG tests honesty in our city and discovers 18-Jun-05 a few surprises Youth, Teens, 30-Jun-05 Funds to help teens get jobs Jobs 29-Jul-05 DANCE - Dusk Dances/Driftwood Park Culture 5-Aug-05 DANCE - Dusk Dances/Driftwood Park Culture Crime and 6-Aug-05 When home is where the guns are Violence Crime and 10-Aug-05 'Anybody can have a gun' in northwest Toronto Violence Malvern's 'diamonds in the rough' graduate - Centennial's community-backed program produces 140 success 18-Aug-05 stories other LIC Crime and 22-Aug-05 Youth shot in stomach outside Jane-Finch Mall Violence Peaceful night raises hope on mean streets - Top officer 23-Aug-05 patrols overnight amid cautious optimism on gun violence 2-Sep-05 Life on the streets awaits police graduates Rooting out the causes of crime - Ontario's Chief Justice Crme and 12-Sep-05 urges sustained effort to end shootings Violence
261 GLOBE AND MAIL HEADLINES Date Headline and Caption Category Police round up dozens in latest gang crackdown - Ardwick Blood Crew declared dismantled as more than Crime and 16-Sep-05 1,000 charges laid in raids Violence Miller calls on Ottawa to address urban crime - He'll ask Prime Minister today for funding, mayor says at meeting Crime and 22-Sep-05 on violence in cities Violence Bay Street gives young people a rare chance - Law firm hires non-legal interns in program to help individuals from Youth, Jobs, 25-Oct-05 'vulnerable' communities Help Crime and 10-Nov-05 Website that sold firearms shut down by police Violence Gun violence centres on 31 Division - Violent area is Crime and 10-Nov-05 place police want to work Violence Crime and Martin heralds anti-violence policy - Proposed measures Violence, IO-Nov-05 to include longer minimum sentences for gun crimes Policy Despair and frustration at Jane-Finch - Area could explode in violence unless root causes tackled, Crime and 11-Nov-05 community warns Violence Could it happen here? As riots rage across France, troubling parallels emerge among children of Canada's 12-Nov-05 visible-minority immigrants. Crime and 15-Nov-05 Man undergoes surgery after being hit by gunfire Violence 16-Nov-05 Girl's abuse case stirs racial tension in court 26-Nov-05 Funeral shooting becomes a study in fearful silence Community; 28-Nov-05 Mural unveiled in Jane-Finch area Mural Crime and Toronto shuts youth drop-in centres in gun-plagued Violence; 30-Nov-05 neighbourhood Youth Crime and Liberals plan new gun rules - Martin set to promise tighter Viomence; 8-Dec-05 controls on handguns in bid to fight urban crimE Policy 'Righteous anger' drives activist - Family turns focus to 8-Dec-05 hostage's fight for peace Crime and 9-Dec-05 The real challenge in eliminating handguns Violence 262 GLOBE AND MAIL HEADLINES Date Headline and Caption Category Crime and 9-Dec-05 Collectors will bear brunt of Martin's handgun ban Violence Crime and 9-Dec-05 Will Liberal gun plan really help? Violence 13-Dec-05 He could live anywhere, but Jane-Finch is home Community How to build a nation builder - As The Globe and Mail sifts 17-Dec-05 nominations to select its Nation Builder of 2005, historian GTA population centre holds - While city avoids 'hollowing 22-Dec-05 out' of core, growth, power shifting to nearby regions Toronto issues 26-Dec-05 Martin's proposed gun ban propels sales rise Toronto tragedy sparks federal outcry - Leaders talk tough 28-Dec-05 on gun violence Forensic tests key to origin of fatal bullet - Teenager slain in the Yonge Street shooting has been identified as Jane Crime and 29-Dec-05 Creba Violence Slain teenager veered blithely into crossfire - Dead victim in Yonge Street shootings has been identified as Jane Crime and 29-Dec-05 Creba Violence Key to carnage sought in single bullet - Toronto police Crime and 30-Dec-05 seize shell that killed teen Violence Did not pull the trigger, 20-year-old says - In interview, Crime and 31-Dec-05 prisoner offers no explanation Violence 'Stop the soft talk on drugs,' pastor says - Drop any plans Crime and 12-Jan-06 to decriminalize pot, religious leaders tell candidates Violence 14-Jan-06 He's ready to fight for teenagers in trouble Youth, Teens Students get lesson about perils of life on the hustle - 17-Jan-06 Former gang member tells cautionary tale Students, Community, 24-Jan-06 Jane-Finch area goes to incumbent, despite tough fight Election 4-Feb-06 MATCH Yvette Alice Meder and Robert Stephen Keenan demons magic part of strategy for at-risk youth - With rousing speech, football celebrity kicks off anti-guns and 13-Feb-06 gangs initiative At-risk youth A rediscovery of heritage at Jane-Finch - Celebration to focus on pre-slavery Africa, accomplishments of black Community, 18-Feb-06 Canadians Heritage Crime and 18-Feb-06 Making sure the police hear you Violence 263 GLOBE AND MAIL HEADLINES Date Headline and Caption Category Gears of justice worry parents of 16 black teens facing Crime and 22-Feb-06 charges Violence The next big culture vulture destination: the 'burbs. But 18-Mar-06 will urbanites head to York U? 23-Mar-06 Reality of Jane-Finch pays visit to forum Sudden spate of shootings an aberration, police say. City rocked by fears of more gun violence after two people are Crime and 29-Mar-06 killed, four injured Violence Crime and 22-Apr-06 On the front lines in a fight for Jane-Finch Violence 24-Apr-06 Bringing a little heaven to Jane-Finch At the head of the class in Jane-Finch - Teacher and mother works after school to make a difference in 2-May-06 children's lives Singer hopes her Bubble won't burst - A former nurse and single mother who sings under the name J. Ro hopes a 8-May-06 reggae song will bring her fame Social housing needs pitted against desire for programs - Social Proposal to turn an abandoned lot into home for single Housing, 11-May-06 mothers criticized Program A show of community, not force - The manager of a housing unit near Jane-Finch says the area does not need a 'Rambo approach' to safety. The manager of a housing unit near Jane-Finch says the area does not 15-May-06 need a 'Rambo approach' to safety Changing the face of justice - New program aims to help 17-May-06 black youth navigate the system Program Low on maintenance funds, Toronto Community Housing holds a competition. Tenant gets creative to secure 20-May-06 $225,000 for repairs to community Social Housing Walkabout is fair play - Exploring the city by walking the walk, John Bentley Mays discovers, can be a magical 20-May-06 experience other issue The loan rangers; Seeking greener pastures. Canada's banks gave a cold shoulder to the poor and much of the Poor, Poverty, 26-May-06 working population. Now Banks
264 GLOBE AND MAIL HEADLINES Date Headline and Caption Category If trees fall in Jane-Finch, who makes a sound? Residents say they lack clout to fight crews that leave their lawns 27-May-06 barren Community Gagging from the smell of garbage. Stench cuts short an after-school program in building where mice, cockroaches 31-May-06 roam Program Residents heartsick over fate of hospital. Closing facility 3-Jun-06 would devastate area, some say Community 15-Jun-06 A defiant cry to 'close the roach motel' Housing 23-Jun-06 Taking it to the parks One neighbourhood, three schools, and a world of 23-Jun-06 difference for students Students The Blob that ate Jane-Finch - Armed only with video cameras, two film geeks are fighting aliens and zombies 1-Jul-06 in their 'hood this summer PEACH study program begins to bear fruit. Jane-Finch agency offers troubled teens academic support and much 3-Jul-06 more Youth, Teens Toronto 17-Jul-06 Toronto service agencies face funding 'crisis' issues; funding Troubled streets; A violent death in Flemingdon Park puts 22-Jul-06 the spotlight on a tense community Other LIC Welfare mothers given chance to break the cycle; Participants in new program get free daycare for their Welfare, Single 24-Jul-06 children, help with education and... Moms Where clothes don't always make the man; Thug-style Crime and attire a fashion statement for many good, law-abiding Violence; 27-Jul-06 youth Fashion
265 TORONTO STAR HEADLINES DATE HEADLINE & CAPTION CATEGORY Councillors mark time awaiting $92M bailout - Provincial money desperately needed But Feb 16 2005 Queen's Park coy on delivery date Funding Chief celebrates relationship-building -Black community meeting brings tenure full circle Police/relationship Feb 26 2005 Years have eased tensions that once greeted... building Rapping against Jane-Finch's bum rap - A hip- Mar 28 2005 hop video draws both ire and success Culture Mar 21 2005 Probe welcomed in York land deal York University Mar 28 2005 Man hit three times in shooting CrimeA/iolence/Gun Life getting better in Jane-Finch. New report finds improvements in crime-ridden area But many locals still feel unsafe walking after dark. New report finds improvements in crime-ridden area But many locals still feel unsafe walking Apr 28 2005 after dark Two killed within 24 hours 'A good, respectable guy'. Man charged in landlord's stabbing May 6 2005 Second dies in fight between tenants CrimeA/iolence Did street beat turn this good cop bad? In 600- page manuscript, rogue officer blames police May 7 2005 force for his meltdown Police Family mourns devoted father - Kenrick May 16 Chapman stabbed to death 'He died with love in 2005 his heart' CrimeA/iolence May 23 2005 Events this week in the GTA Other Man 'forced' to help rob bank - Family faced May 23 threats, trial told Accused says fifth robber 2005 involved CrimeA/iolence May 23 2005 Justin Louis is fired up on Trump biopic Other June 30 2005 Youth get a payday of their own Youth crime/violence/race July 2 2005 Race-based data tells human tale statistics
266 TORONTO STAR HEADLINES DATE HEADLINE & CAPTION CATEGORY July 4 2005 High time to repair neglected districts low-income community July 14 City/school board partnershipsWhere city, 2005 schools join up CrimeA/iolence Drive-by shooting narrowly missed kids. Children aged 3 to 15 had just moved from July 21 attack site 2nd unidentified man wounded in 2005 west-end area Slain man lived life of crime; Father of two had July 22 many run-ins with law Three men sought in 2005 west-end shooting CrimeA/iolence Jane/Finch residents get their feet moving. Downtown dance fest goes to Driftwood Park Aug 1 2006 Performances reflect area's cultural mix Culture/Music/Dance Three charged in boy's shooting. 100 gun, assault and drug counts laid Four-year-old Aug 6 2005 recovering in hospital CrimeA/iolence Police boost presence to combat violence - Rash of shootings spurs task force Officers Aug 8 2005 patrol Jane-Finch area CrimeA/iolence Shots meet police patrols. New task force's officers witness gunplay up close 'Bold behaviour' by gang members: Superintendent. New task force's officers witness gunplay up Aug 11 close 'Bold behaviour' by gang members: 2005 Superintendent Ontario promises $37M to help hire 1,000 officers Will help fund mayor's promise of more Aug 12 officers. Guns and gangs a priority; McGuinty 2005 vows to add 1,000 officers Crime/Violence Aug 13 2005 Peel Region Police deny gunfire part of 'giant gang Aug 13 war'$37M criticized - Other factors involved: 2005 Officer But shootings clearly on rise CrimeA/iolence HEAR OUR PRAYER - Royson James, a Aug 14 Toronto Star journalist, has been covering city 2005 politics for 20 years. Crime/Violence
267 TORONTO STAR HEADLINES DATE HEADLINE & CAPTION CATEGORY Create jobs for youth to curb violence, Miller Aug 17 urges - Wants businesses to hire interns Too 2005 little and too late, critics say Crime/Youth CrimeA/iolence/Gun Aug 17 Police, politicians reject idea to fight gun 'crisis' 2005 - 'You can't just target black youth' At-risk youth chart new courses - Jump at Aug 18 summer training programs 'I never knew I could 2005 do this' Youth Aug 22 2005 Brief CrimeA/iolence Police arrest 10 in gun crimes - 12-year-old boy Aug 23 among charged in Toronto blitz Stepped-up war 2005 on street violence nets several guns CrimeA/iolence Guns for sale in city, but not to all - Street-wise deal only with peers Weapons cost $700 to Aug 30 $2,000. Street-wise deal only with peers 2005 Weapons cost $700 to $2,000 CrimeA/iolence/Gun Police chief wins approval - Councillors laud Aug 30 approach to crime Blair calls success rate 2005 'unacceptable' Police Veggies aren't all that grows; Land on Jane St. 'an escape' for west-end teens City-run - Urban Farm offers lessons about work and veggies Aug 31 Jane St. farm 'an escape' for youth Quiet 2005 lessons about work, crops Youth Judge issues call to action - Government, business urged to help fight violence McMurtry Sep 8 2005 points to poverty and 'lack of hope' Crime/Violence Sep 11 2005 Man dies in volley of bullets CrimeA/iolence/Gun Housing agency fights violence - Cameras Sep 14 upgraded, guards hired in wake of shootings. 2005 16 affected communities to share $9.3 million CrimeA/iolence Sep 15 Plaza shooting a setback for police - Fourth gun 2005 homicide after period of calm CrimeA/iolence/Gun Sep 15 2005 Factory worker shot dead on dinner run CrimeA/iolence
268 TORONTO STAR HEADLINES DATE HEADLINE & CAPTION CATEGORY Sep 16 Getting the weeds but not the roots - We must 2005 continue what raid began. Crime/Violence/Gang 1, 325 charges laid in gang raids; Rexdale gangs busted - 40 people face 1, 325 counts Sep 16 after early morning operation Police expect 2005 murder charges after further investigation Crime/Violence/Gang Project Flicker snuffs out gang, police believe - Sep 17 Leadership taken out, officer says. Relatives 2005 dispute gang connections. Crime/Violence City records 59th homicide of 05 - 41 gun killings this year surpass number in any other Sep 20 year. Latest victim part of triple fatal shooting 2005 dies yesterday. Crime/Violence/Gang Its time to 'take back our streets' - Toronto Sep 22 meeting on gun violence hears victims. Miller 2005 wants more federal cash for social programs Crime/Violence/Program Ex-officer out on bail until appeal - Brought Sep 22 heroin into half-way house, trial heard. Claims 2005 he was being framed because of tell-all' book Crime/Violence Sep 27 2005 Job program, no cure all, teens say Youth/Program Sep 28 School/Students/Fair 2005 Schools must treat all students fairly treatment Judge frees accused in 2002 murder - Says no evidence of role in shooting. Only eyewitness Oct 7 2005 deported this year. Crime/Violence Friends cheer as men freed - Judge rules against witness statement. Throws out murder Oct 7 2005 charges against Crime/Violence Witness afraid for her life - Police. Boyfriend shot and killed outside cab Deported before she Oct 8 2005 could testify Crime/Violence We know what we need. We live it. We attend the funerals. We deal with the dropouts and the children expelled from school'. Partnership of 22 groups seeking distinct program. Gun vioence and death behind controversial Oct 8 2005 initiative Crime/Violence
269 TORONTO STAR HEADLINES DATE HEADLINE & CAPTION CATEGORY A shooting saved a life Gyasi Ferdinand went Oct 8 2005 from selling crack to selling a crucial message CrimeA/iolence CrimeA/iolence/Strategy/ Oct 8 2005 A call for 'separateness' Program Homicide, jobless rate linked - Keeping youths active key to cutting violent crime. Report 18-24 Oct 14 2005 inceasingly victims and perpetrators CrimeA/iolence Real life in the projects - Russian immigrant, 22, films stories. Underground DVD hot seller CrimeA/iolence/Social Oct 15 2005 downtown Housing Oct 17 2005 Youth joblessness feeds gun violence CrimeA/iolence Oct 17 2005 Tough as nails life as a crackhead's wife CrimeA/iolence/Women Oct 18 2005 Mammoliti fights vending decision Politician Oct 19 2005 Politicians asked to try housing units Social Housing Oct 20 2005 Wealth influence often get their way Other Oct 22 2005 Ottawa may sue US gun makers CrimeA/iolence/Gun Oct 25 2005 Shootings CrimeA/iolence/Gun New trial ordered for convicted child killer - Jury not warned about evidence. Crown witness Oct 25 2005 called unworthy CrimeA/iolence Oct 25 2005 In the trenches at Jane-Finch CrimeA/iolence Caught in the Crossfire - Gunfire erupts amid Bloor St rush-hour traffic. Stray bullet hits Oct 25 2005 passing van, just missing driver. CrimeA/iolence Oct 25 2005 Artist muses on growing up in T.O. ghetto CrimeA/iolence Oct 26 2005 Suburban police to help gun squad LIC/ghetto Oct 28 2005 Accused takes stand to deny slaying rival CrimeA/iolence There are more good things about Jane-Finch Oct 30 2005 than bad' CrimeA/iolence Bankers add fear factor at kid's club - Days of caring work at St Alban's create haunted house Oct 31 2005 for little ghosts and goblins Christmas a welcome respite for patrol officer - Gifts would be delivered to needy kids. Nov 8 2005 Provided a break from crises sadness Charity / Funding/Police Nov 10 2005 PM offers $1.9M to battle crime CrimeA/iolence
270 TORONTO STAR HEADLINES DATE HEADLINE & CAPTION CATEGORY Nov 11 2005 Province to put health centres in 'at-risk' areas Crime/Violence A field of dreams for Pops - Jane-Finch Nov 13 residents transform a paved patch into a soccer Troubled Neighbourhood/ 2005 pitch sports Nov 15 2005 Man dies, brothers shot in afternoon of violence Crime/Violence Hardlessons - Amid conflicting accounts and emotional charges of racism surrounding the alleged sexual assault at Cardinal McGuigan, Nov 20 three Star reporters tried to get to know the 2005 unknowable world of high school students. Crime/Violence Nov 22 2005 Blacks playing role in fighting gang violence Crime/Violence Nov 24 2005 Trapped in a racial construct race Tenants to pick Lord of Slums - Housing Nov 25 minister, mayor in running. Campaign targets 2005 'deplorable' rentals low income housing Schools hand out tougher discipline - Nov 25 Suspension, expulsion rates take huge jump. 2005 Minister worried boards applying law differently. Youth/Schools Nov 25 Funds coming for more people - $37M 2005 earmarked for 1,000 officers across province Police Opening doors to serve high needs - Nov 30 Jamestown club draws eager youth. Girls 2005 'looking to make positive changes' reference to other LIC Board adds monitor to curb violence - New safety team for public schools. Measures will Dec 2 2005 cost up to $3.5 million Crime/Violence Money display led to slaying -1 suspect on bail on gun charges. Was high school basketball Dec 6 2005 star. Crime/Violence PM vows 'total handgun ban; Liberals to talk tough on issue of urban crime - Border measures also expected in campaign pledge to Dec 8 2005 be announced today Crime/Violence
271 TORONTO STAR HEADLINES DATE HEADLINE & CAPTION CATEGORY Miller backs Liberals 'total' gun ban - Exceptions all but closed off in plan. 1 million handguns Dec 9 2006 now in Canada Crime/Violence Dec 10 2006 The real election experts? Our bored voters Other Dec 10 2006 Give them a future Youth Arrests outrage trustees - Calls treatment of Dec 12 students 'unfair' unjust'. Board officials to meet 2005 tonight with black groups. Crime/Violence Dec 17 reference to other 2005 Fighting for Space community Giving creativity a stage - Saturday arts program teaches kids through songs, dance Dec 19 and theatre crafts. Project targets student frm 2005 'at-risk' Culture/Music/Dance Dec 20 2005 Humber River hospital to get a bigger home Crime/Violence One small victim's huge battle. Support for Dec 22 victims evaporated. 5-year-old's life changed 2005 forever. Drive-by shooting tears family apart. Crime/Violence Dec 26 2005 Mothers guards kids as shots fired, police say Crime/Violence Dec 28 2006 Slaying was gang related, police believe Crime/Violence Years later, still notorious - Yonge-Dundas remains troubled despite massive cleanup. Dec 29 Storied strip has gone from sex hotbed to site of 2005 shooting Crime/Violence Dec 29 2005 Public gunfire Crime/Violence Dec 25 2006 David Miller's initiative Program $10 to watch - Someone to watch a York U prof work to connect with the school's troubled Funding/Troubled Jan 1 2006 neighbouhood. Someone to watch neighbourhood Jan 4 2006 Summit seeks gun solution Crime/Violence Jan 7 2006 At risk needs skills not cops Crime/Violence/Rally
272 TORONTO STAR HEADLINES DATE HEADLINE & CAPTION CATEGORY Faiths target crime's roots - Leaders blame Jan 13 2006 rising violence on family breakdown CrimeA/iolence/Church Angels in Toronto - Controversial US street Jan 14 2006 patrol group wants to help fight crime in Toronto CrimeA/iolence Violence is a result of the sins of the church' - Toronto's black churches need 'resolve and will' CrimeA/iolence/Youth/Ch Jan 15 2006 to lead fight against youth violence urch Videos shine on tough street reality; Rappers create low budget buzz. Hip Hop debut or crime exhibit? DVDs a local 'mirror reflecting what's going on' But where there's violence, there's Jan 16 2006 controversy CrimeA/iolence/Music A place to rap your mind. At their purest hip-hip and rap speak about hardship, not about the pursuit of wealth - At their purest hip-hip and rap speak about hardship, not about the pursuit Culture/Music/ reference Jan 17 2006 of wealth to other LIC Jan 20 2006 Getting through to gang members Crime/Gang Jan 26 2006 City lowers it hiring age to 14 Youth/Jobs Jan 30 2006 Waiting in the wings Other 3 inner-city schools to get $1M each - Model Jan 31 2006 schools' to act as hubs for their community Schools/Funding/Help Why are some schools tougher on unruly kids - First look at Toronto's suspension rates find Apr 13 2006 wide disparity but reason for hope Schools/unruly kids Apr 14 2006 Finding poetry in adversity adversity/hardship Ethnic Being (more) neighbourly - Ethnic groups in this groups/multicultural/neigh Apr 16 2006 most multicultural city just don't mix enough bour Apr 172006 Why its important to stop and give flowers Other Apr 18 2006 When is a city not a city? City of Toronto issues Students learn anything is possible - Program works out of high risk areas. High school no Apr 19 2006 longer end of the road. High risk area/Program Apr 20 2006 Toronto students get ready to rumba Culture/Music/Dance Apr 22 2006 Awards laud social justice advocates social justice /award
273 TORONTO STAR HEADLINES DATE HEADLINE & CAPTION CATEGORY Story of a gun - How a cute 9mm pistol purchased by a frightened woman in Florida ended up in Lawrence Heights in the hands of a CrimeA/iolence/reference Apr 22 2006 killer to other LIC Nutrition program for Toronto youth are woefully Feb 3 2006 rare Program Special teams hit high-crime areas. Strategy's $5m cost came from province - 54 police on hand to respond quickly. TAVIS credited with Feb 8 2006 quiet start to 2006 CrimeA/iolence/Strategy Feb 9 2006 Helping steer youth away from crime Crime/Youth Police look into Dunn's boyfriend. Police going through his associations. Athlete injured in fatal Feb 10 2006 shooting. 'They were out to get him' CrimeA/iolence $30M for 'at-risk' youth - Province targets 13 Toronto neighbourhoods for new anti-violence Youth/Funding/Anti- Feb 13 2006 strategy violence strategy/Program Feb 16 2006 Pin-ball giving back to the community Funding/Aid/Help Feb 21 2006 The art science of helping kids boost self-image Youth/Kids/Self-image Mar 11 2006 All aboard for York U Program Mar 20 2006 How's business at the mall? Don't ask Business Mar 21 2006 Capturing a Harry Jerome moment Black Leader Business
Mar 22 2006 At Jane-Finch entrepeneurial spirit lives on May 2 2006 Working to survive and 'thrive' in 'Jungle' reference to other LIC A world of change in just one night - Bridging program gives women a second chance. University course celebrates its 25th anniversary. Bridging program gives women a May 11 second chance. University course celebrates its 2006 25th anniversary Court help for black youth - $600 000 funding May 17 from province provides mentors and social 2006 workers Youth/Funding/Help In court, hostility and defiance - Gang signals fly May 20 among fury and weeping. Women post surety Crime/Gang/Court 2006 for up to three sons System/Women
274 TORONTO STAR HEADLINES DATE HEADLINE & CAPTION CATEGORY Starting on the right note - Art of jazz kicks off May 22 with varied weekend program. Art of jazz kicks 2006 off with varied weekend program Culture/Aid/Help/Music May 29 2006 Social housing triggers unsocial fight Social Housing Jun4 2006 Hurt and wits galore on Toronto's mean streets CrimeA/iolence It's about doing the right thing could be their town. Homegrown TV movie sparks student Jun 10 2006 debate Other Hitting the high notes. It's turned a lot of lives around. Now its expanding its winning formula Aid/Help/reference to Jun 10 2006 to Jane-Finch and Malvern other LIC Jun 21 2006 Learning to open doors Other Pre-pre-school aims to help kids prepare for junior kindergarten - Some children start with disadvantage. Early help can bring big benefits Jun 27 2006 later School/Students/Aid/Help Students keeping it real - Landmark bullying program uses scenario that many teenagers Jul 6 2006 confront in school School/Students/Program City pays for stadium, but can't play - Soccer Sports/Government Jul 7 2006 facility allots residents only 14 free days funding Jul 10 2006 Daycare for poor should be priority Poor Celebs making tennis happen - Set to play Rogers Cup charity match. Proceeds going to Jul 13 2006 Jane-Finch kids Charity/Funding Government Policy/Funding/Aid/Poor
275 SHARE HEADLINES DATE HEADLINE CATEGORIES portrayal of Jane- Feb 3, 1988 TO magazine in hot water over Jane-Finch article Finch portrayal of Jane- Nov 2, 1988 Jane-Finch area "unfairly labelled" Finch enhance position of Striving to enhance position of Blacks (Jane Finch blacks, community Jun28, 1989 Concerned Citizens Organization) group New focus for group (Jane-Finch Concerned Jun21, 1990 Citizen's Organization) community group Feb 28, 1991 Blacks fight drug abuse (Jane-Finch area, Toronto) blacks Trying to help the kids (Jane-Finch Concerned Dec 5, 1991 Citizens Organization) kids, youth, help Sep 24, 1992 Jane-Finch celebrates its hundred cultures culture JFCCO says concerns ignored (Jane-Finch Mar 11, 1993 Concerned Citizens Organization) community group Anti-Black racism continues (Jane-Finch Concerned Citizens Organization addresses community group, Dec 8, 1994 problem) anti-black racism Inside look at Jane-Finch (Crossroads: Jane & Sep 7, 1995 Finch community television program) community Students' scores impress Weston: lieutenant Oct 23, 1997 governor visits Jane-Finch's Brookview School youth, students Jane-Finch pastor gets YWCA award [Women of award, community May 27, 1999 Distinction Religion & Community Leadership] leader Group aims to protect neighbourhoods [Jane-Finch JuM, 1999 chapter of Coalition Against Neighbourhoodism] community group Jane Finch youth event draws large crowd [Annual Sep 13,2001 Youth Mosaic] youth, culture Jul 11, 2002 Federal funds for Jane-Finch funding, government Aug 29, 2002 Jane-Finch youth turn to golf youth Oct 31, 2002 Jane-Finch Mall unveils new look mall, business Jane Finch Mall hosts anti-racism celebration [International Day for the Elimination of Racial Mar 27, 2003 Discrimination] anti-racism Apr 1,2004 A dream come true dreams, achievement Jane-Finch students receive police-community youth, students, Jul 15,2004 bursaries funding Oct 7, 2004 Sewing program knits community program May 5, 2005 Crime down in Jane-Finch area - study crime Aug 11,2006 Dusk Dance explores rhythms in Jane-Finch culture Aug 3, 2006 Jane-Finch students honoured youth, student, award 276 Appendix C: Frame Analysis
Article 1: Council Support for Jane-Finch weakens - The Toronto Star, April 11,1989 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME IDENTIFICATION (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCES) Other communities Jane -Finch is not Parasitism frame - parasitic have similar needs deserving of all these community; constantly handouts getting government handouts The use of other communities may also suggest that even those communities that are not low-income have needs too - from the Councillors' perspectives
Expects the centre to The community is taking Parasitism frame- parasitic cost between $6 and $8 too much taxpayers' community; constantly million. But other money when compared getting government councilors say the price to other communities handouts and taxpayers tag could reach $20 dollars million ...if million of dollars are spent in Jane-Finch, other areas of North York will suffer. A community centre is The community cannot Pathological frame - these not going to solve the be saved or helped no people are criminally problems of drugs, matter what depraved break-ins and murders It is just for playing Basketball is all they do Stereotyping - blacks are basketball only capable of athleticism or sports so why invest or they are lazy; all they do is play games
277 Article 1: Council Support for Jane-Finch weakens - The Toronto Star, April 11,1989 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME IDENTIFICATION (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCES) Metro police have Police is an authority Criminal Depravity - identified it as a high- figure and credible Crime is high, not average; crime area source people in this community are criminals Metro police have Police is an authority Familial Structure identified it ....home to a figure and credible Breakdown frame - large percentage of source suggestion these people are Metro's single-parent incapable of maintaining families traditional families and thus the breakdown of values The super resource Presenting the program Governmental Program centre complete with as salvation (new lease frame - the government library, indoor swimming on life) steps in to do something to pool, meeting rooms, save the community; often gymnasium and times, these programs are multipurpose rooms tokens or ineffective and not would represent a new really identifying the source lease on life for of the problem thousands of our residents...
... it is so desperately needed What do they want for The kids of other Unruly kids frame - the the kids to play in the neighborhoods do not suggestion is without the malls and get into get into trouble only community centre existing trouble these ones; breakdown now, the kids are playing in in family structure the malls and getting into trouble possibly unlike the kids from other communities; this is also related to the family breakdown frame.
278 Article 2: Media blamed for Poor Image of Jane-Finch area - The Toronto Star, April 25,1989 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCES) IDENTIFICATION Area under microscope Possibly discrimination Discrimination / Bias because of who we are Frame - race, poor, etc Anything that happens We are being made Discrimination / Bias anywhere near the scapegoats Frame intersection is pinned on the community Li Preti introduced a Government Help motion at council asking the city to match every dollar ...to be used in a legal fight with any media that slanders or libels the community Low crime rate These are lies about us Media distortion or (heading) ...Li Preti -we are not criminal nor Media lies frame asked reporters not to drug infested paint the area as either crime-ridden and drug- infested because it is simply not true Li Preti says while the We have our problems Single Mother /Family community has high associated with income breakdown frame unemployment, high but we are not depraved density development Low income community and a large number of frame - high single mothers unemployment, high density Metro statistics ... show 31 division, which We are not criminals includes Jane-Finch had frame among the lowest number of criminal offences for the period.
279 Article 2: Media blamed for Poor Image of Jane-Finch area - The Toronto Star, April 25, 1989 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCES) IDENTIFICATION Launched a door-to- Community fights back door campaign to raise frame money and be ready to press slander and libel lawsuits against any unfair media reporting of the area....it's the community's way of fighting back
Article 3: An Odd Use for a Bad Neighbourhood Image - The Toronto Star, May 12,1989 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCE) IDENTIFICATION Odd use for a bad Exploitative; the Parasitism frame - neighbourhood image community has a seeking tax reduction for negative image because being 'bad' It should be noted ... it is a negative, bad use the negative image community and now we of Jane-Finch to get should consider this taxes lowered for constituents Li Preti's motion How dare / can this be Media scapegoating ...begins, Whereas a said of the media and Waste of time and section of the city of how fickle to put it government resources North York continues to forward in a motion Scam politician be harassed by irresponsible media coverage;"...
280 Article 3: An Odd Use for a Bad Neighbourhood Image - The Toronto Star, May 12, 1989 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCE) IDENTIFICATION It goes on ...to complain All Li Preti does is Media scapegoating that other media complain and seek to Media irresponsibility continue to make exploit frame general reference to this intersection rather than to specific locations where incidents may occur Scam politician Li Preti wants North York to withhold ads from publications that do not mend their ways He wants Metro Council Imagine that this is what Government Help frame to consider changing the he wants the Metro - that the government name of Jane-Finch to Council to consider. resources and time be something else Why should this be spent on this is made part of the sacrilegious and a waste When he was talking to government's agenda? the Ontario Municipal (related to parasitism Board last fall, Li Preti And not only that he has frame) attempted to make use been on this issue since of the negative image. last Fall wasting Homeowners on five taxpayers time streets in North York's Ward 3 had ...managed to convince an assessment review board to lower their taxes....Li Preti had helped some homeowners prepare for the hearing
281 Article 3: An Odd Use for a Bad Neighbourhood Image - The Toronto Star, May 12,1989 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCE) IDENTIFICATION The area bound by Finch Avenue on the It is documented that It- is- the- truth- the north, Oakdale Road on the area has drug- media- not- making- this the west, Jane Street on related problems and -up frame the east and Firgrove violence, which you Crescent on the south is admit is true then what known for drug related is all the fuss problems and about...the evidence is violence... (note the there - in fact, 20 pages journalist's ellipsis here). worth; after all, most of Documented evidence the stories mention from news clippings can Jane-Finch in the speak for themselves.... headline. The submission goes on for 20 pages quoting various newspaper stories. Most are about crime or social problems and all mention Jane - Finch in the headline
Li Preti is in Italy at the Shady Politician with Waste of government moment... He explained nothing to do but take time and resources that the Jane-Finch business trips (this is a frame media image was just detail that did not have one of the reasons why to be added to the story) he thought taxes should Jane Finch Media image be reduced on Blaney trivial compared to the Crescent. The street has other problems where other problems efforts should be concentrated
282 Article 3: An Odd Use for a Bad Neighbourhood Image - The Toronto Star, May 12, 1989 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCE) IDENTIFICATION The media arguments Confirmation that Li Shady government were really a test case. Preti is a shady official and platform He felt that people in the politician. This had frame (sub-frame of area he described were nothing to do with media government help frame) having trouble selling responsibility, it was heir houses for what really a about real they were worth estate and getting higher prices for homes "The image that has Admittance they have a Confirmation of been portrayed in the problem; the community problematic (drug- media is that of an area indeed has these infested, crime-prone) that is full of problems, problems. Jane - Finch community difficulties, crimes and a Li Preti contradicts frame number of other himself by saying negative factors," Li everytime Jane-Finch is Preti said. mentioned it is because of two problem areas. In "I have never denied saying this he confirms that we have problems it is not really media but I don't think they are irresponsibility at severe than other area all...the media in in Metro" essence everytime is portraying these two Every time Jane - Finch areas is mentioned (its) particularly because of two problem areas ..."
I asked him what the two problem areas were and he said that, as a councilor, he did not "want to point the finger at some pockets in the community. Its not fair."
283 Article 3: An Odd Use for a Bad Neighbourhood Image - The Toronto Star, May 12,1989 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCE) IDENTIFICATION I asked if the community The journalist's Pathological Frame - people would identify statement "I hope so these people cannot these problem areas too" suggests that Jane- restrain themselves Wednesday night and Li Finch people cannot be Preti said he hoped restrained people would be "restrained." I hope so too. The municipal board It is good and right that Waste of government ...did not accept Li the Municipal Board resources and time Preti's arguments that denied Li Preti... frame taxes on Blaney should be reduced because of Jane-Finch's bad image. On Wednesday night people will, I hope, ask Li Preti some tough questions about what he was doing at the municipal board
Article 4: Taking aim at *Jane-Finch : Young kids are using grant money and mentors to learn ab out filmmaking, and more broadly life's plentiful possibilities. Recurring motif: gang shootouts and innocent victim - The Toronto Star, July 23, 20I0 6 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCE) IDENTIFICATION Taking aim at Jane- 'taking aim' conjures up Gun association Finch (and plays upon) the Gun and Gang frame image of the gun Young kids are using Always getting Parasitism frame grant money and handouts; the word mentors 'using' suggests exploitation
284 Article 4: Taking aim at.Jane-Finch : Young kids are using grant money and mentors to learn ab out filmmaking, and more broadly life's plentiful possibilities. Recurring motif: gang shootouts and innocent victim - The Toronto Star, July 23, 2G10 6 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCE) IDENTIFICATION Recurring motif: gang 'recurring motif Gun and Gang frame shootouts and innocent suggests gangs and victims shootouts and innocent victims are a constant in the life of Jane -Finch held the semi-automatic Morbid fascination with Pathology frame pistol in his right hand, guns amongst young then twirled it on his black youth -'amused middle finger. He fiddled himself by popping the with the safety, turning it ammunition clip in and on and off with practised out, in and out" ease, then amused himself by popping the "Twirled it on his middle ammunition clip in and finger"; "with practised out, in and out, before ease" - young blacks passing the gun to Glen are practiced in the use Gaetan of gun fingering the barrel with Morbid fascination with Pathology frame interest... guns amongst young black youth "But people still use those to commit crimes, you know."
"Really?" Gaetan replied, grinning in happy fascination as he stared into the barrel. "Sick!"
285 Article 4: Taking aim at Jane-Finch: Young kids are using grant money and mentors to learn about filmmaking, and more1 broadly life's plentiful possibilities. Recurring motif: gang shootouts and innocent victim - The Toronto Star, July 23, 2C10 6 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCE) IDENTIFICATION Like it or not, a young Story is set in Jane Gun, Gang Violence teenager's interest in Finch, reader is not Frame - young, firearms is something of going to think all young teenagers a given now teenagers generally have an 'interest in firearms' but most likely Jane Finch teenagers The fascination in this Confirmation from Gun, Gang Violence squat, grey block of journalist that there is a Frame social housing not far fascination with guns from the crime and (though the short film is violence-plagued Jane- really of a different sort) Finch corridor, however, is of a different sort. And Sutherland, 36,... is Violence Frame the mentor for their What a debut film Older black men as debut film experience experience this is mentoring young men ....why would kids be into gun and crime mentored through and with this kind of experience? Sutherland's wife, "secured the necessary Parasitism filmmaker Jennifer grants" Government handouts Holness, is the project's and grants producer. She secured the necessary grants from the Ontario Arts Council and non-profit Innoversity Creativity Summit,
286 Article 4: Taking aim at Jane-Finch: Young kids are using grant money and mentors to learn about filmmaking, and more broadly life's plentiful possibilities. Recurring motif: gang shootouts and innocent victim - The Toronto Star, July 23, 2006 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCE) IDENTIFICATION Everyone involved, ... Stigmatizing the agreed there's more at community of Jane- stake than filmmaking Finch - 'more at stake' instruction. and 'for communities like that' "Most people don't understand the importance of these things for communities like that," Holness said. Sutherland .... From the Seems sarcastic Violence Frame start, he had a notion to 'show...students the Older black men as bring in filmmakers of possibilities' "show-not mentoring young men colour to show - not tell - tell' how to hold and into gun and crime students the shoot the replica of a possibilities. gun that can be used in crime
287 Article 4: Taking aim at Jane-Finch: Young kids are using grant money and mentors to learn about filmmaking, and more broadly life's plentiful possibilities. Recurring motif: gang shootouts and innocent victim - The Toronto Star, July 23, 2006 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCE) IDENTIFICATION His film, he said, is Characterizing Jane- Gun, Gang and Violence "about gun violence, and Finch as gun-prone and Frame making bad choices." violence - "no shortage Pathology Frame And there is no shortage of eiher" Social Housing of either in the Characterizing Jane - Immigrant, Poor Frame neighbourhood he and Finch as an ummigrant his classmates call community - brimming Cause of Moral Panic home. Gang activity in with impoverished new Frame (wholistically a Jane-Finch is a simple immigrants community to be fact of life. Large dreaded) housing projects Breeding ground for brimming with drug trafficking and impoverished new violence immigrants have been a breeding ground for drug trafficking and the violence that goes with it.
288 Article 4: Taking aim at Jane-Finch: Young kids are using grant money and mentors to learn about filmmaking, and more broadly life's plentiful possibilities. Recurring motif: gang shootouts and innocent victim - The Toronto Star, July 23, 2006 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCE) IDENTIFICATION When we read his script, The other films are Gun, Gang, Violence we were blown away," equally telling, -the frame Sutherland said. "Here's statement that the films a kid who wants to make written by these young a piece that says ones are 'equally telling' something: Stop the holds implications about Violence. And he's 14 the community the kids years old." have grown up in...these films, it is The other films are implied, speak to the equally telling. Caine type of community described one on peer pressure, where a boy, goaded by friends, robs a convenience store at The statement "This is gunpoint. He comes out not fiction," Caine said. firing, inadvertently "This is their daily life- is hitting his mother. In confirmation that another, a young girl - a violence is part of the strong student and good daily life in Jane-Finch kid - gets involved with a gang member. Sitting in the car waiting for him to do a shooting, she gets caught in the crossfire.
"This is not fiction," Caine said. "This is their daily life. Movies tend to glamorize this violent gang life, but there's no glamour to it, and these kids know it."
289 Article 4: Taking aim at Jane-Finch: Young kids are using grant money and mentors to learn about filmmaking, and more broadly life's plentiful possibilities. Recurring motif: gang shootouts and innocent victim - The Toronto Star, July 23, 2006 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCE) IDENTIFICATION (One film that saw no Jamaicans are to be glamour in gang life was blamed for the crime Sutherland's and that Jamaica the Doomstown, which aired country is as crime- on CTV last month. It infested addressed the short life spans occasioned by drugs and gangs. Sutherland, who is of Jamaican descent and grew up in Scarborough, was unflinching in portraying Caribbean posses as culprits.)
On the set, Melville and Romario Ashley, 16, both of whom came to Canada from Jamaica as young children, prepared for the scene
290 Article 4: Taking aim at Jane-Finch: Young kids are using grant money and mentors to learn about filmmaking, and more broadly life's plentiful possibilities. Recurring motif: gang shootouts and innocent victim - The Toronto Star, July 23, 2G0 6 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCE) IDENTIFICATION The boys wandered outside the backyard fence, gun tucked in Ashley's pants. Melville called "action" and the pair strode into the yard towards the door with purpose.
"As soon as the door opens, we start shooting," Ashley told a stern-faced Melville, as they approached. "Then we run, all right?" Melville nodded, silent.
Ashley knocked on the door, unexpectedly opened by their rival gang member's aunt (played by Melville's mother Melissa). But the script has Ashley open fire without looking first, and an innocent elder gets gunned down.
"Oh, my God," Ashley said, staring at her splayed form on the threshold, before the two turned and ran out the gate. Melville yelled "cut." They would run the scene again, from different angles, no less 291 than a dozen times.
The climactic scene has the boys running from the scene of the crime. Article 4: Taking aim at Jane-Finch: Young kids are using grant money and mentors to learn about filmmaking, and more broadly life's plentiful possibilities. Recurring motif: gang shootouts and innocent victim - The Toronto Star, July 23, 2006 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCE) IDENTIFICATION Afterwards, Ashley Jamaicans are to be Gun, Gangs and the paused to reflect. ..."My blamed for the crime involvement of mom brought me to and that Jamaica the Jamaicans Canada from Jamaica country is as crime- when 1 was 8 to get infested away from all that. If you get involved with gangs, you're not just hurting yourself, you're hurting the people you care about."
292 Article 5: Welfare mothers given chance to break the cycle; Participants in new program get free daycare for their children, help with education and career planning, Globe and Mail, July 24, 2006 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCES) IDENTIFICATION Participants in new Free daycare - another Program frame program get free handout daycare for their children, help with Paratisism frame education and career planning A week before, Ms. Lack of family planning Promiscuous black Daley hadn't even woman frame known she was Constantly pregnant pregnant. She had given Breakdown of the black birth to her first child family frame only a year earlier, in Teenage pregnancies 2003, and her stomach frame had showed no sign of swelling And while she spent day Instability in black Violence frame and night at the hospital, families Ms. Daley heard that her Breakdown of the black boyfriend was cheating Violence and abuse in family frame on her. They had a black families confrontation at the hospital, and someone overheard Ms. Daley's boyfriend threaten to hit her.
293 Article 5: Welfare mothers given chance to break the cycle; Participants in new program get free daycare for their children, help with education and career planning, Globe and Mail, July 24, 2006 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCES) IDENTIFICATION "1 want to keep my Welfare dependency promise. 1 don't want her frame to go through what 1 go through. 1 don't want her to grow up and say, 'Mummy, you've been on welfare for all the days of your life; 1 can do that too.' 1 want her to look on a different life, and see that mummy has a job." Ms. Daley, 23, is one of Welfare dependency nine women enrolled in frame a new program called Women Moving Forward, launched by the Jane Finch Community and Family Centre. The program is designed to help single mothers on welfare improve their education and find work.
294 Article 5: Welfare mothers given chance to break the cycle; Participants in new program get free daycare for their children, help with education and career planning, Globe and Mail, July 24, 2006 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCES) IDENTIFICATION Tonika Morgan is the Upbringing issues in the Program frame program director. She family says although it's easier Troubled neighbourhood to capture the public's Violence and dropouts frame imagination with result of the black home violence-prevention or family structure Breakdown of the black programs for troubled family frame neighbourhoods, most of the problems facing young people in these areas can be traced to their upbringing. "A lot of issues that come up in the newspaper, such as violence, school suspensions, dropouts, 1 think start in the home," Ms. Morgan said. "The issues that single moms face are the elephant in the room, but there are so many layers to it that people often ignore it."
295 Article 5: Welfare mothers given chance to break the cycle; Participants in new program get free daycare for their children, help with education and career planning, Globe and Mail, July 24, 2006 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCES) IDENTIFICATION According to Toronto Promiscuous Promiscuous black public health statistics, woman frame in the five years up to Uneducated that is why 2002 about 30 per cent they cannot find work Breakdown of the black of babies in the Jane- that pays family frame Finch area were born to mothers aged 15 to 19, Teenage pregnancies almost twice the city frame average for teen mothers.
In a neighbourhood where only 7 per cent of the population have a university degree, compared to the citywide average of 25 per cent, and where only 55 per cent have a high- school diploma, education is a major barrier to finding work that pays more than minimum wage. Article 5: Welfare mothers given chance to break the cycle; Participants in new program get free daycare for their childreni , help with education and career planning, Globe and Mail, July 24, 2001 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCES) IDENTIFICATION She was born in Family Breakdown Promiscuous black Jamaica in 1983. Her started in Jamaica woman frame mother had her first child at 18, and Ms. Teenage pregnancy is a Breakdown of the black Daley was the third of facet of the community family frame six children, not all of Teenage pregnancy them by the same 'cycle' started with Teenage pregnancies father. Ms. Daley's mother frame father left shortly after she was born. She and Fathers are absent her mother moved to Toronto's Jane- Lawrence area when she was nine, and she hasn't seen her father, who also lives in Toronto, since she was 11.... When she was 16, she says, her mother kicked her out of the house. She ended up at Covenant House, a shelter for homeless teens. "It was hell," she said. She lived in the shelter for six or seven months, sharing a room, having her things stolen and struggling to get by. Article 5: Welfare mothers given chance to break the cycle; Participants in new program get free daycare for their children, help with education and career planning, Globe and Mail, July 24, 2006 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCES) IDENTIFICATION Linda Loder, a 21-year- Family Breakdown Promiscuous black old mother of two, and woman frame Jameelah Henry, 26, Teenage pregnancy is a who has a four-year-old facet of the community Breakdown of the black daughter, are Ms. familial structure frame Daley's classmates at Fathers are absent Women Moving Teenage pregnancies Forward. frame
They, too, grew up in Program frame single-parent homes, born to young mothers, and are now single mothers themselves. They trade stories of Fathers are absent Welfare dependency their "babyfathers" and frame how difficult it is to get Women are liars them to contribute financially. They describe annoying welfare workers always asking questions about their babyfathers, and how pointless it is to reveal anything.
298 Article 5: Welfare mothers given chance to break the cycle; Participants in new program get free daycare for their childreni , help with education and career planning, Globe and Mail, July 24, 20Qi MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCES) IDENTIFICATION Another woman in the Untrustworthy, liars not program says: "I have a highlighted as a survival relationship with the mechanism Breakdown of the father of my child. Most familial structure frame of the time he sleeps at my apartment. But I cannot tell my welfare Welfare queen frame worker. I just say he's not in my life, because Scamming the system otherwise it's more of a frame hassle for me. They say I have to get support from him. It's hard enough. He doesn't want to give me $20. That's just not going to happen. And then I'm going to be penalized. So I keep my mouth shut. I just say he's not in my life and I don't know where he is."
299 Article 5: Welfare mothers given chance to break the cycle; Participants in new program get free daycare for their children, help with education and career planning, Globe and Mail, July 24, 2006 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCES) IDENTIFICATION Another woman in the Untrustworthy, liars not Welfare queen frame program says: "1 have a highlighted as a survival relationship with the mechanism Scamming the system father of my child. Most frame of the time he sleeps at my apartment. But 1 cannot tell my welfare worker. 1 just say he's not in my life, because otherwise it's more of a hassle for me. They say 1 have to get support from him. It's hard enough. He doesn't want to give me $20. That's just not going to happen. And then I'm going to be penalized. So 1 keep my mouth shut. 1 just say he's not in my life and 1 don't know where he is."
300 Article 5: Welfare mothers given chance to break the cycle; Participants in new program get free daycare for their children, help with education and career planning, Globe and Mail, July 24, 2006 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCES) IDENTIFICATION As a child, Ms. Loder grew up on welfare in a public-housing project. She was on welfare when she had her daughter at 17, and had a son two years later.
She doesn't want to see the cycle repeated with her own children
"I'm trying to get out of that system," Ms. Loder said. "I've got to break the cycle. It started with my mom and my dad, and now I've got to change it"
301 Article 6: Where clothes don't always make the man; thug-style attire a fashion statement for many law abiding youth, Globe and Mail, July 27, 2006 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCES) IDENTIFICATION Thug-style attire a Gun, Gang Violence fashion statement or Frame (or reification) many good, law-abiding youth They buy their panOts Jane-Finch youth glorify Gun, Gang Violence four sizes too large and gangster dressing or the Frame (or reification) wear their baseball caps style of gangsterism is loose with a flat brim. reified in Jane-Finch Their T-shirts go on forever, often billowing below the knee. This is how many of the young men of Jane-Finch present themselves to the world. Their dress and their Celebration of Gun, Gang Violence mannerisms give the gangsterhood by youth Frame (or reification) impression they are in community thugs. They know that, Troubled and Misguided and they celebrate it. Use of phrase 'dare Youth frame But they are not what stray from its code' they seem. The layers of suggests a gangster Youth reification of fabric that bunch at the code that if broken violence frame ankles or make round, carries tremendous adolescent shoulders consequences seem square are practically a uniform, and very few dare stray from its codes.
302 Article 6: Where clothes don't always make the man; thug-style attire a fashion statement for many law abiding youth, Globe and Mail, July 27, 2006 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCES) IDENTIFICATION A wholesaler from the Ridiculing the Crime and Violence United States, who was glorification and belittling Frame making a delivery to those who glorify this Foxxthis month, says style by showing its the baggy work-wear prison origin trend came out of the prisons, where inmates couldn't wear belts so they let their pants sag. They describe their style Showing that the Breakdown of Familial as gangsta, thug or mothers incredulously structure and values hood, although many of endorse these styles them still go shopping Pathology of black with their mothers. Most family are good, law-abiding citizens, but they're prepared to spend a lot to look dangerous. Justice (his street name) Immigrants being Gun, Gang Violence is the 15-year-old son of portrayed again as Frame (or reification) Ghanaian immigrants troublesome and with questionable ideals Troubled and Misguided Youth frame Use of 'street name' implicit reference to gangsterhood
303 Article 6: Where clothes don't always make the man; thug-style attire a fashion statement for many law abiding youth, Globe and Mail, July 27, 2006 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCES) IDENTIFICATION He owns 13 pairs of Showing the sneakers. About half are ridiculousness of it and Troubled and Misguided Nike, some are Reebok showing that the interest Youth frame and others are Adidas. of black youth lies in He owns four pairs of expensive sneakers Basketball-centric and Nike Air Force Ones in rather than something Sport-centric frame different colours. But his more substantial or prized possession is a mainstream pair of $180 Air Jordan Xllls in red and black, The sport stereotype is which he wears only on also referenced here special occasions, and rarely to play basketball.
He's working hard this Showing the priorities of Troubled and Misguided summer, pushing mops black youth in this Youth frame and paintbrushes in his community are job as a janitor's misplaced and assistant. He's trying to superficial save for a set of diamond grills, which are custom-moulded, jewel-encrusted plates worn over the teeth. He also wants a gold necklace spelling out his name, a gold ring and a belt buckle. In all, the jewellery will cost nearly $500.
304 Article 6: Where clothes don't always make the man; thug-style attire a fashion statement for many law abiding youth, Globe and Mail, July 27, 2006 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCES) IDENTIFICATION He and his friends call Use of word Gun, Gang Violence themselves Bloods, 'longstanding' suggests Frame (or reification) which stems from their entrenched Gang block's long-standing affiliation by black youth Troubled and Misguided affiliation with the street Youth frame gang. They dress mainly Use of phrase 'he and in black and red, and his friends' suggests tend to avoid blue. that most if not all youth are like Justice After looking him up and Gang warfare, affiliation Gun, Gang Violence down, they said, "What's and turf protection Frame (or reification) with the blue?" The young man smiled and Troubled and Misguided kept walking. He's a Youth frame Crip, they explained. But they didn't treat his presence as any great affront. Most members of the group carry either a red or black bandana in their back pocket, to signal affiliation with the Bloods. Dressing like a Priorities misplaced; Gun, Gang Violence dangerous gangster is money hungry Frame (or reification) expensive, and Justice spends a lot of time Troubled and Misguided thinking about how to Youth frame get more money to buy more things, but he won't turn to crime. He works.
305 Article 6: Where clothes don't always make the man; thug-style attire a fashion statement for many law abiding youth, Globe and Mail, July 27, 2006 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCES) IDENTIFICATION It also sells 'Stop Portrays a pathology or Gun, Gang Violence Snitching1 T-shirts, but questions the Frame (or reification) doesn't keep many in community that supports stock. The T-shirts, a store selling these which advocate not kinds of wares speaking to police, were the subject of controversy in Boston last year Other popular T-shirts Glorification of crime Gun, Gang Violence borrow from the logos of and drugs through Frame (or reification) famous corporations: wares sold in the Blockbuster becomes community 'Block Hustler,' Burger King becomes 'Murder King,' and then there's 'Ho Depot,' modelled after Home Depot. And there are shirts that feature the 'Snitch Motel,' where snitches check in but don't check out.
Mr. Soussan says his Glorification of crime Crime, Gun, Gang customers are attracted Violence Frame (or to the dangerous reification) lifestyle evoked by the clothes, even though most are law-abiding citizens.
306 Article 7: An Angel earns his wings, Globe and Mail, July 29, 2006 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCES) IDENTIFICATION When the Guardian Toronto streets so Moral Panic Frame Angels announced their dangerous we are in Crime and Violence return to Toronto, (sic) need of the vigilante Frame joined the group group, Guardian Angels undercover. In the first of a two-part series, he Use of "learns how to meets Canada One, gouge an eye out" Little Bear and Scorpio, suggests the streets are learns how to gouge an mean and dangerous eye out - and wonders whether he's prepared to hit the mean streets It's early April, and I've Which areas are Low income community come here for an Toronto's worst streets? pathology frame interview after There is reference to responding to the Jane-Finch and Regent Guardian Angels' call for Park later in the article volunteers to patrol Toronto's worst streets. Most of the potential Clean up the streets Cause of Moral Panic recruits regurgitate the suggests streets are Frame same "1 want to do my really 'dirty' Crime and violence part to clean up the Frame streets" line, which they seem to sincerely believe. A former constable with 33 division covers areas Low income community 33 Division turned home such as Jane-Finch pathology frame renovator, Lou quit his job to revive the Toronto Crime and Violence chapter. Frame "They say Toronto is Jane Creba's death Crime and Violence nowhere near New sparked outrage. She Frame York, but look at Boxing was an innocent who Day," Lou says, referring got shot in the crossfire Gangs to the Yonge Street of gang warfare affiliated shooting that left high with black youth. school student Jane 307 Article 7: An Angel earns his wings, Globe and Mail, July 29, 2006 MANIFEST FRAMES LATENT FRAMES FRAME (QUOTATIONS) (INFERENCES) IDENTIFICATION Creba dead. "Toronto Toronto's crime rates do isn't New York. not match New York Unfortunately, it's worse." Our initial patrols will Jane-Finch is the worse Low income community span east from Yonge of the lot - volunteers pathology frame Street to Parliament, have to be outfitted in north from Dundas to Kevlar Crime and Violence Bloor. "Crackville," Frame Scorpio says. "A neighbourhood 1 unfortunately know a little too well."
"We'll inevitably do Jane-Finch, but it's too volatile now," he adds. "1 don't want to outfit everybody in Kevlar. We don't even have the budget for lunch."
Regent Park, like Jane- Crime and Violence Scorpio talks for about Finch, is another low- Frame four hours about income neighbourhood Low income community everything from face pathology frame down take-downs to expecting beer bottles hurled down at us from Regent Park roofs.
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