University of Windsor Scholarship at UWindsor Electronic Theses and Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, and Major Papers 2012 The globe's representation of the Armenian genocide and Canada's acknowledgement Karen Ashford University of Windsor Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd Recommended Citation Ashford, Karen, "The globe's representation of the Armenian genocide and Canada's acknowledgement" (2012). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 8. https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/8 This online database contains the full-text of PhD dissertations and Masters’ theses of University of Windsor students from 1954 forward. These documents are made available for personal study and research purposes only, in accordance with the Canadian Copyright Act and the Creative Commons license—CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivative Works). 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THE GLOBE’S REPRESENTATION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AND CANADA’S ACKNOWLEDGEMENT by Karen Ashford A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies through the Department of Communication Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts at the University of Windsor Windsor, Ontario, Canada 2012 © 2012 Karen Ashford THE GLOBE’S REPRESENTATION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AND CANADA’S ACKNOWLEDGEMENT by Karen Ashford APPROVED BY: ______________________________________________ Dr. John Edward Deukmedjian, External Reader Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology ______________________________________________ Dr. Valerie Scatamburlo-D'Annibale, Departmental Reader Communication, Media, and Film ______________________________________________ Dr. James Winter, Advisor Communication, Media, and Film ______________________________________________ Dr. Vicky Paraschak, Chair of Defence Department of Kinesiology May 23, 2012 iii AUTHOR’S DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certify that I am the sole author of this thesis and that no part of this thesis has been published or submitted for publication. I certify that, to the best of my knowledge, my thesis does not infringe upon anyone’s copyright nor violate any proprietary rights and that any ideas, techniques, quotations, or any other material from the work of other people included in my thesis, published or otherwise, are fully acknowledged in accordance with the standard referencing practices. Furthermore, to the extent that I have included copyrighted material that surpasses the bounds of fair dealing within the meaning of the Canada Copyright Act, I certify that I have obtained a written permission from the copyright owner(s) to include such material(s) in my thesis and have included copies of such copyright clearances to my appendix. I declare that this is a true copy of my thesis, including any final revisions, as approved by my thesis committee and the Graduate Studies office, and that this thesis has not been submitted for a higher degree to any other University or Institution. iv ABSTRACT The Armenian genocide of 1915–1918 was the first of the 20th century, and yet many countries—including the perpetrator, Turkey—fail to acknowledge this systematic and intentional massacre of the Armenian people as genocide. My research aims to understand how the Canadian mainstream news media represented the victims during the 1915–1918 Armenian genocide, and to explore Canada’s recognition of that genocide between 2004 and 2006. Specifically, I look at how the events of the Armenian genocide are represented by the same agenda-setting media outlet (the Globe and Mail) in completely different ways at distinct points in time. In this case, the events of the genocide do not change, but changing political and economic relationships adversely affect the amount and quality of coverage. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my family: without you, this incredible journey would not have been possible. To the many good friends in my life who have supported me throughout this process, I thank you. To Pearl, through your stories and knowledge, I was able to understand first-hand the impact of genocide on an international level—the lingering effects on families, governments, countries, generations of survivors, and academics. To my thesis committee and academic advisors, your help and support has guided me in completing a thesis I am truly proud of. In particular, I would like to thank Dr. James Winter for spending countless hours reading, editing, and re-reading my thesis. Your hard work and expertise are much appreciated. To Dr. Valerie Scatamburlo- D'Annibale, your attention to detail and scholarship have undoubtedly made my thesis stronger. To Dr. John Deukmedjian, your extensive knowledge about the Armenian genocide has inspired me and strengthened my historical analysis. To Dr. Jyotika Virdi, your understanding and support guided me through the many hurdles of thesis writing. Thank you. And, to Sharron Wazny, your help and guidance are so very much appreciated. I strongly believe that it is our responsibility to bring truth to the grave injustices that continue to affect mankind. It is my hope that by studying the media representation of the Armenian genocide in Canada, we can begin to look for ways in which to offer closure to Armenian victims and inspire positive change in genocide policy and activism. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS AUTHOR’S DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY………………………………….iii ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………...iv AWKNOWLEDGEMENT……………………………………………………………...v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................1 Overview of the Armenian Genocide ……………………………….…………………….2 Significance/Rationale of the Research…………………………………………………...8 Literature Review………………………………………………………………………...10 Genocide Studies…………………………………………………………................10 Relevant Elements of Genocide Studies……………………………………………16 Armenian Genocide Studies………………………………………………………...21 The Representation of Genocide.……………………………………………………22 The Representation of the Armenian Genocide in the Mass Media…………………25 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH ....................................................................................................................28 Theoretical/Conceptual Framework: Herman and Chomsky’s Propaganda Model……..28 “Worthy”/“Unworthy” Victims……………………………………………………..33 Critical Discourse Analysis as a Methodological Approach…………………………….34 Parameters and Scope of the Research…………………………………………………..39 CHAPTER 3: CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE: 1915–1918....………………………...…………………………………..44 CHAPTER 4: CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE: 2004–2006……….…………………………...……………...…………..60 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION: THE CASE OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE……………………………………………………………………………..78 REFERENCES………………………………………...………………………………..87 APPENDIX A………………………………………………………...…………………99 APPENDIX B………………………………………………………...………………..105 APPENDIX C………………………………………………………………………….119 VITA AUCTORIS…………………………………………………………………….149 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The Armenian genocide of 1915–1918 was the first of the 20th century, and yet many countries—including the perpetrator, Turkey—fail to acknowledge the systematic and intentional massacre of the Armenian people as genocide. Turkey’s denial of the genocide and its domestic laws that prohibit reference to the events of 1915 to 1918 as “genocide” have sparked heated debates in both academia and politics. These are occasionally covered in Canada’s mainstream media, but while many Western academics call for acknowledgement of the genocide and justice for the Armenian people, most countries appear to value their current politico-economic relationship with Turkey more than their moral obligation to the victims. As a result, there is little public outcry to hold Turkey accountable for the events. These considerations raise the following question: Given the debate in political and academic spheres, why is there so little public outrage regarding this injustice? I would argue that the lack of public outcry is rooted in the politicization of genocide, such that media outlets fail to cover this topic adequately. Official international recognition, which might include demands for Turkey to acknowledge its responsibility, apologize for its actions, and provide reparations to the Armenian community, could jeopardize countries’ political and economic relationship with Turkey. The Canadian government took a moral stand in 2004, and officially recognized that the Armenian massacres of 1915 were, in fact, genocide. The question that remains, however, is why Canada took this step so long after the events. My research aims to understand how the Canadian mainstream news media represented the victims during the 1915 Armenian genocide, and to explore Canada’s 2 recognition of that genocide in 2004. I aim to explicate the disparity between what I believe to be an adequate representation of victims in a media population from 1915- 1918 and a lack of media coverage and the misrepresentation of these same victims in a population from 2004-2006. In