ELECTIONS WITHOUT POLITICS: Television Coverage of the 2001 B.C. Election Kathleen Ann Cross BA, Communication, Simon Fraser University, 1992 DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the School of Communication @ Kathleen Ann Cross, 2006 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSrrY Spring 2006 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. APPROVAL NAME Kathleen Cross DEGREE PhD TITLE OF DISSERTATION: ELECTIONS WITHOUT POLITICS: Television Coverage of The 2001 BC Election EXAMINING COMMITTEE: CHAIR: Dr. Shane Gunster Dr. Richard Gruneau Co-Senior Supervisor Professor, School of Communication Dr. Robert Hackett Co-Senior Supervisor Professor, School of Communication Dr. Yuezhi Zhao Supervisor Associate Professor, School of Communication Dr. Catherine Murray Internal Examiner Associate Professor, School of Communication Dr. David Taras External Examiner Professor, Faculty of Communication and Culture, University of Calgary DATE: 20 December 2005 SIMON FRASER ' UNIVERSITY~I bra ry DECLARATION OF PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENCE The author, whose copyright is declared on the title page of this work, has granted to Simon Fraser University the right to lend this thesis, project or extended essay to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. The author has further granted permission to Simon Fraser University to keep or make a digital copy for use in its circulating collection, and, without changing the content, to translate the thesislproject or extended essays, if technically possible, to any medium or format for the purpose of preservation of the digital work. The author has further agreed that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by either the author or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without the author's written permission. Permission for public performance, or limited permission for private scholarly use, of any multimedia materials forming part of this work, may have been granted by the author. This information may be found on the separately catalogued multimedia material and in the signed Partial Copyright Licence. The original Partial Copyright Licence attesting to these terms, and signed by this author, may be found in the original bound copy of this work, retained in the Simon Fraser University Archive. Simon Fraser University Library Burnaby, BC, Canada Abstract This study examines election news in terms of its adequacy as an information source for voters and for political communications in general. Previous research on election studies in Canada focused on news reports of national election campaigns. By contrast, this study focuses on election coverage in British Columbia. It offers an exploratory and descriptive content analysis of the television news coverage of the 2001 British Columbia general election using data from the 6 p.m. news broadcasts of four major television stations during the twenty-eight day election campaign. The study utilizes quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the election topics, the sources quoted, the party coverage, and the dominant narratives and frames in the news discourse. Results on election topics indicated a predominance of campaign-related focus of news topics as opposed to issue-related focus. Results on source quotes indicate differences in the purpose and frequency with which political actors, individuals, "experts" and representatives of organizations where used. Analysis of party coverage and discourse frames demonstrated there were differences in how the parties were covered and that these differences put the incumbent NDP at a disadvantage. In addition, the election coverage drew upon two dominant and evaluative narrative structures in telling the "campaign story": that of disruption/stability, and that of winnerAoser binary oppositions. Common framing devices and metaphors in the news discourse were also reviewed and discussed. This study offers a number of observations about the political implications and significance of patterns and tendencies revealed by the research. Significantly, this study not only provides the first systematic and comprehensive data on television news coverage of a British Columbian election, it also offers much needed communications research about any provincial election, both within British Columbia, and in other provinces in Canada. By utilizing both content analysis and discourse analysis techniques of news analysis it offers a substantive benchmark for future studies. Finally, this dissertation makes the case for communications scholars to return their research attention to media and elections. Keywords: politics and mass media, political communications, news media and elections, elections and television, television news, news analysis, content analysis of news, discourse analysis, British Columbia - elections, Canada - elections, mass media and politics, political discourse, election media studies, mediated politics, reporters and reporting. iii Acknowledgements Many people have supported and encouraged this work. I wish to thank my supervising committee members Richard Gruneau, Robert Hackett and Yuezhi Zhao, for their valuable intellectual perspectives and their faith that I would complete this dissertation even in the face of unforeseen complicating circumstances. I wish to thank my additional committee members, Catherine Murray of SFU and David Taras of University of Calgary, for their insightful comments; and Shane Gunster for Chairing my defense. Others at the School of Communications also deserve heartfelt thanks: Dave Murphy for his technical expertise, Neena Shahani, without whom the graduate program would surely collapse, and the department office staff of Lucie, Denyse, Evelyn (now retired), Monique, and Brenda, who kept the place running. I also thank Reo Audette at Academic Computing for his help with SPSS and Wendy Williams for hardware and software assistance. I am truly grateful for financial assistance from the School of Communications, the Dean of Graduate Studies, Simon Fraser University, and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council. I also wish to thank the numerous friends and family members for being my private cheering section, including my parents, Joy and Ron Cross, Alice Berry, and especially Gina Bailey. Most importantly, I want to give my heartfelt thanks to my partner Betsy and my step-daughter Hannah, who have endured the turbulent ups and downs of this research and writing on a daily basis. They have given me constant love and support through a difficult health crisis, and sustained their encouragement during a time of diminished household income. Hannah helped with some of the more tedious aspects of content analysis and remained intellectually interested in the research throughout. Betsy assisted with copy-editing, and so much more. I could not have done this without her. I also wish to acknowledge the many politicians who hold onto a fierce belief in the tenets of democracy. To be sure, there are those who seek only power, but in my experience these are few. The vast majority of elected officials I have encountered truly wish to make this world a better place. I thank them for being willing to succumb to the media glare for the sake of their vision. And finally, I wish to acknowledge the many journalists who are deeply concerned with the role and responsibilities of a democratic media. While the practices of journalism may seem to get the 'short straw' in this dissertation, there are numerous dedicated news-workers who daily strive to make a difference within the economic and editorial limitations of their chosen profession. I thank them for continuing to try. TABLE OF CONTENTS Approval ......................................................................................................... ...ii Abstract ......................................................................................................... III Acknowledgements............................................................................................ iv Table of Contents v ................................................................................................... List of Tables .................................................................................................... VIII List of Figures .................................................................................................... ix Acronyms and Abbreviations ................................................................................ x Introduction ...........................................................................................1 Why Study Election News Reports? ....................................................................... 1 Methodological Highlights..................................................................................... 5 The Case of British Columbia ............................................................................. 8 What this Dissertation Sand ISNOT: ................................................................. 13 Thoughts on Election Research .................................. ......................................