Public Perceptions of the Canadian Government‘s Initial Response to Coronavirus: A Canadian Broadcasting Company Content Analysis

Authors

  • Cora-Lynn Munroe-Lynds School of Information Management, Faculty of Management, Dalhousie University

Keywords:

, Coronavirus, government decision making, public perceptions, covid-19 response, evidence-based decision making

Abstract

It is crucial for the government to maintain the public‘s trust during uncertain risk. The Canadian government had approximately three months to develop a risk management strategy before Canada saw its first case of coronavirus. This study aims to show how the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) portrays government decision making during the initial outbreak of Coronavirus in January 2020 through March 2020 exclusive by examining 10 articles per month.  Over the course of the last three months, government officials were increasingly cited in the CBC news articles. Results from this study shows that as the condition in Canada worsened, more evidence-based decision making is present in the articles, especially during the month of March.

DOI: 10.5931/djim.v16i1.10882

References

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Canadian Broadcasting Company. (2020, February 15). Federal government to bring home Canadians on board quarantined cruise ship. CBC News. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/coronavirus-1.5465349.

Cecco, L. (2020, March 16). “Stay home”: Justin Trudeau closes Canada‘s borders over coronavirus. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/16/justin-trudeau-closes-canada-borders-coronavirus#maincontent

Federal government to bring home Canadians quarantined cruise ship. (2020, February 15). Canadian Broadcasting Company. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/coronavirus-1.5465349

Flight carrying Canadian cruise passengers who tested negative for coronavirus on way home. (2020, February 20). Canadian Broadcasting Company. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadian-diamond-princess-passengers-coronavirus-flight-1.5469498

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Published

2022-04-29

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Section

Articles