The primary French media focus on the exploration of Quebec provincial politics, hence exploring Ottawa and the association of Canada with other Quebec interests, thus acting as foreign correspondents. On the other hand, the English media are observed to examine Quebec politics in a domestic context, while focusing on the English-speaking minority present in Quebec. The study notes that the English and French journalists are sensitive to the interests of their viewers leading to the manifestation of private broadcasts as more ethnocentric in relation to the CBC.
There are evident differences that are acknowledged by the study within the English media. Consequently, the news reported on Quebec in the media is determined by the interests of the audience and the presence of the material in a suitable language. This has resulted in incidents of media bias, which has influenced the perceptions of the viewers on Quebec, both locally and internationally. The study proposes the formation of a model that can be used to govern the reporting of different issues in the media to regulate the spread of fallacies and biased information, particularly by foreign media.
There is emergence of reporting of news with symbolic content that show the tension that was present in the 1990s. This may have been brought about by the need for Quebec to cement their position and reject the legitimacy of French media in Canada. The French were noted to disrespect Quebec by replaying a video of protestors of the 1995 referendum campaign in Canada (Fletcher, 1998). Referring to this historic case is imperative since it assists the reader associate the present occurrences with the past biases presented in the foreign media.
Quebec by nationalism has a mythic quality, which has not been challenged easily by the Quebec political discourse despite the premise having a challenge in presenting the facts. However, Quebec- based French media have declined to explore the issue leading to the spread of numerous misconceptions about Canada and about the meaning of elections in manifesting sovereignty in the nation. It is evident that extensive public debate failed to change the misconceptions present between 1980 and 1994, thus supporting the opinion that the media lacked the capacity to change the viewers and listeners perceptions on the different issues in Canada, particularly the spread of inaccurate beliefs. The study notes that it is not clear the level to which the media influences the inaccurate beliefs in the contemporary world.
Reference
Fletcher, F. (1998). Media and political identity: Canada and Quebec in the era of globalization. Canadian Journal of Communication, 23(3), 359.
