Postponed - How Right-Wing Populism Came to Canada: Lessons for Journalism in the Rise of the Freedom Convoy

This event has been postponed.

Presented by Alanna Acchione, PhD candidate in Media Studies, as part of the FIMS Mediations Lecture Series.

All are welcome to attend.

Attend in person: FNB 4130
Attend online: Zoom Link

Abstract: In December of 2021, some hard right wing activists used social media to organize a demonstration in Ottawa against vaccine mandates, less than 100 participants showed up, and it was ignored. A month later, some of the same individuals helped organize what would become known as the "Freedom Convoy," which became a major news story and transformed Canadian politics. What had changed? There is no evidence that the politics of the organizers had suddenly gained more adherents.

This study suggests that the amount and character of mainstream media coverage was key. Several factors set the stage for that increased coverage, including ongoing mainstream concern over the relationship between supply chains and vaccine restrictions, struggles within the Conservative Party of Canada, and editorial decisions to highlight the protests by Canada’s major conservative news outlets, such as the National Post. As journalists quickly shifted from ignoring the protests, to mentioning them briefly as context, and then to round-the-clock coverage, a narrative infrastructure was created in the interactions between political parties, journalists, and protestors, in which large numbers of Canadians could sympathetically interpret the protests as a generalized call for an undefined "freedom" for ordinary people, without consideration of concrete policy proposals or the unpopular views of the Convoy organizers. We conclude that with deepened understanding of how such narratives unfold, journalists can better address the dilemmas of journalism in the current context.