1. Perception of winter in Canada through La Presse newspaper (1959-2006)
Jerry Toupin1, René Langevin2
1 & 2 Campus Saint-Jean, University of Alberta .
Introduction
Results
A classification has been developed in order to analyze how La Presse newspaper (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) introduces winter to its readers (about one million). A total of 10 winters ranging from 1959 to 2006 were selected: , , , , , , , , and (from November 1st until April 30th with focus on page 1 and 3). Articles were classified into 7 categories: 1) snowstorm/accident/death, 2) sport/tourism, 3) debates/ideas, 4) crime, 5) international news, 6) festivals and 7) environment. As years go by one notices that the number of articles talking about winter is considerably less important (for instance 355 for , 53 for ), but is more targeted on the front page and on page 3, occupying a larger space and focusing more and more on negative aspects (including more pictures) of the cold season.
Methodology
Every single page was scrutinized from November 1st to April 30 for the ten-year period. Headlines and the first 10 lines focusing on words such as: winter/snow/cold published on page 1 and 3 (most visible) were recorded. The location on the page (top left, top right, middle, bottom left, bottom right), length of every article and pictures were classified. According to this methodology the content was recorded as: negative, positive or neutral.
Conclusion
References
From the 777 articles tracked down about one third (close to 30%) is under the category: snowstorm/accident/death (mostly negative). However this total rises to 77% if one looks at page 1 and 3 (most visible pages). As years go by fewer articles are published under that topic (for instance 355 during winter , 53 in ) but occupy twice as much place per page. Therefore the clear message sent by this newspaper about the cold season is a very negative one which may tend to develop a negative attitude towards winter from the one million people reading La Presse on a regular basis.
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