Volume 6, Number 3

IMMIGRATION PART I: The Human Interest Story

According to The Economist magazine, "Racism and discrimination can be found in Canada, just as they can everywhere, but probably to a lesser extent than in practically any other country and certainly in any other country that receives so many newcomers." [The Economist (1991) "Survey of Canada," June 29, pp. 10-11.]

Internationally, Canada is renowned as a nation which welcomes and supports one of the highest per capita levels of immigration in the world. Yet, while Canada's international reputation remains intact, recent polls have indicated that there is growing concern among Canadians about the increasing number of immigrants. In January 1992 the federal government polled 1800 Canadians in order to assess the public mood. They discovered that Canadians have become less tolerant of immigrants and worried that their culture was deteriorating. One-third of those polled wanted to "keep out people who are different from most Canadians" and over one-half were "really worried that they may become a minority if immigration is unchecked." [Canadian Press (1992) "Survey showed immigrants unpopular," The Globe and Mail, September 14, p. A4.]

Ironically, Canada is a nation of immigrants. With the aboriginal population comprising approximately three percent of the population, the vast majority of Canadians are immigrants or of immigrant descent. Seventy-five percent of the population can trace their heritage to the British or the French. [The Economist (1991), Ibid, pp. 10-11.] The concern that "they may become a minority if immigration is unchecked" may be an indication that Canada's reputation of tolerance is unwarranted.

As television is the primary source of information for many Canadians, it has an impact on the attitudes of Canadians towards immigrants. This On Balance is the first of a two-part study which will analyze the national television coverage of immigration from January 1, 1990 to December 31, 1992. Part I will focus on the question on which there is much speculation, some evidence, and little consensus: how does immigration affect Canada? And does the television coverage accurately reflect the immigrants and refugees who eventually become Canadian citizens?

Substantive Analysis of Immigration System Reduced From 1989

THE CANADIAN PUBLIC HAS MANY MISCONCEPTIONS and fears about immigration. In a recent Gallup poll, only 13 percent of the respondents indicated that they would like to see the immigration levels increased. [Bozinoff, Lorne and Peter MacIntosh (1992) "Nearly one-half of public favours lower immigration," June 9, The Gallup Report.] Yet since 1972 Canada's birthrate has been below the level needed to sustain the population base. At the same time, Canada has a rapidly aging workforce. In order to counteract this two-fold decline, maintain tax revenues, and preserve the high standard of living to which Canadians have become accustomed, many experts, such as Julian Simon of the University of Maryland, view immigration as the answer.

In order to assess Canada's immigration policies it is essential to have an informed public. Yet the national television news coverage of Canada's immigration policies have decreased over the past four years. In 1989, CBC and CTV devoted 44 percent and 51 percent of their coverage, respectively, to assessment and analysis of the immigration system. In contrast, television's attention to the Immigration Act during the period 1990 to 1992 constituted only 29 percent of CBC and 28 percent of CTV total attention to immigration. (Figure A).

Click here to view Figure A: General Story Information

While the networks reduced their attention to immigration policies, they increased coverage of personal accounts. Four years ago, On Balance found that a major theme in the television coverage of immigration was spotlighting individual cases. During that year, 29 percent of CBC and 27 percent of CTV total attention to immigration focused on human interest stories. Since that time, attention to the personal stories has increased. For the period of this study the individual examples of immigrants and refugees constituted 34 percent of CBC and 36 percent of CTV total coverage.

The networks also decreased their attention to the social and economic effects of immigration. In the 1989 study, the effects of immigration accounted for 21 percent of CBC and 14 percent of CTV coverage. In this study, the social and economic effects of immigration attracted significantly less coverage, with 13 percent of CBC and 11 percent of CTV total attention.

Networks Focus on Human Interest Stories

AS PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED, CBC AND CTV DEVOTED over one-third of their entire coverage to documenting the stories of individual immigrants and refugees. The majority of these stories provided little insight into the functioning of the Canadian immigration system. Instead, the reports focused on the human interest story, particularly those which contained unusual and dramatic elements.

For example, on the April 11, 1991 CTV News anchor Lloyd Robertson stated: "They have waded ashore from row boats, they have hidden in the holds of ships, or the luggage section of aircraft, but for the first time refugee claimants have arrived in Canada, in Montreal, by chartered jetliner. The 48 would-be immigrants say they are from mainland China. They made their way from Hong Kong to the Dominican Republic, then came by chartered jet to Mirabel Airport, arriving early on Sunday. Some of the refugee claimants are at a downtown Y.M.C.A. The newcomers say they paid from ten to fifteen thousand dollars apiece to charter a jet in Hong Kong."

Negative experiences in Canada highlighted

Canada's ability to provide a better life for immigrants and refugees makes it one of the most popular destinations in the world. However, as shown in Figure B, rather than reporting the successes, the television coverage focused on the negative experiences of refugees and immigrants in Canada.

Click here to view Figure B: T.V. Images of Immigrant and Refugee Experience in Canada

Of the statements which outlined the personal experiences of immigrants and refugees once they had arrived in Canada, 45 percent of CBC and 62 percent of CTV were factual. The remaining statements described either a favourable or an unfavourable experience. On both networks, the majority of this commentary focused on the negative experiences.

For example, on September 19, 1991 Barbara Frum introduced The Journal with this statement: "This country has always liked to conceive of itself as a sanctuary for those seeking a new beginning. And because those immigrants helped to build this country, Canadians consider this a place of tolerance. But there is a dark side behind that idealized picture. In turn, the Irish, Italians, Jews, Asians, Japanese Canadians, among others, have all felt the hand of intolerance at some time in this country's history. Tonight, the story of how another prominent group of immigrants, the Ukrainians, came to Canada as friends, and found themselves the enemy."

The reports often focused on the bizarre and the dramatic, providing entertainment rather than information. On the April 6, 1991 CBC's The National produced a story about eleven Russian women who had immigrated to Canada in order to pursue acting and modelling careers but were forced to work as strippers. Reporter Kelly Crowe stated: "They look like ordinary happy young women. They are happy today, with a Ukrainian family, but they tell a story of a three month long nightmare--forced to dance naked in strip clubs, held captive by men who lured them from their homeland."

CTV provides occasional good news

While CTV also focused on the negative aspects of the refugee and immigrant experiences in Canada, they also provided the occasional good news story. For example, on February 2, 1991, reporter Tony Tighe filed a story about a family from Kuwait who had been on the run for four months and had finally arrived in Calgary. He stated: "With the help of friends, they found a house to rent. Next week the boys go back to school and Joseph and Lamia look for work. None of it will be half as difficult as the last four months."

Television Gives Disproportionate Coverage to Refugees

THE RATIO OF THE QUARTER MILLION IMMIGRANTS AND refugees admitted to Canada each year is approximately four-fifths immigrants and one-fifth refugees. Yet, as shown in Figure C, both CBC and CTV have consistently over represented the proportion of refugees.

Click here to view Figure C: Television Coverage of Refugees and Immigrants Versus the Number of Actual Refugees and Immigrants

In 1990, significant changes were made to Canada's refugee policies. During that year, 60 percent of CBC and 70 percent of CTV coverage of individual cases of refugees and immigrants focused on refugees. For the three years of the study, 1990 to 1992, 45 percent of CBC and 55 percent of CTV attention to individual examples focused on refugees.

This disproportionate coverage is likely due to the fact that the refugee cases usually had more dramatic elements to the story. For example, on September 2, 1992 Sandie Rinaldo of CTV News stated: "A group of Romanians arrived in Canada from Belgium today after stowing away aboard a Montreal bound freighter. The eighteen men and one woman huddled together for ten days in a steel container in a rough and cold Atlantic crossing. When they arrived they were taken into custody by immigration officers. In six months time, if approved, they could be granted refugee status and a new life in Canada."

Television Presents Mixed Assessments on the Impact of Immigration

THE ORIGINAL ON BALANCE STUDY CONDUCTED IN 1989 found that 21 percent of CBC and 14 percent of CTV total coverage assessed the social and economic impact of immigration. As there were major changes made to the government's immigration policy in that year, it would have been interesting to examine the social and economic impact after the new policies had been in place. However, both CBC and CTV decreased coverage which assessed the impact of immigration. For the period of this study, 1990 to 1992, the social and economic effects of immigration accounted for only 13 percent of CBC and 11 percent of CTV total attention to immigration.

Networks focus on negative social impact

The majority of the coverage which assessed the impact of immigration focused on social effects. Similar to the findings of the 1989 study, over half of the commentary was neutral. Of the statements which provided an assessment, both CBC and CTV presented almost three times as many negative social effects as positive effects.

As Figure D shows, the public and the private broadcasters chose to focus on different issues. CBC was concerned with language and education issues, particularly with programs that assist immigrants to learn English or French. Race relations was also a significant portion of the coverage, with the majority of the commentary concerned that immigration was leading to increased racial tensions.

Click here to view Figure D: Television Comments on the Social Impact of Immigration

CTV focuses on immigrants and crime

On CTV, reports which focused on crime and immigrants constituted a significant portion of the coverage. Most of this coverage originated from Vancouver with reports of increasing violence due to immigrants from Asia. On the April 21, 1992 CTV News, Lloyd Robertson stated: "Street gangs: they've become a serious problem in many large Canadian cities but in Vancouver, police now admit that gang crime, especially in the Asian community, is out of control. Business leaders are so concerned that they recently invited a former New York gang leader to visit Vancouver and suggest some solutions."

One of the solutions which the former leader of New York's "Mao-Mao" gang, Nicky Cruz, proposed was tougher immigration laws. In the same story, CTV also quoted an unidentified storekeeper who stated: "All these gangs, they should be deported."

In a similar fashion, on the February 4, 1991 CTV News reporter Dave Rinn stated: "Asian gangs have escalated, turning the streets of Chinatown into a battleground for supremacy. In the latest incident one man was killed and three others were wounded, all Vietnamese refugees."

CBC also reported on the link between immigration and crime. On the March 3, 1991 Sunday Report CBC's Tom Kennedy stated: "A few years ago violence like this was unheard of in Chinatown. But not anymore. Just after Christmas, another restaurant shooting: one dead, two wounded. Last month in a Chinatown street, another shooting: one dead, four wounded. In fact, over the past twelve months, there have been eight shootings in this part of Toronto. The majority, police believe, are related to Asian gangs, fighting one another to control organized crime. The gangs formed in the mid-'80s, during a wave of Asian immigration, police say, and gang members, usually, are from China or Vietnam."

Multiculturalism a concern on both networks

The issue of multiculturalism was addressed by CBC and CTV. On both networks there was approximately equal coverage either praising or criticising the multicultural aspects of Canadian culture. For example, on the December 29, 1992 CTV News, Lloyd Robertson stated: "By and large, multiculturalism has been well accepted in Canada when it hasn't intruded into daily life. But intolerance does flare up when familiar symbols are threatened. The uproar over changing the Mountie uniform to accommodate the Sikh turbans showed some of the limits of Canadian tolerance. Analysis of our poll indicates Canadians feel society functions best when we share common values and the prospect of more third world immigration is seen by some as a threat to Canadian traditions."

CTV exaggerates level of immigration

Television news often presents facts and figures in a manner which focuses on the extreme, resulting in misleading information. For example, in 1984, Canada accepted 85,000 immigrants as compared to 250,000 immigrants in 1992. By presenting only these two figures and not placing the information in a historical context, a false impression is given.

CTV quoted the 1984 figure in a number of their stories. For example, on October 25, 1990 reporter Jim O'Connell stated: "There's been a dramatic rise in immigration ever since this government took power. Back in 1984 there were only about 85,000 immigrants. But under this new plan, at least three times that amount will be allowed in the country."

What is not being told in these reports is that immigration levels fluctuate considerably. In 1980, there were 143,000 immigrants and in 1974 there were 218,000 immigrants. The most significant figure is the per capita level of immigration. At present, the annual flow of immigrants accounts for less than one percent of the population. In contrast, this figure was 1.7 percent in 1957, while at the turn of the century the equivalent figure was over 5 percent. [Marr, William L., 1992, "Post-War Canadian Immigration Patterns," in Globerman, Steven (ed.), The Immigration Dilemma, The Fraser Institute, Vancouver, pp. 19, 22.]

Economic impact of immigration ignored

The 1989 On Balance study found that very little coverage was devoted to the economic impact of immigration. Even though recent polls have indicated that Canadians desire immigration policies which will attract immigrant investors, there was little attention given to this issue for the period of this study. [Canadian Press (1992) "Survey showed immigrants unpopular," The Globe and Mail, September 14, p. A4.]

Economic effects accounted for only 3 percent of CBC and 2 percent of CTV total attention to immigration (Figure E). On CBC, the majority of the statements resulted from an October 25, 1990 Journal interview with Don Devoretz, an economist from Simon Fraser University, and Shirley Seaward from the Institute for Research on Public Policy. Both took a cost-benefit approach to immigration and agreed that immigrants were beneficial for the Canadian economy.

Click here to view Figure E: Television Comments about the Economic Impact of Immigration

For example, Don Devoretz stated: "We have to remember that the evidence shows that, over their lifetime, the average foreign-born family pays, in current dollars, more than $20,000 in taxes than they use in social services. Each highly qualified individual adds to the purse, and more than pay for this increase in services . . . 250,000 people will add $1.2 billion to the treasury over their lifetime. That is a very large number compared to the $100 million they plan to invest. So, I mean, the economic case is overwhelming for increasing the levels."

CTV also provided minimal but favourable coverage of the economic effects. On April 16, 1990, Peter Murphy stated: "Government officials admit the public has many misconceptions about immigrants. There is a belief that they take jobs away from Canadians, are a burden on the social system, and don't pay their fair share of taxes. Immigration Minister Barbara McDougall says that's all wrong."

Television furthers myth of immigrant burden

While assessments of the economic impact of immigration were generally favourable, much of the neutral coverage focused on immigrants and refugees who were receiving social services. For example, on the December 16, 1992 CBC Prime Time News reporter Tonda MacCharles filed a report on the wife of Somalian warlord living in Canada on welfare. MacCharles stated: "Besides asylum and landed immigrant status, Canada has given Aideed's wife $1,500 dollars a month in welfare payments to raise her children, welfare that continued when she spent five months in Somalia earlier this year. That welfare was increased after she returned pregnant and gave birth to Aideed's fourth child."

Reports such as this one likely contributed to the fact that a CBC/Globe and Mail poll found that 49 percent of Canadians believe that "almost all or many" refugees are guilty of abuse. [Results of the poll are based on a survey of 2,631 Canadians, conducted between October 21-28, 1991. The survey is considered accurate within 2.2 percent, 19 times out of 20.] What neither CBC nor CTV reported was a study conducted by the Economic Council of Canada which found that immigrants are less dependent on social assistance than native-born Canadians. McGovern, Celeste, 1992, "Refusing the Easy Way: A study finds immigrants are less welfare-prone than Canadians," [Western Report, April 6, p. 44.]

METHODOLOGY

Results are based on a census sample of 129 National, 41 Journal, 7 Prime Time News, 6 Venture, 4 Sunday Report stories as well as 143 CTV National News stories from January 1, 1990 to December 31, 1992. All stories appearing during that time were coded, representing a total population rather than a random sample of stories.

Three researchers were employed in coding the news stories. The researchers were selected on the basis of their differing political views. To assess the clarity of the research instrument and measure consistency, tests of inter-coder reliability were conducted throughout the procedure. A high level of intercoder reliability (0.90) was obtained.

Any disagreements in assessments by researchers were discussed, and the rating was changed until consensus was reached on all stories. Further information or details on the coding design and methods may be obtained by contacting the National Media Archive.

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Last Modified: Wednesday, October 20, 1999.