How newspapers have represented the suburbs of Toronto and Hamilton since 1990

Abstract

Much has been written about the public image of the suburbs, however very few researchers have explored how they appear in the media. The purpose of this research is to determine how local newspapers have represented the suburbs of Toronto and Hamilton since 1990. The objective is to see whether there has been a historical shift in the balance between positive and negative images, and also in the themes associated with each. This has been done by examining articles from The Toronto Star and The Hamilton Spectator. Articles from 1990-2015 were extracted using the online database, LexisNexis Academic. These articles were then coded using a manual thematic coding scheme accounting for several factors including the type of article, section of the newspaper, front page material, centrality, valence, major themes, and neighbourhoods and regions being discussed. NVivo software for qualitative data analysis was used to understand and organize the abundance of unstructured data collected. As expected, the tone of coverage in both cities was generally negative, but varied between cities and changed over time as the mix of thematic concerns also changed.