The construction of the Covid-19 pandemic as a social problem: expert
discourse and representational naturalization in the mass media during
the first wave of the pandemic in Canada
Abstract
In this paper, we analyze the evolution of the expert discourse in the
media during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Canada.
From our analysis of 527 media products published by CBC/Radio Canada
between January 1 and August 31, 2020, it was possible to document the
type of expertise mobilized, the types of experts engaged by the media,
the modalities of appropriation of this discourse by non-experts and the
use of expert discourse by political actors. We organize our analysis
around governmental measures that have generated more controversy and
debate in the media (e.g., closing international borders) and that will
be used to analyze the processes of representational naturalization
(Negura and Plante, submitted).
We begin our chapter with an overview of the use of expertise in the
Canadian public- health decision-making chain in the context of the
Covid-19 pandemic by highlighting the tensions, contradictions, and
paradoxes in political communication that this process revealed. We
demonstrate the relevance of studying these dynamics reflected in the
media from the perspective of social representations. A brief
explanation of the research objectives, the data used and some
methodological elements will follow. We then discuss the results of our
analysis of the different stages of the evolution of the pandemic in
Canada according to the expert discourse in the media. Finally, our
analysis focuses on the role of expert discourse in determining what
aspects of Covid-19 the public and the political authorities in Canada
have defined as a social problem.