Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-45l2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T07:25:22.970Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Media, Public Opinion and Health Care in Canada: How the Media Affect “The Way Things Are”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 June 2008

Kelly Blidook
Kelly Blidook*
Affiliation:
Memorial University of Newfoundland
*
Kelly Blidook, Department of Political Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL A1B 3X9, kblidook@mun.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Abstract. Health care has arguably been the most important issue in Canadian politics in the past decade. This paper focuses on the extent to which the media affect public perceptions of “the way things are” in the Canadian health care system. Individual perceptions of the state of health care are analyzed as being a function of personal experience with the system, loyalty or pre-formed opinions and the information that the individual receives through the media. Results indicate that media use has a significant effect on the likelihood of negative perceptions regarding the state of health care.

Résumé. Le système de soins de santé représente sans doute le thème dominant de la dernière décennie sur la scène politique canadienne. Cet article examine l'influence exercée par les médias sur les perceptions du public concernant «la situation courante» du système de soins de santé canadien. L'analyse présente les perceptions individuelles sur l'état du système comme étant le reflet de l'expérience personnelle, d'une loyauté ou d'une opinion préétablie et de l'information transmise par les médias. Les résultats indiquent que les médias ont une incidence importante sur d'éventuelles perceptions négatives concernant l'état du système de soins de santé.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , June 2008 , pp. 355 - 374
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bartels, Larry M. 1993. “Messages Received: The Political Impact of Media Exposure.” American Political Science Review 87 (2): 267–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blais, André. 2000. To Vote or Not to Vote: The Merits and Limits of Rational Choice Theory. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blais, André, Gidengil, Elizabeth, Nadeau, Richard and Nevitte, Neil. 2002a. Anatomy of a Liberal Victory: Making Sense of the Vote in the 2000 Canadian Election. Peterborough: Broadview Press.Google Scholar
Blais, André, Nadeau, Richard, Gidengil, Elisabeth and Nevitte, Neil. 2002b. “The Impact of Issues and the Economy in the 1997 Canadian Federal Election.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 35: 409–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blais, André, Turgeon, Mathieu, Gidengil, Elisabeth, Nevitte, Neil and Nadeau, Richard. 2004. “Which Matters Most? Comparing the Impact of Issues and the Economy in American, British, and Canadian Elections.” British Journal of Political Science 34 (3): 555–63.Google Scholar
Butler, David and Stokes, Donald. 1976. Political Change in Britain. 2nd ed.New York: St. Martin's.Google Scholar
Carmines, Edward G. and Stimson, James. 1980. “The Two Faces of Issue Voting.” The American Political Science Review 74 (1): 78–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, Harold D., Jenson, Jane, LeDuc, Lawrence and Pammett, Jon H.. 1996. Absent Mandate: Canadian Electoral Politics in an Era of Restructuring. 3rd ed.Toronto: Gage.Google Scholar
Dalton, Russell J. 2001. “The Decline of Party Identifications.” In Parties Without Partisans: Political Change in Advanced Industrial Democracies, ed. Dalton, Russell J. and Wattenberg, Martin P.. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dearing, James W. and Rogers, Everett M.. 1996. Agenda-Setting. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
DeMaris, Alfred. 2004. Regression with Social Data: Modeling Continuous and Limited Response Variables. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downs, Anthony. 1957. An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Edelstein, Alex S. 1993. “Thinking About the Criterion Variable in Agenda-Setting Research.” Journal of Communication 43: 85–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fournier, Patrick, Nadeau, Richard, Blais, André, Gidengil, Elisabeth and Nevitte, Neil. 2003. “Issue Importance and Performance Voting.” Political Behavior 25: 51–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gidengil, Elisabeth, Blais, André, Nadeau, Richard and Nevitte, Neil. 2003. “Women to the Left? Gender Differences in Political Beliefs and Policy Preferences.” In Gender and Electoral Representation in Canada, ed. Tremblay, Manon and Trimble, Linda. Don Mills: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gidengil, Elisabeth, Blais, André, Nevitte, Neil and Nadeau, Richard. 2004. Citizens. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Gordon, Sean. 2005. “Harper pledges to cut wait times; Vows patients will be treated equally for essential services. Minister dismisses Tory leader's plan as an ‘afterthought.’” Toronto Star, December 3, A6.Google Scholar
Greenspon, Edward. 2000. “Why Chrétien chose health-care peace in our time.” The Globe and Mail [Toronto], September 12, A17.Google Scholar
Hackett, Robert et al. 2000. The Missing News: Filters and Blind Spots in Canada's Press. Aurora, ON: Garamond Press.Google Scholar
Hammond, William M. 1989. “The Press in Vietnam as Agent of Defeat: A Critical Examination.” Reviews in American History 17 (2): 312–23.Google Scholar
Huber, Gregory A. and Arceneaux, Kevin. 2007. “Identifying the Persuasive Effects of Presidential Advertising.” American Journal of Political Science 51 (4): 957–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inglehart, Ronald. 1997. Modernization and Postmodernization: Cultural, Economic, and Political Change in 43 Societies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iyengar, Shanto and Simon, Adam. 1993. “News Coverage of the Gulf Crisis and Public Opinion.” Communication Research 20 (3): 365–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnston, Richard, Blais, André, Brady, Henry E. and Crête, Jean. 1992. Letting the People Decide: Dynamics of a Canadian Election. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, Mark. 2004. “Premiers leery of latest Martin offer: Televised meetings begin today on medicare's future.” National Post [Toronto], September 13, A4.Google Scholar
King, Gary, Tomz, Michael and Wittenberg, Jason. 2000. “Making the Most of Statistical Analyses: Improving Interpretation and Presentation.” American Journal of Political Science 44 (2): 341–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kingdon, John. 1995. Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policy. 2nd ed.New York: HarperCollins Publishers.Google Scholar
Lemert, James B. 1992. “Effective Public Opinion.” In Public Opinion, the Press and Public Policy, ed. Kennamer, J. David. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.Google Scholar
Maioni, Antonia and Martin, Pierre. 2004. “Public Opinion and Health Care Reform in Canada: Exploring the Sources of Discontent.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago, September 1–5.Google Scholar
Marcus, George E., Neuman, W. Russell and MacKuen, Michael. 2000. Affective Intelligence and Political Judgment. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Mendelsohn, Matthew. 2002. “Canadians' Thoughts on Their Health Care System: Preserving the Canadian Model through Innovation.” Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada. Ottawa: Government of Canada.Google Scholar
Miller, Joanne M. and Krosnick, Jon A.. 2000. “News Media Impact on the Ingredients of Presidential Evaluations: Politically Knowledgeable Citizens Are Guided by a Trusted Source.” American Journal of Political Science 44 (2): 301–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monroe, Alan. 1979. “Consistency between Constituency Preferences and National Policy Decisions.” American Politics Quarterly 12: 3–19.Google Scholar
Nevitte, Neil. 1996. The Decline of Deference: Canadian Value Change in Cross-National Perspective. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noelle-Neumann, Elisabeth. 1999. “The Effect of the Mass Media on Opinion Formation.” In Mass Media, Social Control, and Social Change: A Macrosocial Perspective, ed. Demers, David and Viswanath, K.. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press.Google Scholar
Page, Benjamin I. and Shapiro, Robert Y.. 1983. “Effects of Public Opinion on Policy.” American Political Science Review 77 (1): 175–90.Google Scholar
Page, Benjamin I. and Shapiro, Robert Y.. 1992. The Rational Public: Fifty Years of Trends in Americans' Policy Preferences. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Penner, Erin, Blidook, Kelly and Soroka, Stuart. 2006. “Legislative Priorities and Public Opinion: Representation of Partisan Agendas in the Canadian House of Commons.” Journal of European Public Policy 13 (7): 1006–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perse, Elizabeth M. 2001. Media Effects and Society. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Petry, François. 1999. “The Opinion-Policy Relationship in Canada.” The Journal of Politics 61: 541–51.Google Scholar
Petry, François and Mendelsohn, Matthew. 2004. “Public Opinion and Policy Making in Canada, 1994–2001.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 37 (3): 505–29.Google Scholar
Rochefort, David A. and Cobb, Roger W.. 1994. “Problem Definition: An Emerging Perspective.” In The Politics of Problem Definition: Shaping the Policy Agenda, ed. Rochefort, David A. and Cobb, Roger W.. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.Google Scholar
Soroka, Stuart N. 2002. Agenda-Setting Dynamics in Canada. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Soroka, Stuart N. and Wlezien, Christopher. 2004. “Opinion Representation and Policy Feedback: Canada in Comparative Perspective.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 37 (3): 531–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stimson, James A., Mackuen, Michael B. and Erikson, Robert S.. 1995. “Dynamic Representation.” The American Political Science Review 89 (3): 543–65.Google Scholar
Summers, Harry G. Jr. 1994. “The Vietnam Syndrome and the American People.” Journal of American Culture 17 (1): 53–58.Google Scholar
Taras, David. 2001. Power and Betrayal in the Canadian Media. Updated ed.Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press.Google Scholar
Winter, James. 1997. Democracy's Oxygen: How Corporations Control the News. Montreal: Black Rose Books.Google Scholar
Zaller, John R. 1992. The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. Los Angeles: University of California.CrossRefGoogle Scholar