Freedom of the media is among the issues that the international community places a lot of emphasis. Time and again, nations found to be gagging the media have been made to face certain consequences due to their breaking of the rule of press freedom. The media is therefore held with respect in the international platform as a result of the roles it plays in ensuring that democracy is observed in every nation. So, why does the international community place all this emphasis on the media? There is one conspicuous reason. It understands the role of the media in problem construction and the definition of the weight the matter carries to the public. By highlighting certain examples from Canada, this essay will show how the media constructs the problem of homelessness and how it draws it to the public interest by giving strength to some issues while sidelining others and how it constructs the meaning of the issue by highlighting certain frameworks and definitions that lead towards the desired meaning.
To understand how the media frames its news articles to posses the desired interpretation; one must first have a clear understanding of what framing is. Framing is the selection of certain aspects of a reality making them more pronounced in a communicating text, in a way which promotes a certain definition of the problem, a casual interpretation, a given moral evaluation and a given treatment or recommendations of the item. This means that through emphasis of certain issues in a news item, the media can dictate an interpretation of the item and also make the public agree with the media’s moral position concerning the issue and consequently agree with the recommendations (Steckley & Letts).
To achieve this, the media employs several strategies. One of the strategies is giving priority to some issues over others. For example, in the issue of housing problems in Downtown Eastside, the writer of the article about giving police the power to settle the homeless into shelters wanted to bring to public attention the faulty way in which the government was trying to settle the homeless people (Vancouver Sun 2009)). He had the aim of making the public interpret the process as faulty and morally unacceptable. To achieve this, the writer highlights the factors that the government is basing on in their decision making then destroys it by showing the negative side of the arguments. To support their decisions, Coleman, the Housing Minister says that the government is trying to use the same power offered by the Mental Health Act that allows health workers to forcibly admit people with serious mental health problems into psychiatric hospitals. The writer then counters this argument by pointing out that freedom from arbitrary detention is a right of every citizen.
To back up his position, the writer bases his arguments on the legal rights of every Canadian individual. From his point of view, using the constitution is more powerful than mere orders from a minister. The public stands a better chance of leaning on his side due to the strength of the constitution as compared to the ministerial orders. Legal rights play a certain part in framing the public interpretation of the issue towards the writer’s point of view leaving a larger part to be played by the social aspect. He emphasizes on the role of social workers in convincing the homeless people to move into provided shelters as opposed to using force.
In addition, the writer puts the homeless person into an active role by using evidence from the people. According to sources, one of the victims of homelessness had succumbed to death after refusing to enter the temporary shelters because she could not part with her cart that possessed her belongings. The writer follows this argument with the role of the social worker who, unlike the policeman, would have professionally convinced the woman to accept the offer. Through discussions with the people being faced by the problem, it was easier to make them accept the proposed solution instead of forcing them into shelters which will again call for security guards to ensure that no one escapes. This resembles a police camp.
The writer uses words like “prison camps” to make the issue look detesting to the general public. Also, he uses the words “science fiction” to show how the project is completely a work of fiction and cannot be put into reality. Finally, the writer uses the example of mentally ill people so as to ensure that the public views the government to be comparing the homeless to the mentally ill.
In this article, the writer completely underemphasizes the plights faced by the homeless people. The main aim of the writer was to make the public see the government as an institution that has failed in its approach to solving the problem of homelessness. This plight comes out more conspicuously in Jackie Wong’s review of the documentary that highlighted the plight of the homeless people in Downtown Eastside (Wong 2009). In this article, Wong brings out the hardships experienced by the homeless giving this issue a more emphatic approach as compared to other aspects of homelessness in Eastside.
In Wong’s article, the government’s approach to homelessness is completely underemphasized. She barely mentions the government’s effort to solve this problem. Her real effort was to make the public realize that the homeless need caring and that some of them did not end up homeless voluntarily instead, they were forced by circumstances to depend on the temporary shelters offered by the government. Her view is that ending homelessness is not the responsibility of the politicians but a collective responsibility between the politicians and the citizens. This can be done through the change of attitude towards the homeless people.
To emphasize on the plight faced by the homeless people in Eastside, Wong gives more credibility to Les Merson and his documentary, “Something to Eat, A Place to Sleep & Someone Who Gives a Damn.” Wong uses Merson because of his great contribution in the effort of showing to the world that the homeless are humans who have gone to the street and at times engaged in drugs because of the problems they are going through. In addition to this, Merson comes from a family where most of the members have a bad attitude towards the homeless. This helps to emphasize on the issue of negative attitude and poor perception of the public towards the homeless.
To make the public feel the reality of the situation, Wong has used direct quotes from Gloria Wilson one of the inhabitants of the Eastside shelters. She narrates of the reasons that led to her becoming one of the homeless people despite the fact that she was able to work and pay her own rent. Gloria uses statements like, “it sometimes gets frustrating…” and “…I used crack for the first time… so I could stay awake…” these sentences drive a sense of pity in the reader so that he can change his perception that homeless people use crack for the sake of it as evidenced by the Merson’s father who thinks that such people should be thrown to a lonely island away from other good people. Statements like “…refused the manager’s sexual advances… was laid off.” Show the vulnerability of the homeless people who are at times forced to indulge into some activities that are unethical in order for them to get assistance to help them come out of the situation. This purely makes one understand that some of these people are in the temporary shelters not because they want to be but because they have not been given the opportunity to salvage themselves.
The article ends by making it an obligation to all the citizens to work towards ending the problem of homelessness. Mayor Robertson is given credit on his initiative to end homelessness but the collective responsibility is given the most credit as the citizens are called upon not to look towards the politicians for a solution to this problem.
In her feature article, Catherine Rolfsen (2009) brings out the challenges faced by the government in setting up houses for the homeless. In her article, the issue highlighted is the government’s decision to buy houses at a cost of more than $34 million to settle the homeless people not only in Eastside but also in other regions which are also experiencing the same kind of problems. Although the main issue is to highlight the effort of the government, the challenges being faced as a result of the homeless people’s unappreciative nature are being highlighted as a way of making the reader understand that although the government is making an effort, the homeless people are still unable to manage their new places and therefore it should not be just a matter of settling the homeless, but more should be done to ensure that these people are able to manage their new apartments.
The very person benefitting from this government project has not been given credibility. Credibility is given to the Premier, Mr. Gordon Campbell, who outlines the government’s initiative, Willie Tang of BC Housing, and the police boss Jim Chu. The police boss has been used in order to bring out the issue of insecurity which comes as a result of housing the homeless people without giving them necessary knowledge on how to live a normal life after a long stint in the streets and drug addiction. The housing boss also has to be given credibility because he carries the powers concerning the issues of housing.
The sources have been arranged in a sequence that is meant to show the out come of the government project. While the government has been given the opportunity to bring out the intended action through the premier, the police boss and the Vancouver- Burrard Mr. Herbert are brought in later to bring out the challenges in the project. This makes the reader realize that although the government has a good plan, there are other factors to be considered before settling the homeless people directly from the shelters to the houses.
The writer identifies the problems that face the projects after settling the homeless people but fails to show an example of a well coordinated project that has ended up in success. In the article, he quotes the police boss saying that one of the projects at Hastings Street has earned the name of a worst- run SRO in the city according to the police. He mentions the issue of drug traffickers taking the areas as there market place and also says that the projects are run like criminal cartels. He completely fails to give credit to other projects that have succeeded.
The Ministry of housing and the government have been mentioned in this article whose main role was to ensure that every person has a decent shelter and an affordable housing. The writer’s view is carried by the police department whose position in the issue of homelessness is the highlighting of vices associated with it. The police department has been mentioned specifically to show that although the government is making an effort in settling the homeless people, the conditions in which they live are morally wanting.
From the instances discussed in the body above, it is evident that the media can construct its meaning of a given article and dictate the public’s perception, attitude and the moral judgment of the same article. This can be achieved through the giving of certain issues more emphasis and sidelining others, using of a language that suggests the position of the writer, giving certain sources more credibility while sidelining other sources, using of certain sources whose relationship with the issue in question provides a negative picture for example the police, etc. with such great powers in their hands, the media can therefore play a great role in a country’s socio-economic development by influencing the public to agree with some of the policies of the legislature and the executive and on the other hand, making the public refuse all policies that do not lead to the socio-economic wellbeing.
References
Rolfsen, Catherine. “$34 Million will House More than 600 Needy.” The Vancouver Sun. 2009. Web.
Steckley, John and Letts, Guy. Elements of Sociology: A Critical Canadian Introduction. Oxford University Press: London.
Vancouver Sun. 2009. “Giving Police the Power to Force the Homeless into Shelters is Wrong Headed.” Web.
Wong, Jackie. “Vancouver Documentary Highlights Homeless Problem.” Westender.com. 2009. Web.