Erin Tolley's Framed: Media and the Coverage of Race in Canadian Politics is a keen rebuttal to those who may claim that Canada is fortunate not to have a race problem. Through an exploration of electoral coverage and candidate and newsroom culture, as well as the presentation of a new theoretical concept, Tolley offers a strong case that visible minority candidates are covered in the media differently than their white counterparts.
Tolley's book is built on the foundation of a simple question: “Are visible minority candidates covered differently than their white counterparts?” (21). Framed is a detailed and systematic exploration of this question, with a clear conclusion: Yes, they are. Tolley begins by introducing the concept of racial mediation. Her argument is that journalists make choices about how to cover events and people: these choices shape content that is presented to the public. Chapter 2 presents a quantitative breakdown of electoral media coverage of visible minority candidates compared against a control group of white candidates. The data show that coverage of visible minority candidates is substantially different. This dataset also shows an interesting intersection between race and gender, which Tolley explores further in the third chapter.
In the book's second half, Tolley explores racialized discourse through an interpretive lens. First, she analyzes the text's imagery and language to reveal negatively toned coverage of visible minority women in the media. Tolley argues that despite gains made in female political participation, there remains a “stained glass ceiling” for visible minority women (123).
To investigate the sources of racialized media coverage, Tolley interviews both visible minority candidates and their campaign workers and then political journalists. She finds that candidate self-presentation is not a significant factor in racialized media coverage, but that political journalism suffers from an “institutionalization of whiteness” which leads to racial mediation in election coverage. “The media are not solely responsible,” Tolley writes, “but nor are their choices neutral” (23).
The statistical sample used in Chapter 2 is coded and analyzed to provide initial findings. In the next chapter, Tolley employs discourse analysis to engage further with texts covering visible minority females. Finally, in her interviews with a diverse sample of candidates, political operatives and journalists, Tolley uses a semi-structured interview style to gather insightful information which elucidates themes. In the interview sample, as with the media discourse samples, Tolley is systematic in her explanation of how data were collected and how she and her team worked to diversify samples. She is equally detailed in her explanation of the statistical coding scheme and provides it as an appendix in the book.
The book's most obvious weakness is its limited scope. This potential flaw is overcome with careful consideration and proper justification. First, she chooses to study only newspaper coverage. With political coverage available across a variety of mediums, including television, radio, and digital and social media, it is clear that relevant texts are not limited to those found in newspapers. Tolley explains her decision by arguing that print newspapers are where local candidates are likely to receive the most coverage, as oppose to other media which tend to track the national-level campaign more closely. Moreover, newspapers have no limitations on the length of each segment—whereas television, for instance, may be limited—which allows them to delve more deeply into candidate background.
Second, the empirical portion of the book only examines discourse from the 2008 federal election. And Tolley's choice to study only English-language media is another limit to her work. Again, the author acknowledges this gap and calls for further work which would incorporate French-language press, Quebec candidates and studies which would analyze ethnic-language media coverage. Her limitation, then, is an argument for a manageable scope and not one about importance or relevance.
Tolley's decision to exclude indigenous candidates from her study is one that could constrain her research. The assumption, however, is that social and media biases regarding indigenous Canadians cannot be equated to the predispositions against other visible minorities. The politics and perception are different, and therefore indigenous candidates ought not to be lumped in with other visible minorities for this study.
Perhaps Framed's biggest risk would have been to stop after Chapter 3. Some scholars may have coupled the quantitative data with the qualitative interpretation, found that coverage of visible minorities was significantly different and assumed their theory of racial mediation had been upheld. Rather than falling into this trap, Tolley does not end with an assumption of causality. Instead, she conducts interviews with candidates and campaign workers, and then with journalists, to determine how self-presentation and newsroom culture could impact media coverage. Seeking to disprove her own thesis gives Tolley's argument added strength.
Framed contributes much to the study of race and politics in Canada. Tolley's quantitative study provides empirical evidence of racialized coverage, which is then enhanced by her discursive interpretation and qualitative interviews. The book has limited scope but provides a strong foundation for further valuable work.
