Textually mediated discourses in Canadian news stories: Situating nurses’ salaries as the problem

Abstract

The aim of this article is to elucidate how nurses are positioned in Canadian news stories regarding their salaries. While the image of nursing in mass media has been widely studied, few studies explore how nurses are constructed in news stories. Drawing on ideas from institutional ethnography together with discourse analysis, this discussion highlights public textual discourses about nurses' salaries in Canadian news stories. The media discourse was found to distort the issues by focusing attention on nurses. Recognizing how these textual distortions mediate and construct messages is important in understanding how nurses and their work are constructed in the media. This discussion seeks to inform readers about how nurses are situated within commonly circulated discourses in the media. It also seeks to contribute to the literature about the nurse's image and how nurses and their work are portrayed in the public realm. It concludes by recommending increased awareness about how nurses are talked about in mass communication and the need to disrupt these messages and their underlying assumptions.

Visibilidad de los sanitarios durante la crisis del Covid-19: estudio de fuentes y temáticas en los informativos de televisión

“…Several studies published in international journals have highlighted the importance of enabling greater media visibility for the healthcare sector with regard to information on health matters that is disseminated 18,19 . It has been noted that healthcare workers only receive attention as information sources at very specific times, such as during epidemics 20,21 or in situations of medical negligence 22 , or when they are demanding pay rises 23 .…”

Voix infirmières pendant la COVID-19 : Une analyse de la couverture médiatique au Canada

“…À la di érence des analyses médiatiques précédentes, qui ont tendance à se pencher sur les représentations médiatiques du personnel in rmier et des enjeux liés aux soins in rmiers (par ex. la violence au travail, les salaires, les pénuries), [4][5][6][7][8] nous cherchons spéci quement à analyser les voix du personnel in rmier, tant collectives qu'individuelles. Pour ce faire, notre objectif était d'examiner l'utilisation des médias par le personnel in rmier canadien pour partager ses expériences, faire part de ses préoccupations, prendre la parole, sonner l'alarme et défendre ses propres intérêts et ceux des patients pendant la COVID-19.…”

Nursing Voices during COVID-19: An Analysis of Canadian Media Coverage

“…In order to gain more insights into this media coverage, we analyzed the content of Canadian news stories published in both English and French during the fi rst fi ve months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike previous media analyses which tend to focus on media's representations of nurses and nursing issues (e.g., workplace violence, salaries, shortage), [4][5][6][7][8] we were particularly interested in analyzing the voice of nurses -both collective and individual. As such, we aimed to take a closer look at Canadian nurses' use of media for sharing their experiences, raising concerns, speaking up, blowing the whistle, and advocating for themselves and their clients during COVID-19.…”