By: Adnan Bilal, Nico Continelli, Adnan Syed, Thuan Tran

Homelessness is a widespread issue, and views may be informed by cultural and societal representations throughout the media. Our study examined 47 article headlines and cover photos from Niagara-regional news outlets – such as Niagara This Week, the St. Catharines Standard, and the Welland Tribune – to understand how local news media portrays homelessness and the homeless population in their 2023 coverage.

This is an issue that has becoming increasing prevalent in Canada, leading to the stigmatization of the homelessness population. Shattering the stigmatization of homelessness leads to deeper understanding and empathy towards the homeless population in Niagara, as individuals unaware of the problem are more likely to ignore homelessness due to unintentional ignorance.

News media and articles are a key player in how this stigmatization can play out on a communal scale. Depending on a news article’s perspective with respect to Agenda-Setting Theory, articles may perpetuate negative stereotypes, contributing to the problem further.

Of the articles in our research sample, most are neither positive nor negative, providing an unbiased perspective and information. The colours of the article cover photos (which can be indicative of intended evocations) did not evoke a high amount of emotion and were consistently unprovocative.

When examining the headlines and cover photos of 47 articles, 51% of articles had a neutral tone and 35% had a negative tone. Only 14% of articles had a positive tone towards homelessness, demonstrating how media material that is circulated amongst the public is largely informative and factual in nature.

This calls more attention to the fact that news media in the Niagara Region who write articles on the topic view homelessness as a situation they can do little to fix and are thus impartial towards, relying instead on information-based reporting and away from op-ed pieces. However, considering it is a growing issue within the Niagara Region, we call for a different approach to be taken.

With the right representation in media channels and news articles, the crisis of homelessness can be seen in a more positive tone that the media and the greater public do not shy away from discussing critically. Considering our research has a very low percentage for a positive tone for our article headlines, there must be a change in the representation of homelessness in the media that does not shy away from positive solutions.

Most importantly, the issue of homelessness must be addressed within a wider social context, and it is crucial that research is put in place and implementation measures are followed to tackle this issue correctly.

Research Report

By: Adnan Bilal, Nico Continelli, Adnan Syed, Thuan Tran

Homelessness has been a growing issue within the Niagara Region (United Way, 2023). Personal biases and stigmas play a role in homelessness as they can influence administrative values and political agendas of local governments (Martinez, 2023). The most common causes of homelessness include disability or physical health issues, substance issues or mental health issues, major life changes, financial crisis or employment difficulties (Martinez, 2023). Understanding how local news media portrays homelessness is important foundational knowledge to keep in mind when trying to eradicate homelessness at the local level.

Literature Review

Agenda-setting theory is a key driver behind local homelessness because media outlets operate like a business, needing to sell stories to stay in business (McCombs & Shaw, 1972). This theory is critical to understand here, as the media has the power to shift public perceptions and support initiatives aimed at addressing the root causes of homelessness (Best, 2010). Power rests in the hands of local media to choose whether or not the stories they share are entirely ‘good’ or wholly ‘bad’.

Colour and language can be examined in media headlines and cover photos (Lagerspetz, 2010) to deduce if the story has positive or negative connotations. Green and blue shades can point to depression or sickness, whilst red and black may symbolize violence. Conversely, yellow and purple often have cheery, ethereal associations. Examining the colours used will develop a deeper understanding of indirect messaging around homelessness.

Cultivation Theory serves as a framework for understanding the impact of media on the public’s mindset. While often applied in the realm of television studies, this theory suggests that media can construct a distorted version of reality, influencing viewers’ beliefs and perceptions. For instance, individuals may develop perceptions of homelessness based on depictions in the news and other media, leading them to stereotype homeless people as violent, troublesome, and prone to alcoholism or mental health issues. This theory is particularly relevant to the study as it delves into how news media portray homelessness and shapes public perceptions, exploring how these perceptions are molded by media communicators. Research findings indicate that exposure to newspapers has the most significant causal effect on implicit attitudes (Arendt, 2010, p. 156).

As Richter et al. (2012) highlight, there’s a noticeable dearth of research in Canada regarding how homelessness is portrayed in the media. Consequently, their study focuses on understanding American culture, its homeless population, and how the media depicts them. Previous studies on this topic are outdated, including Richter et al.’s examination of major

Canadian newspapers over a twenty-year period from 1987 to 2007, as well as research by Schneider and Ingram in 1993. Additionally, earlier research encountered challenges due to the limited availability of information about homelessness. Over the past decade, research in this area has been scarce, resulting in a lack of contemporary insight into how the media shapes perceptions of homelessness and homeless individuals. This underscores the pressing need for further exploration of how media coverage influences attitudes towards homelessness, with a particular emphasis on utilizing data from the Canadian homeless population.

Method

Three prominent news outlets headquartered in the Niagara Region, namely the St. Catharines Standard, Niagara-This-Week, and Welland Tribune, were selected as the subjects of this study. The search criteria for specific articles were crafted to encompass the geographical area under investigation, identified as “Niagara,” along with the thematic focus of “homelessness,” resulting in the search query “Homelessness in Niagara.” A comprehensive search of archival news articles from Brock University’s OMNI newspaper database, written within the year 2023, yielded a total of 1,179 results. From this vast pool, only articles from the three previously mentioned outlets, associated with the keyword “Mental Health,” a commonly stereotyped societal issue affecting a significant portion of the population, were examined, amounting to 47 articles in total. This research endeavour primarily entailed the analysis of publicly available news articles. Given the absence of potential privacy concerns associated with information sourced from the public domain, and the non-involvement of any interventions orchestrated by the researchers, a formal ethics review was deemed unnecessary.

Each article included in the study underwent meticulous coding, encompassing demographic details such as article ID, publisher, and publication date, along with an assessment of its representation of Niagara homelessness (classified as Positive, Neutral, or Negative), colour (Positive, Neutral, or Negative) and framing of causes (Solution-oriented, Conflictoriented, Both solution and conflict-oriented, or Neither solution nor conflict-oriented). Two independent coders meticulously coded all 47 articles within the sample set, ensuring intercoder reliability. A degree of consistency, with over 70% similarity in coding, was achieved between the coders, bolstering the credibility of the study’s findings.

Results

This study critically analyzed homelessness representation in Niagara Regional news media, focusing on the portrayal of the local homelessness population in local media outlets in 2023. These outlets included Niagara This Week, the St. Catharines Standard, and the Welland Tribune. From these various Niagara-based news outlets, 47 results with keywords “mental health” and “homelessness in Niagara” appeared. Of the 47 articles, over half (51%) of titles had a neutral tone. This is in comparison to 35% of titles that were negative in tone, and 14% that offered a positive tone. The next category we looked at was colour of the headline photo. While only 11% were positive in colour, 28% were negatively coloured – the remaining 61% of headline images were considered neutral. Finally, framing of Niagara homelessness was broken down into one of four categories. 39% of articles were considered solution oriented, while 27% were deemed conflict oriented – and while 11% of articles were considered to frame homelessness as an issue and present a solution, the remaining 23% were considered neither solution nor conflict oriented.

Discussion

The sample size from Niagara This Week, the St. Catharines Standard and the Welland Tribune was reflective of previous assumptions. In over half of the sample article titles and cover photos, language used and photos presented were unassuming in nature and attempted to be neutral. In most cases, articles were informative and educational as opposed to positive or negative, thus producing 34% of the sample size that was found to be both solution and conflict oriented or neither of the two. As more stories echo the same informative, neutral sentiment, results demonstrated that more stories followed suit, as cultivation theory set a form of local industry standard (Arendt, 2010). This led to a sample that lacked strong bias in most cases, which does more to inform a local audience, as too strong of an opinion without an emphasis on local statistics and facts may limit the audience and therefore attention to the cause (Martinez, 2023).

Limitations

The study’s limitations are outlined as follows: It examined three major news outlets in Niagara – The St. Catharines Standard, Niagara-This-Week, and Welland Tribune, however, both The St. Catharines Standard and Welland Tribune are owned and operated by the Torstar Corporation which also publishes the Toronto Star. This overlap in ownership may restrict diversity in coverage and viewpoints, potentially diminishing the overall depth of information accessible to readers. The discontinuation of Niagara-This-Week in September 2023 further reduces the available sources of local news, leaving mainly The St. Catharines Standard and Welland Tribune as primary references. This decrease in publications limits the opportunities for diverse story coverage and representation within the media landscape. Additionally, the absence of visual content in some stories, either through a lack of accompanying photographs or limited online availability, hampers accessibility and engagement for online audiences. Visuals are pivotal in storytelling and can foster better comprehension and empathy, particularly regarding issues like homelessness. The presence of irrelevant articles in search results, triggered by keyword matches such as “Mental health” and “Niagara,” underscores the limitations of search algorithms. While these keywords may be pertinent in certain contexts, they can inadvertently bring up unrelated content, leading to confusion and misinformation. Moreover, the scarcity of media outlets covering homelessness in Niagara results in a constrained perspective on the issue. With fewer sources available, there’s a heightened risk of overlooking certain viewpoints or dimensions of the problem, potentially skewing public and policymaker’s understanding.

Implications, Recommendations, and Conclusion

The results of the research study are indicative of an under-studied, under-addressed homelessness situation in the Niagara Region. The astounding number of article titles and cover photographs that were determined through intercoder reliability to be neutral cannot be understated, as far too many news outlets using our key terms in the year of 2023 refused to take an official stance on homelessness and local efforts to address it. A common issue in the study was the repetition of news stories from multiple media outlets in the Niagara Region. Many pieces within the sample were simply regurgitated by a different outlet – this is a consequence of a, once again, under-studied and under-addressed homelessness situation. What this means for the homeless population across Niagara is that while their plight is likely to be widely known and understood, it is unlikely that resulting action will occur.

Given the findings of our research study, our recommendations are two-fold. For starters, Niagara regional media needs to produce original stories that truly demonstrate the lived experience of local homeless people to further establish the struggles they face day in and day out. While getting direct quotes from the homeless population is not easily done, such an effort would likely result in a more sympathetic response to growing homelessness in the region. Secondly, we suggest that local government does more to address the issue of Niagara regional homelessness. A recurring theme across the sample was removal of a state of emergency on Niagara homelessness, as well as the refusal to declare it a crisis or frame it as a problem. The actions of local government seemed inadequate in our sample size.

The study provided clear results based off a simple codebook that was widely accessible and tested via intercoder reliability. Using clear keywords and relying on three major news outlets in the Niagara Region offered a truly local perspective of homelessness in the area. Though unsurprising, the results are important to understand and consider within the broader social context. As homelessness is only growing in Niagara, it is critical that the situation be addressed and understood.

References

Arendt, F. (2010). Cultivation Effects of a Newspaper on Reality Estimates and Explicit and Implicit Attitudes. Journal of Media Psychology, 22(4), 147–159. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000020

Calder, M. J., Hansard, A., Richter, S., Burns, K. K., & Mao, Y. (2011). Framing Homelessness for the Canadian Public: The News Media and Homelessness. Canadian Journal of Urban Research, 20(2), 1–19.

Lagerspetz, O. (2010). The colours of things and the metaphysics of colour samples. Rivista Di

Estetica, 43, 161–179. https://doi.org/10.4000/estetica.1802

Martinez, K. (2023). Identifying Misconceptions About Homeless Individuals and Identifying Deficient Services in the Homeless Community.

https://www.proquest.com/docview/2812239589?sourcetype=Dissertations%20&%20Theses

McCombs, M. E., & Shaw, D. L. (1972). The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media. The

Public Opinion Quarterly, 36(2), 176–187. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2747787

Richter, S., Burns, K. K., Chaw-Kant, J., Calder, M., Mogale, S., Goin, L., Mao, Y., & Schnell, K. (2012). Homelessness Coverage in Major Canadian Newspapers, 1987 – 2007. Canadian Journal of Communication, 36(4), 619–636. https://doi.org/10.22230/cjc.2011v36n4a2417

Schneider, A., & Ingram, H. (1993). Social Construction of Target Populations: Implications for Politics and Policy. The American Political Science Review, 87(2), 334–347.

https://doi.org/10.2307/2939044

United Way. (2023, August 10). Homelessness. United Way Niagara. Retrieved March 20, 2024, from https://www.unitedwayniagara.org/the-issues/homelessness/

Appendix One

Key Terms and Definitions

Agenda-setting theory: Communication theory that asserts that media presentation of issues has an influence on how important the public perceives issues. Agenda-setting theory is more concerned with not telling people what to think, but rather what to think about.

Cultivation theory: Communication theory that argues long term exposure to media content can influence, shape, and impact how individuals perceive the real world. The more individuals consume a particular type of media content or perspective, the more likely they are to adopt its views.

Stigma: A set of negative or unfair beliefs that society, or a group of people hold towards a thing. For example, stigma towards homelessness.

Framing theory: Communication theory that expands ideas of agenda-setting theory. Framing theory looks at how social actors, such as politicians or the media, can influence public opinion and perceptions through their presentation of information of subject matters. This includes language, context, how information is communicated etc.

 

Appendix Two

Variable	Category	Description
Demographic Details
	A. Article ID	Identifier given to each article.
	B. Publication Date	Date when the article was published.
	C. Specific Newspaper	Niagara This Week St. Catharines Standard Welland Tribune
Representation of Niagara Homelessness	= No = Yes
Tone
	A. Positive Tone	Headline language is hopeful and outlines potential success.
	B. Neutral Tone	Headline language is neither positive nor negative and provides unbiased information.
	C. Negative Tone	Headline language is downcast and outlines negative consequences. Perpetuates stereotypes and echoes stigmas.
Colour
	D. Positive Colour	Cover photo showcases light colours and shades that evoke positive emotions. Green, yellow, lighter shades of blue, white, orange.
	E. Neutral Colour	Cover photo showcases colours and shades that do not evoke strong emotion either way. Grey, beige, darker shades of blue, purple.
	F. Negative Colour	Cover photo showcases darker colours and shades that evoke negative emotions. Black, red, brown, army green.
Cause Framing	= No = Yes
	A. Solution Oriented	The topic introduces solutions to homelessness and mental health assistance. Keywords: support, success, development
	B. Conflict Oriented	The topic frames homelessness through the lens of societal issues, with an emphasis on the problem – not the solution. Keywords: battle, policy, issue
	C. Both Solution and Conflict Oriented	The topic frames homelessness in Niagara as a problem while touching on a solution. Keywords stem from both A and B.
	D. Neither Solution nor Conflict Oriented	The topic does not touch on solutions or conflict regarding homelessness, instead using statistics with no bias. Keywords do not stem from either A or B.