Racialized victims of police violence and Canadian media : racial victim blaming and absolving the police

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to determine whether Canadian news media relied on racist tropes and stereotypes of black people in their portrayal of black men who had died as the result of police violence. Additionally, the thesis wanted to identify the different uses of language that news media uses to absolve the institution of policing. For this thesis, news media articles published by Canadian outlets that pertained to Canadian cases of black men dying because of direct police violence or death exasperated by police violence had their content analyzed. The articles were made up from regional and national outlets and they were themed and coded to identify specific uses of phrases and words that speak to premature or unfounded absolving of the police and victim blaming with overt racist tropes and stereotypes. What the methods found was that Canadian media often includes irrelevant information pertaining to the victim that is used to implicitly blame the victim for their fate. The thesis also found that specific language tactics were used by these articles to reduce the violence done by the police officers and to remove the officer from the ordeal entirely. This thesis wants to contribute to the literature on the media portrayals of racial minorities and the ways in which implicit racist practices are embedded in societal institutions. The thesis also wanted to shed light on racism and discrimination within Canada that may not be apparent in contemporary society.