The Right to Privacy in Media Discourse: American and Canadian Reporting on the Snowden Disclosures

Abstract

How did the U.S. and Canadian news media cover privacy following the Snowden disclosures in 2013? What were the dominant frames used in portraying the disclosures and to what extent did the media mention privacy? Were there any prominent differences between Canadian and U.S. media coverage of the disclosures? Content analysis of four mainstream newspapers from both Canada and the United States revealed news coverage that largely circumvented difficult questions of privacy in the year following the Snowden disclosures. One American newspaper was found to be extremely negative in its portrayal of the disclosures, while both Canadian newspapers framed the disclosures more positively. The most dominant frame found in the study was found most frequently in both a Canadian and American newspaper under study, illustrating that understanding of the disclosures was similar in both countries to some degree. This study also draws comparisons between Canadian and American overlapping perspectives on corporations increasing collection of consumer data. The main finding of this study was that while most articles in the analysis called for a debate, the concept of privacy was largely circumvented in the media.