Fall 2011 – Missing News in Canada

In September 2011, thirteen senior students from the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University, under the supervision of Dr. Kathleen Cross, conducted a NewsWatch Canada seminar. They combed over both major news reports and independent news sources from the last year to uncover important news stories that received little or no attention from the major news outlets in Canada. Through careful research and analysis the seminar compiled a list of 153 stories that had both credibility (could be verified) and held a significant level of importance to Canadian citizens. This list was reduced to the top 25 underreported stories through lengthy team discussions, as well as on the advice from our supervisor and other members of the faculty in the School of Communication. The seminar participants researched each story, reviewed its credibility, searched for additional information, and measured the amount of coverage the topic received in Canada’s major (mainstream) news media.