An Examination of Print Media Coverage
of Household Food Insecurity Action in
Canada
Patricia A. Collins, PhD
School of Urban and Regional Planning, Queen’s
University
Canadian Public Health Association Annual Meeting
May 28, 2014
Presentation Overview
• Background on HFI and HFI-Action in Canada
• Knowledge gaps, study objective, and methods
• Preliminary results
• Conclusions and implications
HFI in Canada
• 13% of Canadian households are food insecure
– 34% marginal  worry about food
– 46% moderate  making compromises with food
– 20% severe  forgoing food
• Health impacts
– Compromised nutrition
– Adults  Low SRH, nutrition-related chronic diseases
– Children  Overweight, low BMD, asthma
Tarasuk et al. 2014
Kirkpatrick & Tarasuk 2008
Che & Chen 2001
Vozoris & Tarasuk 2003
Dubois et al. 2011
Kirkpatrick et al. 2010
Determinants of HFI
• Low income is primary determinant of HFI
– 72% of households dependent on welfare
– 38% of households dependent on EI/WC
– 62% of households dependent on wages
• Increasing prevalence attributable to rising costs of living
• Proximity (or lack thereof) may not be a strong
determinant of HFI
Tarasuk et al. 2014
Emery et al. 2012
Kirkpatrick & Tarasuk 2010
Apparicio et al. 2007
Pearson et al. 2005
Action on HFI
• Lack of coordinated provincial and federal policies to
reduce HFI
– UN rep De Schutter’s call for national food strategy in 2012
• Neoliberalism, welfare state decline, downloading to
municipalities
• Action primarily at municipal level
– Unable to redistribute income
– Food-based solution to income-based problem
Riches 2002
Emery 2012
Tarasuk et al. 2012
FCM 2006
Tarasuk 2001
Conceptual Framework for HFI
Action in Canada
Federal &
Provincial
Level
IncomeBased
Approach
Income-Support
Model (e.g., social
assistance, child
care benefits,
housing supports)
Charitable Model
Income
Security
Access to
(healthy)
food
HOUSEHOLD
FOOD
INSECURITY
Nutritional
Status
Disease Mgt
Self-efficacy
MunicipalLevel FoodBased
Approach
Anxiety &
Stress
Household
Improvements &
Supports Model
HEALTH
(e.g., diabetes,
CVD, stroke,
hypertension,
mental illness,
asthma, obesity)
Coping
Skills
Dignity
Community Food
Systems Model
Social
cohesion
Collins et al. 2014
Knowledge Gaps and Study
Objective
• Food-based initiatives supported by various groups
– Fed & prov health policy-makers, public health units
– Local service providers, food security advocates
• Gaps
– Limited evidence of effectiveness of initiatives in reducing HFI
– No evidence on how media might be driving/perpetuating support
• Study Objective
– To critically analyze Canadian print media coverage of HFI issues
Methods
• Quantitative media content analysis
• Eighteen newspapers – 2 national, 16 regional/local
• 6 provinces – QC, ON, MB, SK, AB, BC
• Published between 2007-2012
Codebook
• Bibliographic details
– Title, author, newspaper, date, section, type, length
• Initiatives profiled
– Name, level, type, model
• Recommendations for action
– Yes/no, prescribed action, organizations, government level & sector
• Tone
– Positive, neutral, negative
Article Sample Flowchart
Articles mentioned either “food security” or “food
insecurity”
N=2456
Excluded articles that discussed international initiatives
N=952
Excluded articles that were not a news story, editorial,
opinion/commentary or a letter to the editor
N=707
Excluded articles that defined food security/insecurity
differently (e.g., food security meaning food safety)
N=547
General Characteristics of
Article Sample
• Nearly one-third from three newspapers
– Vancouver Sun 14%
– Toronto Star 9%
– Globe and Mail 8%
• Article Type
–
–
–
–
News story 72%
Opinion or commentary 13%
Letter to the editor 9%
Editorial 5%
Article Coverage from 2007-2012
160
140
Number of Articles
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
2007
2008
2009
2010
Year of Publication
2011
2012
Coverage of Food-Based
Initiatives
Level of Operation of Initiatives
Profiled in Newspaper Articles
4.3
Models of Food-Based Initiatives
Profiled in Newspaper Articles
5.3
9.6
13.1
8.8
13.4
27.5
57
20.1
40.9
Neighbourhood
Municipal
Regional
Provincial
National
Charitable
Household improvements and supports
Community food systems
Multiple models
Awareness/consciousness raising
Types of Initiatives Profiled
70
60
Number of Articles
50
40
30
20
10
0
Community
Food
gardens &
bank/soup
urban
kitchen/meal
agriculture
program
Multiple
initiatives
Policy/bylaw Protection of Food charters Educ & skills Awareness &
change
farmland &
& policy
devel, comm consciousness
local food
councils
kitchens
raising
movement
Public
markets
Good food
boxes
Responsibility for Action
• Organizations responsible
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Government 70%
Multiple orgs 16%
Private citizens 6%
NGOs 5%
Educational institutions 2%
Private corps 0.5%
Public health units 0.2%
Level of Government Responsible
12.7
42.5
18.4
26.3
Municipal
Prov/Terr
Federal
Multiple levels
Initiatives Profiled and
Tone of Coverage
Initiative Type
Positive Neutral Negative
Community gardens (N=65)
49
46
5
Food banks (N=48)
33
46
21
Multiple initiatives (N=47)
49
23
28
0
95
5
Protection of farmland & local food mov’t (N=39)
21
72
8
Education & skills development (N=38)
71
29
0
Food charters & policy councils (N=38)
16
76
8
6
54
40
Public markets (N=14)
71
29
0
Good food boxes (N=8)
63
37
0
Total (N=374)
34
53
13
Policy/bylaw change (N=42)
Awareness & consciousness raising (N=35)
Government Level and
Tone of Coverage
Level of
Government
Positive
Neutral
Negative
Municipal
19
70
11
Provincial/Territorial
16
52
32
3
50
47
10
43
47
Federal
Multiple Levels
Findings Summary
• Print media news coverage of food insecurity
issues in Canada risen steadily
• Majority of coverage profiles initiatives delivered
at neighbourhood- and municipal-levels
• Non-charitable initiatives (i.e., those from
household improvements and community food
systems models) positively framed
• Municipalities implicated often and positively
Conclusions & Implications
• These findings suggest that news media may
be mediating the widespread support for
food-based approaches to address HFI in
Canada.
• This study's findings reinforce the need for
critical evaluation of such initiatives to ensure
that Canada's food-based approach to HFI
action is driven by evidence, not rhetoric.
Acknowledgements
• Senate Advisory Research Committee, Queen’s
University
• Dr. Megan Gaucher, Trent University
• Drs. Elaine Power & Margaret Little, Queen’s University
References
• Apparicio, P., M.-S. Cloutier and R. Shearmur (2007). "The case of Montreal's missing food deserts:
Evaluation of accessibility to food deserts." International Journal of Health Geography 6(4).
• Che, J. and J. Chen (2001). "Food insecurity in Canadian households " Health Reports 12(4): 11-22.
• Collins, P., E. Power and M. Little (2014). "Municipal Level Responses to Household Food
Insecurity in Canada: A Call For Critical, Evaluative Research." Canadian Journal of Public Health
105(2).
• Dubois, L., D. Francis, D. Burnier, F. Tatone-Tokuda, M. Girard, G. Gordon-Strachan, K. R. Fox and
R. Wilks (2011). "Household food insecurity and childhood overweight in Jamaica and Quebec: a
gender-based analysis." BMC Public Health 31(11): 199.
• Emery, J. C. H. (2012). Why a basic annual income is necessary to reduce food insecurity
prevalence. North American Basic Income Network Conference. Toronto, ON.
• Emery, J. C. H., A. C. Bartoo, J. Matheson, A. Ferrer, S. I. Kirkpatrick, V. Tarasuk and L. McIntyre
(2012). "Evidence of the Association between Household Food Insecurity and Heating Cost
Inflation in Canada, 1998–2001." Canadian Public Policy 38(2): 181-215.
• FCM (2006). Building prosperity from the ground up: Restoring municipal fiscal balance. Ottawa,
ON, Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
• Kirkpatrick, S., L. McIntyre and M. L. Potestio (2010). "Child hunger and long-term adverse
consequences for health." Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine 164(8): 754-762.
References (cont.)
• Kirkpatrick, S. and V. Tarasuk (2008). "Food insecurity is associated with nutrient inadequacies
among Canadian adults and adolescents." The Journal of Nutrition 138: 604-612.
• Kirkpatrick, S. and V. Tarasuk (2010). "Assessing the relevance of neighbourhood characteristics to
the household food security of low-income Toronto families." Public Health Nutrition 13(7): 11391148.
• Pearson, T., J. Russell, M. Campbell and M. Barker (2005). "Do 'food deserts' influence fruit and
vegetable consumption? - A cross-sectional study " Appetite 45: 195-197.
• Riches, G. (2002). "Food banks and food security: Welfare reform, human rights and social policy.
Lessons from Canada? ." Social Policy and Administration 36(6): 648-663.
• Tarasuk, V. (2001). "A critical examination of community-based responses to household food
insecurity in Canada." Health Education & Behavior 28(4): 487-499.
• Tarasuk, V., L. McIntyre and E. M. Power (2012). Income-related household food insecurity in
Canada: A policy failure to address poverty. Submission on Civil Society Priority Issue #1: Hunger,
Poverty and the Right to Food. Toronto, ON, Report to Olivier De Schutter, the United Nations
Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Mission to Canada: United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization.
• Tarasuk, V., A. Mitchell and N. Dachner (2014). Household food insecurity in Canada, 2012.
Toronto, ON, Research to identify policy options to reduce food insecurity (PROOF).
• Vozoris, N. and V. Tarasuk (2003). "Household Food Insufficiency Is Associated with Poorer
Health." The Journal of Nutrition 133(1): 120-126.
Thank you!
Contact Info:
patricia.collins@queensu.ca
www.healthycityprof.com