F and the M

1999 Canada

1999 Provinces

1999 Religions

Notes

One of the most interesting parts of the study is determining which religious groups get the most coverage. Every newspaper contained more coverage of Christianity than any other religion, ranging from 52.63% to 23.08% of all the religious groups covered. Below is a chart showing last year’s findings, and next to it, this year’s for newspapers containing the largest percentage of coverage:

Most 1998 % Most 1999 % Buddhism •Globe and Mail 8.06 Times Colonist 4.85 Catholicism •Cape Breton Post 85.71 Ottawa Citizen 24.49 Christianity •Daily Gleaner 70.37 Brandon Sun 52.63 Hinduism •Telegraph Journal 5.88 Toronto Star 3.31 Islam •Le Devoir 21.57 Toronto Sun 12.89 Judaism •The Gazette 31.63 Winnipeg Free Press 18.48 Orthodox Christianity •The Gazette 6.12 Toronto Sun 5.93 Sikhism •Vancouver Sun 11.11 Vancouver Sun 6.01

 

Because more individual religious groups were tracked this year, all the percentages above are down, as they are based on relative standings.

Certain specific events which occurred in the three weeks definitely affected the relative proportions of some religious groups. For example, much more attention was paid this year by most papers to Orthodox Christianity due to the NATO attacks on Kosovo, as well as the high-profile death of an Orthodox priest in Toronto following a police chase. Similarly, the presence of Rev. Dale Lang following his son’s murder in at Taber high school boosted the number of stories mentioning Anglicanism. Last year, the two large stories involved the anniversary of the birth of Israel, and the Pope’s visit to Nigeria.

Another interesting aspect is a consideration of how diverse the coverage is. The study kept track of 22 different religious groupings. Many of the papers included at least some information about each of them (Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Globe & Mail, Ottawa Citizen, Vancouver Sun) while others had far less: the Brandon Sun, for example, contained information about 16 of the groups.