Who framed the F-35? Government–media relations in Canadian defence procurement

Abstract

How did the Canadian news media cover the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter purchase, proposed by the Harper government in mid-2010? Under what conditions did the media tend to index government talking points as opposed to providing space to oppositional voices and viewpoints? Content analysis of headlines and full text transcripts in five mainstream newspapers revealed news coverage that was mostly negative and that it became more negative as consensus within official decision circles dissipated. Overall, the findings fit most closely with the predictions of the cascading activation model of government–media relations, while also underscoring the importance of factors specific to the Canadian context.