Overview
Media coverage of the Supreme Court of Canada has emerged as a crucial factor not only for judges and journalists but also for the public. It's the media, after all, that decide which court rulings to cover and how. They translate highly complex judgments into concise and meaningful news stories that will appeal to, and be understood by, the general public. Thus, judges lose control of the message once they hand down decisions, and journalists have the last word. To show how the Supreme Court has fared under the media spotlight, Sauvageau, Schneiderman, and Taras examine a year in the life of the court and then focus on the media coverage of four high-profile decisions: the Marshall case, about Aboriginal rights; the Vriend case, about gay rights; the Quebec Secession Reference; and the Sharpe child pornography case. They explore the differences between television and newspaper coverage, national and regional reporting, and the French- and English-language media. They also describe how judges and journalists understand and interact with one another amid often-clashing legal and journalistic cultures, offering a rich and detailed account of the relationship between two of the most important institutions in Canadian life.
Full Product Details
Author: Florian Sauvageau ,
David Schneiderman ,
David Taras ,
Ruth Klinkhammer
Publisher: University of British Columbia Press
Imprint: University of British Columbia Press
Edition: illustrated edition
Weight: 0.500kg
ISBN: 9780774812436
ISBN 10: 0774812435
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 06 December 2005
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.
Reviews
For the first word on a complex subject, they have produced a book that is thought-provoking, authoritative, impeccably researched and grounded in reality. -- Kirk Martin Literary Review of Canada
The Last Word makes a very important contribution to knowledge in an almost non-existent field: I know of no other book published in Canada on this subject in either English or French. It should contribute to the very lively debate about the court, not only in the legal and media milieu, but in the general public as well. - Andree Lajoie, Faculty of Law, Universite de Montreal
Author Information
Florian Sauvageau is Professor of Communications at Université Laval in Québec and Director of the Centre d'études sur les médias/Centre for Media Studies. David Schneiderman is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto. David Taras is University Professor and Professor in the Faculty of Communication and Culture at the University of Calgary.
