18. Whose News? How the Canadian Media Covered Britain’s EU Referendum

This chapter quantifies the volume, issues, nature and origin of Canadian media coverage of Britain’s EU campaign between 3 June and 3 July 2016, gathered from a news-media database search. It highlights how Canada’s political environment and the shrinking breadth of its media facing financial pressures shaped the UK’s 2016 EU referendum coverage, as well as Canadian experience with two Quebec referendums. It found two-third of coverage came after the 23 June vote and most focused on economic and trade concerns. Foreign wires and news-organization syndications provided coverage for most Canadian outlets, with three notable exceptions. Opinion and comment written from Canada, with the weaknesses that come from relying on secondary sources rather than primary reporting, almost matched the volume of news reporting.