Coyote Portrayals in Media, Ten Years Later

Portrayal of interactions between humans and coyotes, content analysis of Canadian Print Media 1998-2010 isn’t the most enthralling of titles. But the study below it had a significant impact on my career and how I perceive and engage with media. The paper, which appeared in Cities and The Environment ten years ago, looked into how coyote interactions with people are discussed in the media; the findings floored me in when I first read the paper, and they remain a part of media sensationalism seminars I’ve given over the last decade. Rather than try to explain what this paper was about, I’ll skip ahead to the interview with coauthor of the study Dr. Shelley Alexander of the University of Calgary. But first, I wanted to let you know that Defender Radio and The Switch are going to have an awesome giveaway starting next week! To make sure you get the details, follow me on Instagram @howiemichael and sign up to receive email updates at DefenderRadio.com or TheFurBearers.com. Links are in this week’s show notes – the contest starts the first week of November, so stay tuned. Now, here’s Dr. Shelley Alexander sharing her views, ten years later, of ten years of media content analysis, her own experiences with sensationalism and how they’ve impacted her role as a researcher and educator. Episode art: A coyote pup in the Calgary region, remote capture by Dr. Shelley Alexander. Links: Alexander, Shelley M. and Quinn, Michael S. (2012) "Portrayal of Interactions Between Humans and Coyotes (Canis latrans): Content Analysis of Canadian Print Media (1998-2010)," Cities and the Environment (CATE): Vol. 4: Iss. 1, Article 9. (https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cate/vol4/iss1/9/)  Dr. Shelley Alexander (University of Calgary) https://geog.ucalgary.ca/manageprofile/profiles/shelley-alexander University of Calgary Coexistence Research https://research.ucalgary.ca/wildlife Coyote Watch Canada https://www.coyotewatchcanada.com Want to suggest topics for Defender Radio and/or The Switch? Reach out to us at [email protected], by visiting DefenderRadio.com or engaging host Michael Howie on social media via Instagram (www.instagram.com/howiemichael), TikTok (www.tiktok.com/@howiemichael) or Facebook (www.Facebook.com/DefenderRadio).  Defender Radio is produced by The Fur-Bearers (www.TheFurBearers.com), a charitable non-partisan organization whose mandate is to advocate on behalf of fur-bearing animals in the wild and in confinement, promote coexistence solutions in communities and protect the habitats of fur-bearing animals across Canada. You can follow The Fur-Bearers on Instagram (www.instagram.com/furbearers), Twitter (www.twitter.com/furbearers) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FurFree). 

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