"Images" and "Issues" : the portrayal of Asians in the Vancouver Daily Province and the Vancouver Daily World, 1907 to 1908
Date
1995
Authors
Steinhausen, Wendy Carol
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Abstract
This study considers the portrayal of Asian ethnic groups in the Vancouver Daily World and the Vancouver Daily Province from April 1907 to October 1908. The analysis of content selected from these two newspaper sources demonstrates that press coverage was preoccupied with presenting Asians in a generally negative manner, reflecting and reinforcing the fear and hostility that characterize the response of white British Columbians towards Asians at that time.
The study provides a descriptive framework in which to consider the press "image" of the Chinese, Japanese and British Indians (Hindus and/or Sikhs) who--like the predominant British population--were newcomers to British Columbia. A number of contentious "issues" were imbedded in the endemic xenophobic attitudes held by the white community, manifested as commonly held racist arguments in press coverage concerned with existing socioeconomic conditions and a variety of tentative political and legislative responses to perceived massive amounts of Asian immigration.
During 1907 and 1908, print journalism was the only medium of available mass communication. The two evening dailies chosen for this study provided their respective readership with reports of newsworthy events and timely editorial comment regarding the relevant issues of the day. At the same time, as protagonists in an often bitter contest for increasing circulation in the rapidly growing city, the World and the Province were not unbiased in their selection and presentation of issues. In conjunction with other historical sources, these data document a particular version of white response to Asian immigration, derived from white perceptions of Asians presented in the daily press.