Abstract

This thesis research project examines the quality of news reporting on and about people who use drugs in Newfoundland and Labrador. This is done by examining news reporting and through interviews with those working in the harm reduction field. A reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) is conducted on 55 news articles from the five major news outlets in Newfoundland and Labrador to illuminate how local journalists reported on the “Towards Recovery” reports, an initiative created by the government to assist in overhauling the province’s mental health and addictions services. The RTA of the news articles found that journalists consistently failed to source from people with lived experience of drug use, instead prioritizing government and healthcare officials, while failing to provide actionable information to the reader. Following the article RTA, this thesis research project also employed semi-structured interviews with five harm reductionists in Newfoundland and Labrador’s capital city of St. John’s, asking how they thought local journalism can better support people who use drugs and harm reductionists. The interviews revealed a desire for more collaboration between harm reductionists and journalists. This research’s combined results reveal a gap that a collaborative form of journalism, like solutions journalism, may be equipped to fill. This study has practical implications for local journalism in Newfoundland and Labrador since it shows a clear need for a paradigm shift: Journalism must view people who use drugs as part of the audience, not as extensions of their audience.