Constructing the Quebec Referendum. French and English Media Voices by Gertrude J. Robinson (review)

566 letters in canada 1999 reliance on the old categories he queries, and the `patient voices' he invokes have their limits. The contradictions we all inhabit are as evident in Grant as in those he scrutinizes. As for me, the alliance of a theological idea of the creative spirit with the transfigurative efficacy of literature looks like a closed shop. (JOHN LAVERY) Gertrude J. Robinson. Constructing the Quebec Referendum. French and English Media Voices University of Toronto Press 1998. 262. $50.00, $18.95 Is journalism objective? Although journalists, like readers and viewers, believe that it is, Gertrude J. Robinson argues convincingly that this is more a goal than a reality. In her study, Robinson analyses the issue of media power in society and in the political process. Her study, which is divided into four parts and includes five appendices, looks at the case of the media coverage of the 1980 Quebec referendum, especially televised media coverage in Montreal. To do so, she has selected a series of political events such as the release of the PQ document on sovereignty, the Liberal document on renewed federalism, and the last week of the referendum campaign, as well as the day after the referendum. Her careful analysis relies on broadcast news from four Montreal television stations (two French, Radio Canada and Télé-Métropole, and two English, the CBC and CFCF). She also completes her analysis by looking at three important Quebec newspapers (Le Devoir, the Gazette and La Presse). The book has a solid introduction in which the author states the scope of her study and concludes with a good summary of the main points and a brief analysis of the 1995 referendum. The second chapter, written by Armande Saint-Jean, offers a brief history of Quebec media and the evolution of the journalistic profession between 1960 and 1980. It points out that the 1970 October Crisis and the consolidation of the media industry, which meant the closure of the Montreal Star, Le Jour and QuébecPress , had an impact on journalists and how they perceived their role in society. The author analyses the notion of objectivity and especially how journalists perceived their work in the context of the 1980 referendum. For them, `the balance rule [was] the most important ethical rule when it came to covering the 1980 referendum.' The balance rule meant that journalists would provide information and offer the points of view of both political camps. However, this notion of balance was difficult to enforce, since journalists had to take into consideration their audience. Anglophone readers and viewers were committed to one side, which was not the case with the francophones. This community was divided in three groups: the Federalists, the Sovereignists, and the uncommitted. humanities 567 An important part of the book deals with televised news. The author reminds us that televised news constitutes a constructed discourse intended to influence and shape an audience's views. This question refers to an important issue of media power. Although the study does not look at those who read or watched the news, it would have been interesting to study the audience. Was the audience captive? Did it ignore its critical abilities when watching the news coverage? This book is interesting because of the issue of media power. Also, it offers the opportunity to revisit the 1980 referendum through media glasses. (MARCEL MARTEL) Robert Young. The Struggle for Quebec: From Referendum to Referendum McGill-Queen's University Press. 210. $55.00, $22.95 As we move into the new century, Canada's enduring political conflict with the Québécois secessionist movement is entering a new, and perhaps, final phase. Quebecers, it now appears, will have to chose between, on the one hand, a 'lucid integration into Confederation' (to use a felicitous phrase of Maurice Lamontagne, a former advisor to prime ministers Louis St Laurent and Lester Pearson) and, on the other, an independent Quebec republic competing on its own in a globalizing world. Readers can reap considerable insights, if not assurances, from Robert Young's succinct analysis of the 1995 Quebec referendum, the political fallout from that near-death experience, the complex manoeuvring towards the next referendum, and...