黄色直播

The MacEachen Institute is currently supporting research led by Research Fellow Alex MacIsaac聽and Research Assistant Marley Price, entitled "Divergent Narratives: The 2025 Nova Scotia Wildfires, Mainstream Media, and the Court of Public Opinion."

Project Description

In the summer of 2025, Nova Scotia experienced a series of wildfires that devastated ecosystems, communities, and businesses. One year later, media conversations about these events have provided material for a rich case study.聽

This project analyses the influence of and differences between digital media ecosystems, with respect to civic engagement, knowledge production, and the narratives around emergency responses and public health crises.

Our study asks the following questions:聽

• Do Nova Scotia鈥檚 digital media ecosystems, including both mainstream and social media, differ in the ways they construct citizen knowledge, control public narratives, and encourage discourse?聽

• How do these communication vectors influence the political attitudes and civic behaviour of Nova Scotians?

• Do radicalization/polarization pipelines, blame narratives, or misinformation emerge through online discussions, and if so, how are they perpetuated or controlled by different media platforms?聽

• How can government, public policy professionals, journalists, and scholars use Nova Scotia's digital media ecosystem to optimize emergency event management and wildfire mitigation, and strengthen civic trust?

The project will conclude by releasing its findings in a briefing note. This briefing note seeks to contribute an Atlantic Canadian perspective to growing studies on climate disaster management, information/communication networks, and online discourse.