Note on CBC coverage of the University of Toronto "mental health crisis", 2016-present.
Note on CBC coverage
In examining media coverage of the University of Toronto "mental health crisis" in major news sources, I believe the CBC's limited coverage of this crisis deserves particular scrutiny.
A search in July 2021 turned up approximately eight articles and three videos in some 5 years, specifically relating to the mental health crisis, all but two of which are from 2019.
An earlier article addressed the Minden Park "accident" on Sept 4, 2018, while four articles covered the death of an international student in an off campus house fire on May 30, 2018, and resulting charges. Both of these incidents were reported in numerous sources at the time they occurred.
The earliest article specifically addressing mental health concerns and suicides appeared on March 18, 2019 in connection with a student protest following the second Bahen Centre death on March 17, 2019, and fully a year and a half after the first known student deaths in this context in 2016.
All known CBC articles and videos are linked to below.
As documented in the timeline published with this blog, there have been approximately 13 known deaths from all causes, including 10 known suicides, from 2016-2020. This blog considers each of these deaths to have been entirely preventable.
By contrast with the CBC's coverage of the mental health crisis, a July 2021 search of
the CBC's website for articles and media dealing with Game of Thrones
turned up a staggering, all time, 1,964 results. A second search at the
time of this post in July 2022 yielded 1,767 in all categories, and 821 specifically
filed as "news". Only 20% of these returns, by my approximate estimate, are
legitimate news stories that merely reference GoT in the title - meaning as many as 80% may actually be devoted to a fictional tv show.
CBC's Game of Thrones coverage specifically corresponding to coverage of the mental health crisis at UoT consists of at least 12 articles and 4-7 other media files.
The CBC ran seven GoT articles and at least one radio segment in a single week in May 2019 - effectively tying in a single week their three year coverage of the UofT mental health crisis.
This was notably the same week that students protested on campus following the second of three Bahen Centre deaths - CBC coverage of which consisted that week of a single article, and a single video.
In light of these totals, one has to question whether the CBC is best viewed as a credible news source, or as a state funded entertainment blog.
The record
for the major print news sources in Toronto in covering this crisis is
worse, to the point that it doesn't merit recording, and some of
this reporting is in fact pay-walled, effectively placing it out of
reach of prospective international students and their families, who in my analysis, and personal experience with my partner (see timeline, Nov 14, 2017), have been disproportionately affected.
cbc.ca coverage of the mental heath crisis at University of Toronto, surveyed July 26, 2021
9/6/18 - Minden Park "accident" (related)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/family-mourns-student-who-drowned-1.4812837
5/30/18 - Four articles appeared in connection with the death of an international student in off campus housing, and resulting charges, the only student death known to have resulted in prosecution. This incident was widely covered in all sources. As noted in the timeline, it is included due the shortage of safe affordable housing, and documented housing discrimination affecting students with mental health issues. (related)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/fire-scarborough-three-injured-burn-missing-house-1.4683517
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/rooming-house-scarborough-fire-1.4686006
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/students-fire-safety-1.4804198
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/scarborough-rooming-house-fire-1.4817402
3/18(19)/19 - First article in connection with mental health and suicides, two and a half years after the earliest known deaths in this context in 2016. (* - see Timeline notes, March 18, 2019, on removal of a video, and this text, below ["facetime statement"]). A university vice-provost is quoted in this article as attributing the loss of a student on Mar 17 to a "fall", falsely implying it was accidental.
"In a statement Tuesday, the school's vice-provost Sandy Welsh acknowledged[,] 'a student fell to his death.'"
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/university-toronto-suicide-campus-1.5061809
9/30/19
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/university-toronto-bahen-death-suicides-1.5302238
9/30/19
10/1/19 - Interview with the university president. Please see analysis of this article in the timeline published with this blog.
"U of T president says safety barriers should have been set up earlier to prevent suicide
'We all wish that we had done that sooner,' Meric Gertler says'"
Gertler said setting up permanent barriers in the Bahen Centre is a complex process.
"It's a large, complicated building," he said, noting considerations air circulation and the need for a specialized design.
"We had to get permissions and permits ... and we have to then have the suppliers manufacture the materials," he added.
[...]
"Our first concern is for the well-being of our students," he said.
11/13(14)/19
11/20/19
"Welsh, the vice-provost of students, says the school understands there is a perception problem when it comes to the mandatory leave policy."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/student-suicides-mental-health-support-1.5363242
1/15/20
6/12/21
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/university-toronto-music-program-sexual-harassment-1.6096829
videos:
March 2019. Contains video from the interview with Gertler published on 3/18.
11/19/2019?
- Contains statements by vice-provost. Concluding remarks by
the journalist acknowledge "academic pressure",
but in a bizarre summary, flatly attempt to cast this crisis as the result of student anxiety over being
away from home, and supposed concerns over a job market which full time
students have not even dealt with.
11/22/19 - panel discussion with three guests.
* - A student blog post of March 20, 2019 highlighted a video interview with a top administrator on the CBC website in connection with the "facetime" comment it reportedly contained. The CBC article for March 18, 2019, linked to above, contains verbatim text as reported in the blog, minus the "facetime" comment which would have been at the very end. I can vouch that the video was on the CBC website at the time the blog post appeared, and noted it was removed from the CBC website by Oct 2020 (see timeline in this blog). I've seen no explanation for the removal of the video, and no one from the CBC has responded to my attempts to contact them. As of June 2022, the student blog post, to its credit, remains online and un-edited, with the non-functioning link to the removed video:
As the survivor of one of the victims of this crisis, I'm publicly calling on the CBC to (1.) disclose why this video was removed from the website, and if it was removed by request, to identify the parties who made the request, and to release any communications pertaining to the request. And (2.), to state whether the March 18, 2019 video on the CBC website was edited, and under what circumstances. Anyone with information on this, I can be reached at: Friends4Lisa@gmail.com
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By contrast with the CBC's above coverage of the UoT mental health crisis, articles on Game of Thrones appeared on the following dates corresponding to period of coverage of the mental health crisis. Note two incidents of multiple articles appearing on single dates, in one instance the day following the student protest on March 18, 2019. Survey conducted in July, 2021:
4/4/19
4/8/19
4/10/19
4/13/19
5/19/19
5/19/19
5/20/19
5/20/19
5/21/19
5/24/19
10/29/19
5/30/21
Two not-dated video segments appeared in 2019.
Two radio segments appeared in 2019, one not-dated, and one on 5/24/19.
created July, 2022
