Gillian Brown - Thesis Defence
REMOTE CONTROL:
RETHINKING GOVERNMENT INFORMATION SUBSIDIES AND MEDIA RELATIONS IN POST-PANDEMIC ATLANTIC CANADA
MA Political Science Candidate: Gillian Brown
19 August 2025
2:00 PM Atlantic
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Meeting ID: 251 559 609 770 9
Passcode: Mj9eQ3Yx
Thesis Committee:
Dr. Alex Marland, Supervisor
Dr. Christopher Waddell, Carleton University, External Examiner
Dr. Erin Crandall, Internal Examiner
Dr. Lydia Bouzar-Benlabiod, Chair of the defence
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly impacted how government officials and the press interacted across Canada, whether by introducing new dynamics, or exacerbating existing ones. Given the reduced physical proximity between political journalists and premiers and subsequent increase in the use of remote communication methods, along with the evolving media and political landscapes, this thesis examines why interactions between provincial journalists and premiers in Atlantic Canada have changed since the onset of the pandemic. I hypothesize that this change stems from strategic shifts toward cost-effectiveness concerning resources such as time, money, and staff. This thesis investigates the role of technological developments in media-state communications in Canada’s Atlantic region. It takes a mixed methods approach, drawing from in-depth interviews with current and former political journalists and communications staff in Premiers’ Offices in each of the Atlantic provinces, and an examination of provincial media advisories. Using Oscar H. Gandy’s theory of information subsidies as an analytical lens, this thesis finds that both actors have changed the ways they communicate, including the creation and consumption of information subsidies, in order to maximize limited resources in a post-COVID environment. Though trends towards remote and digital communication were already underway, the pandemic hurried their adoption and normalization, irrevocably changing the environment both journalists and premiers operate within. While improving accessibility for journalists, reliance on remote technologies introduces concerns for government accountability.
About Gillian…
Gillian Brown is a Master of Arts student in the Politics department, working under the supervision of Dr. Alex Marland. Her research is focused on evolving press-state dynamics in Atlantic Canada since the onset of COVID-19. This includes a study of the development and uses of remote technology in both local news and government communications. Prior to beginning her degree at Acadia, Gillian spent several years in journalism, working at both campus and community newspapers in Winnipeg, Manitoba. During her undergraduate degree at the University of Manitoba, she worked as a research assistant studying misinformation, disinformation, and racism in the media within Western liberal democracies. This fall, Gillian plans to begin her PhD in Political Studies at Queen’s University.