The plastic bag ban in Nova Scotia

“The oceans face a massive and growing threat from something you encounter everyday ̶ plastics. An estimated 17.6 billion pounds of plastic leak into the marine environment from land-based sources every year. This is roughly equivalent to dumping a truckload of plastics into the ocean every minute” (Oceana Canada: Protecting the World’s Oceans). The environmental phenomenon on harmful plastics captured my attention and I decided to focus my comparative news analysis on the plastic bag ban in Nova Scotia, Canada. I have chosen to compare two articles: Nova Scotia to ban most single-use plastic bags at store checkouts by CTV news and Halifax council moves forward on plastic bag ban; city staff recommended voluntary approach by the Chronicle Herald. To follow, I will compare both articles, talk about three news story frames and discuss their news criteria.

CTV news Article: Nova Scotia to ban most single-use plastic bags at store checkouts

This story is shorter, is an easier read and mentions that “retailers are happy with this approach.” There are several quotes and statements by the Environmental Minister Gordon Wilson, the director of the Ecology Action Centre Mark Butler, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and spokesperson Jim Cormier for the Retail Council of Canada. Each person quotes verbatim or summarized statements about the beneficial effects plastic bag bans will have on our environment. The author also takes into account an opposition statement by Sylvian Charlebois, director of the agrifood analytics lab at Dalhousie University, who stated that “banning plastic bags is just a distraction – the real problem is food packaging, but at least governments are doing something about it.” I don’t know why they added her quote to the article because it merely supports the ban on single-use plastics.

I like the opening introduction better in this article than I do in the Halifax Herald though it should have stated what bill number was passed and given hard facts and numbers. I liked how Environmental Minister Gordon Wilson mentioned that the province is planning on banning other plastics such as straws and cutlery too. Wilson said that “it’s going to change the way Nova Scotians go to grocery stores.” Mark Butler, the director of Ecology Action Centre said that “we look forward to the public and the government identifying other single-use items we don’t need to use” and that single-use plastics have a “large impact on wildlife in the province.” This is a powerful message. The article also says what provinces adopted the ban: Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island, making Nova Scotia the third province to follow suit.

There are also no facts in this article and although it was an easy read, it could have been structured differently to appear more credible by collecting facts and data instead of just quotes by well-known authority figures.

Chronicle Herald Article: Halifax council moves forward on plastic bag ban; city staff recommended voluntary approach

This story is longer, is a tougher read, has facts by media in addition to quotes and statements by Deputy Mayor Tony Mancini, five city councillors and Halifax regional manager Brad Anguish.

This story coverage is more political, legislative and formal since it is focused on thoughts of the Halifax city mayor and council. They talk about the importance of reusable bags and an education campaign regarding reduced use of plastic bags. It also gives some statistics on plastic bag banning, such as 65 per cent of Canadians agree that abolishing single-use plastics is in their favour and that only one per cent of garbage bags and pet waste bags cannot be recycled. This article gives more statistics than the CTV article does, which makes it more credible than just having quotes by popular figures. This article contains a spelling error, reading “insteads” in place of “instead” and the article just cuts off.

Framing

• This is a straight news account as it is not a narrative and just covering the basic five w’s and the how. The who: consumers; the what: plastic bags; the where: Nova Scotia, Canada; the When: by 2020; the Why: bad for our marine environment; the how: getting rid of plastic bags.
• It is a consensus story. People featured in the articles appear to agree that plastics are not good for our marine environment.
• Its outlook. The Nova Scotia plastic bag ban will be a date marked in history as a phenomenon that occurred to protect our world’s oceans.

Newsworthiness

Impact: The plastic bag ban will have an impact on Nova Scotians because we are accustomed to having items bagged for us at retail and grocery outlets. While grocery stores now sell fabric bags and charge a fee for a plastic bag at checkouts, people may still be resilient to paying a larger fee for fabric bags. This will not last long as people will adjust to the ban and realize that there is only a one-time charge for the fabric bags if well taken care of.

Prominence: We know that plastic is bad for the environment, as recycling became a mandatory practice many years ago. Some provinces have already passed laws for the plastic bag ban, so it was a well-known happening before it reached Nova Scotia.

Timeliness: This story will die down as time passes. In the meantime, however, people will continue to talk about how it affects what we are accustomed to. It was featured on several different news outlets in both print and broadcast at different times. It was a recent happening that took place. People will remember this as they adjust to the new law.

Proximity: This law is a local and national concern to Canadians because it happened in Nova Scotia as well as other Canadian provinces.

Conflict: Some people might not agree with the recent Canadian plastic ban law even though it is beneficial for the marine environment.

In closing, I compared two news articles on the Nova Scotia plastic bag ban including one from CTV and one from the Chronicle Herald. I also discussed three news story frames and five news criteria for the articles.

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